Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXYI.





NEW TOEK, SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1880.





No. 645





Published Weekly by

TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance___SIO.OO.

Communications should be addressed to

C.  W.  S^ITEET,

No. 137 Broadwav





THE $215,000 PURCHASE IN  MADISON
AVENUE.

When it becaine known in Pine street the
other day that Mr, Pierrepont Morgan had
purchased the   house  of the Hon. Walter
William Phelps at the nortlieast corner of
]\Iadison ayenue and Tliirty-sixtli street for
$215,000—the   proiJerty   fronting   65.8   on
the avenue and 175 feet on the street—would-
be experts as to vahies freely exjiressed their
opiiaions  in regard to the purchase price,
Avhich the majority  considered  excessive.
Now, it is well, even for brokers and experts,
to be reminded of what The Real Estate
Record has often told them, that the prices
of New York real estate depend not only
upon   future   values,   but   mainly,   where
hard cash is at play, upon the personal pref¬
erences of the buyer.   We will, therefore, as
far as lies in our power, give a succinct his¬
tory of this property and its immediate sur¬
roundings.    The front on the east side of
Madison avenue between Thirty-sixth and
Thirty-seventh streets was purchased about
thirty years  ago by Messrs.  J. J.  Phelps,
Wm. E. Dodge and Isaac N. Phelps, for al¬
most nothing, so to speak.    Messrs. Murray
and Olyphant about the same time purchased
the northwest corner of Madison avenue and
Thirty-sixth street.    These gentlemen sub¬
sequently built a residence which finally be¬
came the home of  Bishop (now Cardinal)
McCloskey.    Mr. Olyphant also built a house
adjoining, and the  two houses have since
been occupied by Messrs. Oothout and Lucius
Tuckerman.    The one hundred and ninety-
seven feet  constituting the east  front on
Madison avenue, between Thirty-sixth and
Thirty-seventh streets, above alluded to, was
divided in three good and equal grants of
Qo% feet each.    Mr. Walter WiUiam Phelps,
the lieu- of Mr. J. J. Phelps, has now sold his
corner for $315,000 to Mr. Pierrepont Morgan.
The latter gentleman, who had for a long
time contemplated the idea of purchasing
this corner, was in London Ayhen he made
up his mind to give a fair consideration for
this elegant mansion.   The adjoining pala¬
tial residences are still occupied by Messrs.
Wm. E. Dodge and Isaac N. Phelps, and the
sale thus effected through Mr. Homer Mor¬
gan reflects credit not only pn the broker but





clination leads him to prefer a residence in
the immediate neighborhood of other bank¬
ers and capitalists. On Thirty-sixth street,
immediately adjoining, resides Mr. James
M. Brown, of Brown Brothers & Co.; on
Thirty-seventh street are the residences of
Mr. Norvin Green, President of the Western
Union Telegraph Company, and of Mr. Lan¬
ier of the firm of Winslow, Lanier & Co.
Commodore Garrison resides on the north¬
west corner of Park avenue and Thirty-sixth
street.

It will thus be seen that it is worth some¬
thing to reside in the immediate vicinity of
such neighbors, and while the Hon. Mr.
Phelps receives an excellent price for his
pi'operty, Mr. Pierrepont Morgan may be
congratulated at having secured such an
excellent domicile, which really cannot be
duplicated on Manhattan Island.

---------------------------H*^---------------------------

We understand that, in the course of very
few days, General Newton, in obedience to
an act of Congress, passed at the recent
session, will begin to survey the Bronx River,
with a view of improving it and making it
a navigable river throughout. The Bronx
is only navigable now from the morocco
factory in West Farms to Long Island Sound,
the remainder being shallow and full of
rocks. Considering the steady influx of pop¬
ulation on both sides of the river, especially
the increase of manufacturing establish¬
ments, it wiU readily be seen how great will
be the advantage to the adjacent property
that will follow in the wake of the improv-
ments, which it is generally believed will be
set on foot as soon as General Newton shall
have reported the results of his surveying
expedition.





will render the upper wards as free from
malaria as any other section 0|f the city.





We print to-day in another column the
new act providing'' for the proper drainage of
lands in the City of New York," which hav¬
ing been introduced by Assemblyman J. L.
WeUs, owing to his energetic efforts received
the signature of the Governor, and became
a law, the importance of which all property
owners will appreciate. The necessity for
this act arose from the fact that during the
early part of this year the Court of Appeals
decided the drainage act then in force uncon¬
stitutional, as it was in direct conflict with
Section VII. of Article 1 of the Constitution,
which provides that when private property
shaU be taken for any public use, compen¬
sation must be made therefor. The new
law is especially applicable to the new wards,
many portions of which sadly need a proper
system of drainage, where sewerage is too
expensive,   4-s ^ sanitary nieasure the act is

pf ^vmt Yfiluis p4 if PWp!?4 piif faithfully





There appears to be somewhat of a misap¬
prehension in regard to the manner in which
the World's Fair Commissioners will go to
work when they meet for organisation in
this city on August 10th, The general be^
lief has been heretofore that they will at once
appoint a sub-committee to select a site.
This, we are now authoritatively informed,
is premature. The only work expected from
the Commissioners after their organization
is the granting of authority to raise the re¬
quired funds. For that purpose they will
order books of subscription to-be opened for
at least six weeks. At the expiration of that
time the subscribers to the fund w^ill meet
with the Commissioners, and a Board of
Finance as well as a Committee on Site will
then be appointed. It is, therefore, not
likely that anything in regard to selecting a
site for the World's Fair will be done until
October, and perhaps not until November.





Builders and material men will be inter¬
ested in the information furnished them to¬
day in another column in regard to the con¬
sumption of pine lumber, and the importa¬
tion of cement. It is but natural that with
the vast improvements going on in this seC'
tion the West should be anxious to watch
closely our supplies on hand, and perhaps
take advantage of a supposed decrease in the
stock. Our market reporter, however, as
usual sets them at rest on this score. The
extraordinary increase in the importation of
cement footing up 96,000 barrels thus far in
1880—an increase of nearly 40,000 over 1879
—wiU arrest attention, and satisfy builders
generally that with this immense supply in
the market, there is, at least for the present,
no chance for a corner in cement.





The proceedings taken by the mechanics
at the Rockaway Hotel were of the Higher
Law order, not at all in accordance with the
Mechanics' Lien laws of our State. Even
the British consul who advised the Canadian
workingmen to retain possession of the prem¬
ises would have done wiser if he had taken
counsel from an ordinary American lawyer.
Of course the great public sympathizes with
the mechanics, but they should look to their
boss mechanics for their pay. The latter are
under contract to do a certain work, and the
law gives them the means to recover by at¬
tachment in accordance with legal process.
To permit, however, a mob of workingmen
to t'ake possession ot property, without due
pep^SI pf JaWj ipi ,so^?}f|i]ii|ig that eye^ ^vf^,