EAL  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXV.





NEW YOEK, SATUEDAY, JUNE 12, 1880.





No. 639





Published Weekly by

€l^s: Seal €Bhk %mx^ %BBomixan.

TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance.. ..SIO.OO.
Communications should be addressed to

C.   MV.   SWEET,

No. 137 Broadway





Governor Cornell has signed the bill relating to
assessments, printed exclusively in the Real Es¬
tate Recohd of the .5th instant. The act, there¬
fore, creating the new commission for revision of
assessments is now the lavr of the State, and those
not having mastered its various provisions can
obtain additional copies of the same by calling at
this office.





IMBECILITY OP THE PUBLIC DEPART¬
MENTS OR WHAT?
Property owners, especially on the West Side,
must have reflected ere this on the reasons that
underlie the pall which hangs over their invest¬
ments. It is time, indaed, that they should speak
out and begin to call a spade a spade. It i& of no
use saying that generations yet unborn will in¬
habit a certain portion of Manhattan Island, for
all of it, every inch of it, is wanted for the
1,250,000 inhabitants who now reside within its
borders. The generation of our own day will re¬
quire and in fact does require the improvement of
every lot on this island, but the supineness of
pi-operty-owners, as a class, their unwillingness
to be aggressive, has been and still is to-day the
main cause of this tardiness iu developing the
West Side. True, speeches have been made,
paper resolutions have been adopted by this or
that association, all referring to matters that
ought to have been done, and yet that most beau¬
tiful section of our island virtually continues to
be a barr.en waste of uncultivated land. For this
state of affairs, owners themselves are to blame,
a priori, simply owing to their lack of public
spirit and the notable absence of aggressiveness
on their part. They underrate—in fact, they
seem to have entirely forgotten—their own iui-
portant status in this community, as taxpayers
not only, but as owners of the soil. Granted
even that we live in a community where all men
are born " free and equal," human nature, even
in a republican cou itry like this, pays homage to
capital, and that homage has always stood ready
to fawn upon the owners of realty. Why, why
we ask again, have they not combined to take ad¬
vantage of their exalted position in civic society
to make their influence and importance felt upon
the body politic, that dare riot resist them, if prop¬
erly organized. Their inaction, their lethargy
has led to the accursed red tape which has turned
the Department of Parks and the Department of
Public Works into veritable labyrinths, out of
which no public improvement, once conceived,
can find its exit. These departments, composed
even though they may be of politicians, will
listen, heed and obey if they only hear the indig¬
nant voice of the mass of property-owners; but
so long as the latter remain silent and refuse tu
declaim in a voice loud enough to be heard all
over the island that improvements must and shall





be made, just so long will these men act and do
only what benefits either their own political
cliques or their own personal pockets. They
never will stir in the good work that ought to be
done by them until property-owners, as a mass
combine, make the influence they possess felt
over the departments and virtually shame the
commissioners into doing their duty.

We speak thus earnestly in regard to this
matter, as every day's experience shows us that
the neglect of the West Side by investors is due
not to this cause or that cause, but owing to the
tardy public improvements that must necessarily
precede private improvements. When, the other
day, an auction sale of Riverside avenue lots had
to be indefinitely postponed, a prominent owner
of adjacent property exclaimed, "how can you
expect peopla to buy there, when not only the
Drive but the entire surrounding section is
neglected by the Park Department. Strangers
and capitalists from other cities when going along
that boasted Drive soon get out of it, instead of
being anxious to proceed up to its terminus. Had
the department gone to work and caused it to be
rolled nicely, watered adequately and placed it
generally in acceptable condition, you would
have found any number of people anxious to
locate there." This is but a mere reflex of
private opinion generally entertained by West
Side property owners. Instead, however, of
making these opinions felt through the aid of a
demonstration agreed upon by all, a growl and a
shrug of the shoulders constitute the sum total of
their activity in the matter.

It is ludicrous to say thafc only our grand¬
children wUl benefit by this West Side, and that,
fchei-efore, we are too much ahead of time in urg¬
ing its improvemenfc. We know fche contrary to
be the case, where capitalists stand ready to
build if only certain streefcs are graded, regu¬
lated, curbed and guttered. How can they build
without these preliminary improvements ? Take
Wesfc Eighty-eighth streefc, for instance, be¬
tween Riverside avenue and fche Boulevard.
Ever since 1873 privafce.efforts have been made fco
have this streefc placed in condition for improve¬
ment. The entire work mighfc have been done in
six months if there was only energy in the De¬
partment of Public Works, or rather if Commis¬
sioner Allan Campbell ha.d been made fco under¬
stand his dufcies fco the owners of property, and
yet here we are in 1880, and it is only now that we
see fainfc glimpses of prospective public improve¬
menfcs in that street. In the meantime Mr.
Wilcox, Presidenfc of fche Meriden Britfcannia
Compauj, and his friend Mr. Russell, owning
together fcwelve lofcs, are awaiting an opportunity
to put up firsfc class houses fchere.

If now prompt and immediafce aefcion be taken
in the regulafcing of fchis sfcreet, these.gentlemen
may still build, bufc if fchey see no prospecfc of fche
sulky deparfcment doing anything, can anybody
blame them if they lose hearfe and show a disposi¬
tion fco sell their lofcs? Individuals are nofc to
blame for this neglecfc on fche Wesfc Side. The
cifcy and ifcs useless public deparfcments are. To
make the lafcfcer understand fcheir dufcies and act up
to them, to keep up a consfcanfc agifcationin regard
to these matters, is the bounden dufcy of properfcy





owners acfcing in a corporafce capacity wifch
energy and efficiency. Unless they do so in the
summer months as well as under fche gaslight of
fche winfcer season they will ulfcimately recognize
fche necessity of surrounding the Wesfc Side,
indeed, wifch a grand fence and fche words'' Legacy
for our posterifcy " inscribed thereon.





So many sfcrucfcures known as " markets " have
been condemned of late in this city, thafc archi¬
tects now have a firsfc class opporfcunifcy fco presenfc
something unique, useful, and afc fche same fcime
ornamental in fche number of new designs they
will shortly be called upon fco make for fche recon-
sfcrucfcionof Fulfcon, Clinfcon and perhaps Jefferson
markefcs. For a purpose like-this fche ornamental
should be secondary fco fche useful, and the arcbi¬
tecfc, who, while comprehending the mefcropolifcan
fcaste of our people, neverfcheless, can remember
thafc in fchis cifcy a markefc sfcrucfcure accommodates
only a particular section of the city, will carry
off the prize. It is a subjecfc worfch thinking of in
a cifcy where markefc sfcrucfcures have been a shame
and. disgrace fco us these many years past. In this
connection, also, we call the attention of those
interested to the public notice in our advertising
columns, by which ifc will be seen fchat Hoboken
is ready to expend $50,000 in fche consfcrucfcion of
a new city hall and armory.





The Herald, in commenting upon the apparent
failure of fche recenfc auction sale of Riverside lots,
appears fco be under fche impression fchafc property
on fche Wesfc End plafceau can still Oe had by fche
acre, and afcfcributes the low prices to the fact thafc
fchose in charge of fche sale endeavored fco dispose
of fche properfcy in lots of 25x100. How could
fchey have done otherwise? The entire section
has been surveyed and divided in blocks and lots.
The aucfcioneer mighfc have put up the enfcire block
between Riverside, Eighty-eighth and Eighty-
ninth sfcreefcs and Eleventh avenue as a whole, but
would he have had any bid at all, then '? If cap¬
italists desired more lots fchan one they could have
had any number they desired. We have a sus¬
picion, however, that the Herald man when writ¬
ing aboufc Riverside avenue lots was permitting
his thoughts to roam along tbe vicinity of Fort
Washingfcon, about a hundred blocks more norfch-
ward, where properfcy cau yet be had by the acre.





ARREARS OF TAXES.

The Comptroller gives ofBcial notice to owners of
real estate that, as provided by chapter 123 of the
laws of 1880. they may now pay any arrears of taxes
and Croton water rents levied prior to the year 1S77,
with iiiterest thereon at the rate of 7 per cent, per
annum. If, however, such taxes and Croton water
rents are not paid before the first day of October next,
the property on which they are due will be sold for
taxes immediately thereafter, with the additions of
accrued interest thereon at the rate of 12 per cent,
per annum from the respective dates on which they
were levied.

Lists for such tax sale are now being prepared by
the Clerk of Arrears.

The time of payment of taxes for the vears 1877,
1878 and 1879, with interest thereon at the rate of
7 per cent, per annum, is extended to the flrst day of
April, 1881, and if not paid before that date, interest
will be payable at the rate of 12 per cent, per annum.