Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXI.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1878.





No. 533.





Published Weekly by

i^^e Seal (Ssf aie Secori>Jssodatiou.

TERJIS.
ONE YEAR, in advance....SlO.OO.

Communications should be addressed to

C.  -W.  SWEET,

Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadway.





NEW BUILDINCi-S IN THE FASHIONABLE
QUARTERS.
It is the privilege of New York to possess
many fashionable quartei-s. Some of these are
ancient and others more modern. ]<]ach in its
turn represents some stage of progress iu the
growth of the metropolis. It has been customary
to regard- as guarlier premier the one iu
which the latest improvements are being made,
aud where the more ambitious aud progressive of
our wealthy citizens seek their residences. It is
uo e.xclusive iutelligeuce that the precinct
bounded by Forty-secoud and Fifty-ninth
streets, Fourth aud Sixth avenues, represents the
elite quarter of the perioil. AVhatever prestige
may attach to former localities, and whatever
glories may be reserved iu further developments
of the fashionable element for new localities, it is
noteworthy that the best mechanical talent aud
the largest representative wealth of the city to¬
day are being centered in this limited parallelo¬
gram. The pulsations of the buildiug interests in
this quarter furnish the most reliable diagnosis of
the health or sickness of city property interest.
There was a time when, through the operation of
malign causes, it seemed as though this quarter
was likely to be left ■ incomplete or only partly
built up. Land owners and builders have found
less dilficulty of late years in agi-eeing upon con¬
tracts than had previously been the rule. In
consequence extensive projections of private
dwellings have been made during the last two
J'ears in this quarter. A close and critical inspec¬
tion of these new structures furnishes the cheer¬
ing assurance that hard times have not entirely
eliminated taste and spirit from our master
builders, and a knowledge of the results which
have attended most of theso enterprises furnishes
a still more gratifying assurance that the demand
for elegant and elaborate residences has uot
entirely died out, nor indeed been fully satisfied.
We purpose at some futm-e^ time to give our
leading master builders the benefit of extended
and critical notice in these columns as a merited
tribute to their skill, corn-age and matchless
enterprise. For the present we shaU content
ourselves with a passing review of their several
productions. Taking them in the order of
streets, i-ather than in the order of merit, we find
that on Fortieth street the Messrs. O'Reilly,
eminent and well-known builders, have pro¬
duced attractive and lueritorions works. The
standard of these builders in respect to quality,
style and finish is an exceptionally high one.
Their perfoi'mances really leave nothing to be
desired iu mechanical or artistic respects.
We have the best authority for saying that the
axcbitectaral details of their work are elaborated





in their own ollice uuder their own direction and
supervision. The evidences which their com¬
pleted w-orks furnish of aptitude and success in
this direction should silence all cavillers as to the
pmcticability or expediency of a builder under¬
taking to master the theoretical principles of
his trade. In arranging the floors, iu the furni¬
ture and fitting of houses, in frout elevations, in
fact, in all artistic details, the Messrs. O'Reilly
certainly exhibit uo deficiency of tulent or handi¬
craft. The best proof of the estimation in which
their productions are held by the public may be
found iu the readiness of sale which attends them
even in these unpropitious times. Ou Fifty-fifth
street, between Madison and Fourth avenues,
Alderman McCafferty and architect Buckley are
just completing four houses that evince care and
skill as well as excellent taste in their construc¬
tion. The sixteen-foot house has original features
well worth studying. Mr. Buckley is making
rapid strides iu his profession, and promises to be
among the leadei-s in establishing models of plan
and embellishment.

The prices whicii have been lately realized by
this firm completely dispel tho idea of any great
annihilation of values iu choice residence prop¬
ertj'. On the corner of Forty-fifth street and
Matiisou avenue there is another block of very
massive and elegant houses, also good exponents
of the handiwork of this firm. On Fifty-fourth
street at the corner of Madison avenue, Daniel
Henne-ssy, with the assistance of R. W. Buckley,
the architect, has finished a block of five exceed¬
ingly ornate and sumptuous mansions furnished
profusely with mirrors, cabinet work and all the
appliances of modern fashionable dwellings.
Some of these have the dining-room extension, and
in addition present neat plant cabinets exposed to
the rays of the southerly sun. On Fifty-third
street between Fifth and Sixth avenues the
Messrs. Talman have finished a block of neat and
substantial houses that have met with prompt
appreciation on the pirt of the public. In Fifty-
fourth and Fifty-sixth streets the Messrs. Lynde
have adorned the respective blocks with attractive
and comfortable dwellings finished in various
kinds of wood displayed w-iih rare taste and
workmanship, the pai-lor floors being especially
deserving of notice. The vestibules are laid in
mosaic tiles, and the fire-grates are executed iu
unique designs of highly polished nickel plate and
gilt. Pier mirrors and consoles adorn the parlors,
the back parlor mantel and mirror frame being
wrought in new designs incorporating neat bric-
a-brac cabinets. In Madison avenue an imposing
block of ten houses is in course of erection under
the directorship of Messrs. Duggin & Crossman,
embodying many of their distinctive and original
features. On Fifty-seventh street Messrs. Ein-
stern, Scheftel and Main have each contributed
specimens of luxurious and richly finished man¬
sions. On Fifty-eighty street Mr. McManus has
recently completed and sold two full sized resi¬
dences which vie in splendor and profusion of
details, and in the excellence of their planning
with any houses that may be found in the fash¬
ionable quarter. Mr. McKenna is just finishing
two imposing and elaborate residences with
octagon fronts, at a peculiarly eligible point on
this favorite street ^Fifty-eighth) as they will
command an imobstructed and permanent view





of the Plaza and grand entrance to the Park. On
Fifty-eighth street between Madison and Fourth
avenues Mr. Chai-les Fox has finished and sold
three costly and substantial full sized dwellings.
At Sixty-first street and Fifth avenue the outlines
of Mr. Bostwick's sumptions mansion are looming
up in magnificent proportions and with conspic¬
uous elTect.

BUILDERS' BOOK-KEEPING.

Few builders are so utterly reckless of c<?nse-
quences as to omit to keep auy account of their
building transactions, and these few belong to the
least reputable class. The fault which may most
generally be charged to the craft is a kck of ac¬
curacy in the methods of accounting which are
adopted. Loose and irregular bookkeeping, an
unwarrantable dependence on the accounts of
others, and a total iiiabiUty to arrange the costs of
building in a clear and intelligible total, lie at the
bottom of much of the prevailing misfortune in
building enterprises. And yet no manufacturing
business admits of more easy control in the mat¬
ter of accounts, or presents such a favorable op¬
portunity for the natural and systematic array
of costs. There are many establishments, the
leading ones, of course, in which careful and ac¬
curate books of account aie kept, and where the
book-keeping is as exact and scientific as in any
bank or counting-room. The majority of active
builders, however, are prone to charge tbeir
memories merely with the items of their business,
and to rely rather upon haphazard or lump cal¬
culations of cost. As we are now enterirg upon
an era of close and sharp competition in the build¬
ing line, accurately determined costs of produc¬
tion will become indispensable elements of suc¬
cess and safeguards against failure. Builders
generally should habituate themselves to reduce
their business to a reliable system of accounts,
and accustom themselves to regard their opera¬
tions from the standpoint of close and careful
calculation.

The advantages of accurate accountings are too
obvious to require illustration or enforcement,
and must be already fully appreciated by any
who have heretofore relied upon them. Tho
slightest experience with systems of accounts
cannot fail to commend them to those who have
heretofore ignored them.

The simplest phase of the building business is,
that in which the master builder acts merely as
an overseer or superintendent of the work, and
does not undertake to perform in person any
specific task. W^here all the different items of
work, including mason's and carpenter's work,
are given out in contracts, the arrangement of
these items of detailed cost in a consolidated re¬
sult is a simple matter of arithmetic. The work
becomes more complicated where eitherthe mason
or carpenter work, or both, is undertaken in per¬
son by the master builder operating through fore¬
men and employed mechanics. To make the cost
of BUch works tally with the other items of cost,
it becomes necessary to keep a close watch over
the outgo of expenditures.

No man is competent to act as foreman who is
not able to keep an accurate time book, and to
apportion the sums paid for labor to the various
jobs where they belong. The foreman should
also be able to discriminate the bills of materials