Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXVI.





NEW YOEK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1880.





No. 660





Published Weekly by

TERMS.
ONK IfKAR. in advance....810.00.
Communications should be addressed to

C.   W.   SWJBET,

No. 187 Broadway





NEW YORK'S INFLUX.

It is, indeed, refreshing to those whose leis¬
ure time is devoted to studying the progress
of our country and the effect of this progress
upon the metropolis of America, to notice
the antics of those who are astounded when
plain matter of fact figures show them the
changes in the political preferences of a
voting population, such as is being crowded
to-day on Manhattan Island.

Here we have been talking from week to
week in the columns of The Real Estate
Record not only of the enormous increase
of our population, but of the distinguish¬
ing features of that inci-ease. We have said
for more than a year now, in these very col¬
umns, that—

First—^Many capitalists who had made
money in California, Texas, or other
Pacific, Southern and Northern States, were
quietly dropping their "specs" there, and,
having realized their cash proflts, had moved
to this city of New York.

Second—Those who had under their con¬
trol the manufacture of articles requir¬
ing an accessible shipping point had set¬
tled down with their machinery, their fore¬
men, their workingmen in and around New
York, not only from New Jersey, but from
Connecticut and other New England States.
We have frequently pointed to the increase
of manufacturing establishments, small and
large; for instance, in the Eighth and Ninth
Wards of this city, in the annexed districts
across the Harlem, and in Brooklyn. These
facts, continually repeated in these columns,
have since been confirmed by the official
statement of the special supervisor charged
with gathering statistics in regard to manu¬
facturing, and he predicted, under his own
signature, that the facts when published
would prove New York City to be not only
the largest commercial, but also the largest
manufacturing city in the United States.

And yet we hear of people being astounded
at the change, which the total vote of New
York represented as cast on Tuesday last.
To us it appeared in quite a different light.
We are, indeed, astounded that the increased
vote for "no change," originating mainly
among the workers in these factories at one
side, and the increased number of resident
capitalists on the other side, has not been
jarger.





And here we now give the test upon which
we based that belief.

We know from sources entitled to credit,
and worthy of belief, that no less than fifteen
thousand new families have settled down in
some fashion or other in this good city of
New York since the summer months set in,
and especially since the close of the summer
months.

There is to-day a demand for unfurnished
and furnished houses in this city that can¬
not be supplied. It is even currently re¬
ported that the Astors, with all of their im¬
proved property, had not a single house to
let on the morning of November 3d.

There is also just now a very large demand
for the purchase of houses, and if no more
are sold than recorded in these columns, it
is simply due to the enhanced views of sell¬
ers, and the as yet moderate views of buyers.

Aside of this influx of strangers, however,
let us remind our readers that our popula¬
tion is expanding just now to a greater ex¬
tent than they have been giving full credit.
While during the panic times, foUowing
closely upon 1873, people were loth to
marry, better times have changed aU this.
Smart real estate operators and brokers can
see the difference plainly before their eyes.
During the prevalence of hard times, people
" doubled up," so to speak, in boarding and
lodging houses. Those who boarded below
Fourteenth street then, have since gone up
into "the brown stone" districts above
Thirty-fourth street. Those who occupied
these eligible boarding quarters have since
gone into the suites of various apartment
houses, found so exquisitely and nicely ar¬
ranged in the very best parts of the island.
And last, but not least, those who have lived
in flats before, are now seeking either to
rent houses or to buy them.

The real estate riarket, carefuUy studied
in all its various tendencies, is the very best
index to those novices who, in a country like
this, where universal suffrage lies at the
bottom of all political changes, desire to flnd
the cause for this change.

No one who has carefully read the col¬
umns of this journal during the past twelve¬
month, has any reason to be surprised at the
change. Capital and labor work hand in
hand in this Ajnerican metropolis, and hon¬
est capital as well as honest labor combined,
both looking towards the same result, have,
indeed, brought about the change which is
just now worrying the heads of the wily poli¬
ticians and the good for nothing theorists.





tractive houses by designing porticoes or
what would replace the ordinary awning
over their door steps ? When receptions or
wedding parties are given, an awning has to
be hired t'^ save the dresses of the ladies,
should it rain or shine, in walking from the
carriage to the door. It would serve a use,
therefore, if our finer houses were provided
with a covering over their front steps. Not
only would it be useful, but it would be novel
and ornamental. Such coverings or porches
should be artistic. In Thirty-seventh street,
near Fifth avenue, will be seen a device of this
kind, and it certainly has differenced the
house to which it is attached from any in
the neighborhood. Ladies on opening a
door do not care to face 'the wind or sun
directly. They wish to adjust their dress
before descending the steps. They would
like, also, to have a chance to open their
umbrella or sun-shade. This can be better
done under a porch than in the open air of
the day.

As we have said, ours is an exceptionally
warm climate in summertime, and porches,
porticoes, awnings if you please, give a sense
of coolness to a house which it cannot have
otherwise. It helps, also, to create a draft
when the hall doors are opened.

We make this suggestion to builders as
they all know a little fanciful device or or¬
nament adds greatly to the value of a well
built house. We are constructing a great
many dwellings in New York to-day, and
next spring will be erecting a largely in¬
creased number of new residences. The
builders who furnish the most attractive res¬
idences to customers will secure the largest
trade, and then it is in the interest of art and
our domestic architecture that there should
be a wide diversity in the residences of the
rich. Nothing can be more elegant than an
ordinary brown stone house, but there is
rather too much of this kind of architecture
now. Houses built of fine brick and orna¬
mented with varying colored stones, have
proved to be very attractive to pupils of taste
and wealth, and there is all the difference
between a living and a fortune to the builder
who caters to the taste as weU as to the com¬
fort of his customers.





PORTICOES AND DOOR FRONTS.

In view of the tropical climate of New
York in summer time, why do not our
builders vary the fronts of their more at-





POINTS, HINTS AND FORECASTS.
The action of the Secretary of the Treas¬
ury in stopping the weekly purchase of
bonds gave a sudden check to the rise in
prices, and the market was quite weak on
Thursday. The wisest heads in the street
looked for lower prices towards the latter
part of November and early in December.
But it is argued that this check to a booming
market may keep prices steady. No one ap¬
prehends any such disastrous break as we had