The Real Estate Record.





j>aiac»"S which ]n-iiices who were merchants in
i.<nner Times built in those cities: and from that
sna\ fonn some idea of what merchants who
" !-i-i t.> be like princes niaj* hereafter do in the
WHV I.f iMustniction in New York, particularij- if
tl:»\- select the Westside plateau as the scene
■ •I their munificence.
Tte jiractical question presents itself—how
upht the West Side to be improved .' We will
.lirrw. 1 think, that it should lie built so as to ac-
ooniniiHlate a great number of families, some
-)t]cndidlj-. manj- elegantlj-, and all comfortablj-.
r hat the architecture should be ornate, solid and
}»Tniaiieut, and that the principle of economic
.- niihniatit'U >hoiild be employed to the greatest
! o^ible extent.
Thu-: far in the better parts of the citj- the gen-

• lal })lan has been to buikl single houses, each

•  wner of ,i Int exercising his own ta.<<te, or dis-
ihijiuc; the want of it, without reference to the
wiAies of his iieighboi-s. and without auj- partic¬
ular regard to the effect of his work upon the
.-ippearance of the citj-.

1; is to he hoiK'-l that a new era in building is
.ii",nii to commence, in which intelligent combined
. iTort will produce novel aud splendid results.
1 will saj- that for nivself, I am in favor of apart¬
ment houses for the imiirovement of theWest
Side plateau. The general plan of apartment
h <u«»s. or French fiats, has been considerably
t niph\v<d in New York, and from the first has met
w ilh <listingu!>hed favor. Mostof them, thus far,
have lieen cheaplj-built to accommodate people
ol verj- limited mean.s. Some few have been very
thor-Mighlj- aud elegantlj- constructed, with a
view to iK'in;; occupied bj-small families who can
alTonI to expend from five to ten thousand dollars
a J-ear. The advantages and economies of these
vjjjierii'r dwellings Iwive been so evident that thej-
1 avo alwaj-s been eagerlj- taken bj- excellent ten-
•nits a* soon .as reailj- for occupancj-. The economy
will Ih? understood when I state, as probably others
can. that 1 have paid at a leading hotel in New-
York, for seven or eight consecutive months, at
tiiC rate of seven thousand dollars ayear for the
r«nt «f two smali rooms, and that I am able now-
i.> i-*'nt to others suites of nine rooms, finished in
the b-si possible waj-. ami adopted to all the re-
tjU!r!'nient.s of elegant housekeeping for fifteen
h.judred doihars a J-ear. There are but few per-
s->ns who are princelj- enough to wish to occupy
an entire palace, and possiblj' most of those who
are In-st able to do it, would be most unwilling to
take upon themselves the inevitable worrj- and
trouble; hut 1 believe there are many w-ho would
like to occupy a jiortion of a great building, which
would lie more perfect in its arrangements than
anj- ]«ilace iu Europe, unle.ss it would be one of
very recent construction. For the principal streets
and avenues of the West Side plateau, I should
l>e disjKised to advocate the construction of apart¬
ment houses, with suites of rooms varj-ing in size
and number so as to be suited to the uses of famil¬
ies havingtheahility to expend from fivethousand
to fiftj- thousand dollars or over a year. There is
hardly any limit to the rat« of expenditure and
slj-le of social splendor, to wjiich the apartment
house might not easily be adapted, but, w-hatever
tbe «"ale might be. it is quite certain that for a
given aniount of money a vastly greater amount of
oo*3venience, comfort and display might be se¬
en. -hI, There is a considerable class, and such as
would be esjiecially desirable on the West Side,
who have houses ont of the city in w-hich they
wish to reside the greater part of the year. To
all these the advantages of an apartment iin town,
into which they could come, and out of which
they could go. at any time, are very obvious. But
the comparative advantages of apartment houses
over single dwellings, though many, I have no
time lo discuss now.

The fjuestion arises—how are these buildings to
lie erected, and who are to pay for them ? In
other cities such house.s are built, and certainly
the ability exists to construct them bere. The
first and main point is to establish the neces¬
sity for tbem. The very be.st and most economi¬
cal way to prosecute a grand scheme of improve¬
ment woidd perhaps be something like this :

Suppose a whole blo<:k on the West Side to
have no buildings on it, and the lots to be owned
by twenty different persons, in different propor¬
tions. Suppose tbe time to have arrived when
most of tiiese owners are of the opinion that the
bioc^ should be buUt upon. Evidently, it is for
the interest of all to have their property improved
in the best way, and so as to secure the greatest
profit. By combining together, employing a
single architect and building upon the entire
block as one enterprise, the work could be done
with much greater economy than by any indi-
TidtuI effort, and a splendid result could be
aUained. As the owners of some of these lots
would be much more wealthy than others, those
least able to b^ the expense of building ought to





be able to borrow from the richer as much
monej- as would be required, and at a low rate of
interest, a.s the security would be perfect. When
such a building should be completed, it might be
divided bj- commissioners, expert in tbe business,
in accordance with the ownership of the land,
and the cost of building might be equitablj' ap-
port'oned iu the same w-ay. Thus all parties
would be benelited. the w-eathier owners by pre¬
venting injury to their property by the erection
of inferior buildings and the poorer ones by shar¬
ing iu the advantages of a great capital at
moderate interest. The city would gain iu
the .splendid character of the improvements.
This is only a .suggestion of a plan, but I feel
confident it might be elaboi-ated and put into
successful execution.

It ma J- be objected, perhaps, that in this out¬
lined scheme uo provision has been made for the
laboring population. There is the highest au¬
thoritj- for believing that the poor will alwaj-s be
with us, but it does not follow that the poor
w-ill necessarilj- occupj- anj' part of the West Side
plateau. Indeed, I think we should agi*ee that
the verj- poor would be sufficiently with us if thej-
should Hx their habitations in New Jersej- or on
Long Island. But to accommodate the industri¬
ous and meritorious w-orking people, the same
plans should be pursued substaiitiallj' as in pro¬
viding dwellings for the rich.

The model dwelling for the poor man should
occupy a sjiace, not '25 bj- 100 feet, but an entire
block. It should be quite plain, but solid and sub¬
stantial in everj- part. The rooms for each fam¬
ilj' should be of moderate size and few in num¬
ber, but everj- room shculd have good air and
light. Water should be supplied to each apart¬
ment or suite of rooms, and they should be heated
bj- steam. The building should be made quite
safe as to fire, and a passenger elevator should
convej' the tenants up and down. -A.11 this and
more could be furnished to the laboring popula¬
tion, as cheaply as the miserable rooms in tene¬
ment houses which they are obliged to occupy
now. I suppose the ow-ners of such a model ten¬
ement house ought to be, and would be, satisfied
w-ith 5 per cent, upon the investment, over and
above all expenses. In such a case cheapness and
verj' superior accommodations w-ould naturally
and easily follow from the vast extent of the en¬
terprise, and the greatly increased number of
families who w-ould thus be furnished w-ith homes.
The advantages, in a sani'arj- point of view, of
the plans for building, w-hich have been faintly
suggested, would be greater than can well be
estimated, and it would be easy, as to such dw-ell-
ings, to exercise a most rigid supervision and
effective police.

Probably some judicious legislation might be
advisable to aid the formation of combined build¬
ing associations; but even under the present gen¬
eral law-s I believe, with a reasonable and proper
feeling among the owners of adjacent lots, what¬
ever is needful might be done to the great mutual
advantage of all concerned.

Mr. Church moved a vote of thanks to Mr.
Clark for his very interesting paper, w-ith a
request that it be given to the -Association for
publication, which motion was unanimously car¬
ried :

It was announced that the rooms of the Asso¬
ciation were open dailj', except Sundays, from S
A. M. to lOJ^ p. 51., and the special meetings of the
Associat^n will continue to be held every Satur¬
day evening at 8 o'clock. Also, that special meet¬
ings of the sub-committees of the Board of Direct¬
ors of the Association w-ould he held at the rooms
of the -Association on the tw-o Tuesday evenings
of tbis month at 8 o'clock, and afterwards,
until further notice, on every Thursday evening,
at the same Hour, when will be considered all

(complaints, suggestions  and matters connected
w^ith, and directions will be given to carry out
the wish of the Association.   AU persons whether
members of the Association or not are invited to
communicate matters of interest to the Assistant
I Secretary, Mr. Walter G. Elliott.
I    After the election of about twenty-five new
I members and the proposal of others, the meeting
I was adjourned to next Saturday evening when
J will be considered the question of " Taxation and
Local Assessments."

We call the attention of our readers to tbe mport-
ant sale of tbe estate of John H. Graham, deceased,
advertised in our columns to day by A. H. Muller &
Son, auctioneers. The sale, which is to take place
Jan. 20, iocludes valuable Broadway property, in the
very heart of the now flourishing district south of
Bleecker street, also lots on Second avenue and One
Hundred and Twenty-flrst street, and also a flne plot
with mansion and stable, at liewburgh, on tbe Hud¬
son.





El.,WARD CL.A.RK.

In this edition will be found, iu the proceeding.^
of the West Side Improvement Associatiou. the
very suggestive address of Edward Clark, Esq , a
member of the Bar of this city, a gentleman of very
little public notoriety, of rauch experience iu his
profession, a shrewd observer of men and phici-s,
and one who has achieved success iu the introduc¬
tion of a well known branch of .-luierican indur-ny.

Iu a history of Otsego Countj-, this State, witli
illustrations and biographical sketches oi some
of its prominent men and pioneers, ap-oears
among some hundred uauics, those of Auilipise
L. Jordan and Edward Chirk, and from which -.V'lik
we learn the following fuels:

Mr. Clark was bom at .\thens, Greene Co., N. Y.,
Dec. 10, 1811. His iiither, Nathan Ohuk, a sucooss-
ful mamifiicturer, still resides there, at the advanc¬
ed ago of ninety-one years. His mother was* the
daughter of John Nichols, of Waterbury, Conn., of
the same family as Hichard Nichols, comuiande- of
the expeditiouaiy force, by which the city ol New
York was taken from the Dutch. Paasiiig over his
early years and academical training, we tiud he
graduated from Williams' College iu IS;JO, and the
same year entered the law ofiice of Ambrose L. Jor¬
dan, Esq., at Hudsou, N. Y., a city then disliugui-sh-
ed asa school for intended lawyers. In I.S3;3, he be¬
gan the practice of law iu Poughkeepsie, and, in
1837, formed a law partnership with ^Ir. Jordan, and
commenced a successful practice iu this city. Iu the
year 1818, Isaac M. Singei, one of their clients, an
erratic genius, having followed various occupations-
without much succese. aud invented valuable me¬
chanical devices which brought no profit, was a
client of Messrs. Jordan A- Clark, and, shortly after
this time, made his great invention of the Sewing
Machine. Undi r the niauagemeut of the inv<. n'or,
the title to the invention became involved and was
likely to be lost.

In that emergency, Singer applied to his k-i;al
advisor, Clark, to advance the means to prosecute
the business successfully, and thereupon w-as form¬
ed the co-partnership "of I. M. Singer & Co. with
eminent success from 1851 to 1803. It was during
these years of costly and vexatious law suits, niou-
aced by hostile iujuuctious, that, under the mau-
agemeiit and direction ol Mr. Clark, the contest
was perseveringly maintained, the business con¬
tinued to prosper, and defensive litigation termi¬
nated. It is known that the early raanagenieut of
the busiuess, and the direi tion given to it in lhe
beginning by Mr. Clark, have contributed to its-
preaeut permanent success and celebrity.

In 1803, wishing to be relieved from active duty,.
aud desiring to secure its contiuued good manage¬
ment, he conceived the scheme of organizing "The
Singer Manufacturing Company," and, upon its
formation that year, though a director, retired
from active ma'nagement, aud, during several
years, spent considerable time abroad.

In his travels over Europe, he examined what¬
ever was worthy of notice in nature and art, aud
had full and lengthened experience of the various
methods of living in hotels and rented apartments
in the principal cities of those couutriee.

In the autumn of 1854, he fixed his residence in
the village of Cooperstown, Otsego County, N. Y.,
and has continued to reside there ever since. He
purchased, at that time, the dwelUng known as
"Apple Hill," formerly owned by Geo A. Stark¬
weather, and by Hichard Cooper, aud occupied at
various time by Hon. John A. Dix, Hon. Samuel
Nelson, Judge L". C. Turner and others. This
building was torn dowu, and a new stone*one occu¬
pies ita place. It and the grounds are now called
"Fernleigh." In tho guide books this house is ex¬
travagantly praised, and few s rangers visit Coop-
erstown without seeking to see it.

We have passed over his professional career iii
this citv, in great part occupied by the care neces¬
sary o-s-ier the interests of the hrms above men¬
tioned. Constantly on the alert for new moves,
and called on incessantly for professional advice,
he was quick to perceive, and prompt in action.
The partner of tbe late Anibrose L. Jordan, he was
obliged to share and assist iu the labors of that
distinguished gentleman and lawyer. From 1838 to
1860 the firm of Jordan & Clark was retained and
prominently engaged in a large proportion of the
aeverelv litigated oases which occnpied the Courts
of New York, and were opposed by some of tbe fore¬
most advocates of the New York Bar.

Having done, and still contintiing to do his part
for the improvement of Cooperetown, his home
and residence, Mr. Clark has now turned his atten¬
tion to this city, the scene of his early labors and
successes.