Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXI.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1878.





No. 535.





Publislied Weekly by

E>^t %rd (Instate %icaxti %%5acmimx,

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

Communications should be addressed to

C. W.  SWEET,

Nos. :145 AND 347 Broadway.





THE FIFTH AVENUE.

The supremacy of Fifth avenue is natural and
demonstrable, not accidental or artificial. A
cursory examination may lead some to believe
that uuder given circunistauces iu the settlement
of the city, Fourth or Sixth avenues might have
been chosen as the seat of fashionable residence.
Aside from the preeminent claims of Fifth
avenue as the natural centre of the island,
occupying au elevated and command iug position,
there are other considerations which maj- have
precluded any other choice. Fourth avenue -was
alreadj-- occupied bj' the hor.se and steam care,
and Sixth avenue had been appropriated for busi¬
ness purposes. The claims of localities east and
west of these last meiitioueil avenues had been
investigated, tried and found wanting.

It required but little prescience to determine
that the shore line of this island would eventually
and whollj' be taken up as the locale of manu¬
facturing business, although no one could have
anticipated that, in this class of business w-ould
be included fat rendering and bone boiling and
the production of fertilizers. Suftlcieut experience
had been gained in the once fashionable localities
of the Seventh Ward, and in the colonization
sought to be established by Dr. Clement Moore
on the North River, to convince observant and far-
seeing citizens] of an eai'ly period that the shore
line, notwithstanding its coimnanding river views
and salubrious breezes, was entirely unfitted for
purposes of fashionable private residences. These
considerations predetermined the choice of Fifth
avenue as the seat of fashion, a choice wliich
after generations have fully approved, and which
'reflects conspicuously the sagacity and forecast
of our forefathers. It stands to-doy the via
maxima of the metropolis and of the continent;
destined in time perhaps to assert its superiority
over any fashionable thoroughfare that the world
can produce.

At the present day we are little concerned about
its past hLstory or the legends and traditions of
its origin. We propose to take a brief glance at
its present status and its future prospect-s and
capabilities.    We will consider it in sections.

1st. Washington squaue to Twenty-seco.nd
STREET.—This lower extremity of the aveuue is
iil an anomalous condition. It can hardly be
iieeined to be in an obsolete or moribund condi¬
tion, because, it still retains the residences of
many eminent and wealthy citizens, and there is
a fair sprinkling of business along the line. It is
bisected and invigorated by Fourteenth street;
a street destined to renew tbe ti-aditious and
glories of old Canal street as a retail shopping matt.
And yefj, somewhat unaccountably, property
valuatious are at a very low ebb in this section of





Fifth avenue. The Springier leases are being i^e-
newed at valuations of S12,000 to $10,000 for a
full lot, and the lea.se of the old Delmonico cor¬
ner, with its commanding frontage of street and
avenue and its extended superficial area, was re¬
centlj'made at the ground rental of $3,500, a
higher sum it is believed, than the propertj-
can now afford to pay. Business experiments on
this line have uot been remarkably successful.
The trouble seems to be that there are too manj'
old wealthy citizens flriiilj- settled in their spa¬
cious and comfortable houses, who have stub¬
bornly and resolutelj-- determined uot to be re¬
moved except by the undertaker. Consequentlj'
there is not sulllcient unanimity in the conversion
of dwellings into stores. Here and there a single
owner has defied the common sentiment and ven¬
tured to erect a handsome store, as the Cutting
estate, the Gibbs estate and some others have
done, and, in truth, thej' have been verj- poorly
repaid for their enterprise. Then this part of
Fifth avenue is obliged to conqieto verj' sbarplj-
with those established marts with which it is ad¬
jacently and completely surrounded, to wit :
Broadway, Fourteenth street. Sixth avenue and
Twenty-third street. If one or two solid blocks
of old dwellings on this line couhl be converted
at oue time into appropriate stores so as to afford
an opportunitj' for a variety of business occupa¬
tions, we believe the future of this^sectioii would
define itself very quicklj-.

It will be hani we know to move such old resi¬
dents OS the Lenox, Talbot, Minturn, Taj'lor,
Belmont families and others, who have lifelong
and priceless associaticns connected with their
present abode.s, and who are there surrounded
with creature comforts which more modern resi¬
dences might fail to afford. These large resi¬
dences are too wasteful of room and too expen¬
sive to be eligible for boarding house purposes,
when at length thej' are surrendered bj' their
present owners. The probabilities are that
slowly but surely thej' will be converted into
stores, aud, in time, lower Fifth avenue will be a
formidable competitor of the surrounding busi¬
ness thoroughfares. Those who imagine that it
is hopelessly cut off and isolated by the crossing
of Broadway, at Twentj--third street, may live to
see their mistake demonstrated.

2d. Twenty-second street to Thirty-sec¬
ond STREET.—^Within these teu blocks are com¬
prised the most interesting as it is the most
active and bristling portion of the avenue. The
great vortex of population that surges and pul¬
sates ai^ound the street foeii at Madison square
sends a more or less disturbing influence up and
down Fifth avenue. The two faces of the blocks
lietween Twenty-second and Twenty-third
streets are now wholly given up to trade
with the exception of Dr. Peckhani's cor¬
ner. His residence continues to stand as
a noble sentinel of the past, and is a type of the
stubborn but unavailing resistance which old res¬
idents have invariably presented to the encroach¬
ments of trade. This short section between
Ttvehty-seeond and Twenty-third streets exem-
tilifles what we may expect in a short time to be
the appearance of the whole tivenue as far
as Thirty-second street. A dozen years ago
A sincere and deterlnined efi'ort was made to turn
thh whole or the greAter part of this section to





commercial uses. This purpose was thwarted by
the prohibitive tariff w-hich owners then saw fit
to place upou the fee simple of their premises.
There maj- be a few, but verj- few, of the ow-ners
who refuse to recognize the rapid onward march
of business on Fifth avenue. The conviction has
been forced slowly and reluctantly upon the
minds of all, that sooner or later these residences
will be demanded for business purposes. With
some it is a question of " how soon " and with
others of "how much." Already many of the
houses in this tiuarter have been given up for
boarding house i;urposes for which they happen to
be verj' well adapted. This is an evidence of the
exodus of the fashionable owners, which haw
already begun. Scarcely a j'ear passes but two
or more of these buildings are converted into
stores and nothing prevents their wholesale con¬
version to-daj' but the exorbitant prices which
are demanded by owners. At one time as high
as §200,000 or 82r>0,000 was asked for a single lot.
Since then theso pretentions have fallen, but
recent transactions indicate the verj' high appre¬
ciation in which this propertj- is heldbj- both buy¬
ers and .sellere. The most recent sales are tbe
northwest corner of Tlibty-.second street at
$120,000 ; the northea.st corner of Thirtj'-second
street at $11.'},000 ; thesoutheastcomerof Twenty-
ninth street at $120,000, while inside lots of the
standard dimensions have brought from $55,000
to $75,000. These prices, though carrjring house¬
buildings with them, may really be taken to rep¬
resent the value of the land alone, as the build¬
ings in time will have to be toni dovm and can
now be utilized for store puqioses only at the
outlay of considerable money.

3d. Thirty-skcond street TO Fifty-ninth
STREET.—However rapid the convereion and ab-
soi^ption of property below Thirty-second street
maybe for mercantile pm-poses, at or near Thirty-
second street a bulwark is presented in the order
of ownership which maj' resist the onward tide of
trade for many years. It is quite unlikelj- that
either of the Astor mansions or the Stewart man¬
sion -will be given up to trade puqioses in the life¬
time of the present occupants, and the extensive
suiTomidings possessed by both of these estates
afFord a substantial guarantee that the existing
features of the neighborhood will be preserved
intact for an indefinite period. This section em¬
bodies the best architectural display, the most sub¬
stantial wealth as well as the most aristocratic
instinct of the metropolis. Our w^ealthy citizens
have ever been peciUiarly gregarious, and this
trait is nowhere more aptly illustrated than in
the circumscribed limits of theitrictly fashiona¬
ble portion of the Fifth aVenue. It is to be re¬
gretted that oue section of the avenue at least
could not be preserved for a time free from any
intrusions of trade. Its ultimate fate may call
for its complete surrender, though we may be¬
lieve thdt day is far distant, when we contemplate
the massive and stately mansions that abound
throughout this section. As omnipotent tmd
fastidious as wealth is, it has been power¬
less to preserve the inviolability of this portion of
the thoroughfai-e. Strange to say, residents
themselves in some few cases, have procured tbe
erection of building^ which are not at all credit¬
able to their taste and which certainly mar the ap¬
pearance of the avenue.   The deed is done, how-