AL  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE.





Vol. XXVIII





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1881.





No. 713





Published Weekly by The

Real Estate Record Association

TE-RMS:
ONE ¥I5AR, in adviim*   .....   $6.00

Communications should lie addressed to

C, W. SWEET, 137 Broadway.

T. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





THE LIKES OF POPULATION.
It is a wonder that no one has thought of
getting up a map showing the lines of
greatest improvement ic New York City
aince say 1830. The diagrams should show
the direction and location of the growth of
business property, of first-class residence*
property and then of improvements which
simply indicated the increase of population.
Such a map would, in a rough way, indicate
to the investor the best sectiors in which to
put his money for future enhancement.

Such a map would emphasize the fact
that sudden breaks or jumps from one part
of the city tb another are very rare. The
lines of advance are continuous, there is a
certain filiation between property of the
same kind. The poorer population settled
on the east side of the city and the steady
growth of__tenement and other cheap prop¬
erty is never interrupted from one end of the
island to the other. So also of the dwell¬
ings built and occupied by the very rich.
Commencing at Washington square, the
choicest property on the island continues on
ihe central ridge up to Mount Morris. Above
that park Fifth avenue and Madison
avenue continue to contain the costliest
Jiouses, and the far seeing real estate men
who manage the Astor property have
bought the ground north of the Harlem
River, which is in fact a continuation of the
central ridge of New York island. They
believe that the finest houses in the Twenty-
third and Twenty-fourth wards will be
midway between the Soimd and the Hudson
River.

We have said that it is rare that any par¬
ticular kind of business makes a sudden
change from one locality to another. Yet
this occurred twice, if not oftener, within
the last fifty years. The wholesale dry-goods
business suddenly left Pearl and the ad join¬
ing streets and migrated to the West Side, in
the Third and Fifth wards, below Canal street.
This was a quarter of a century back.
Another break occurred when Second avenue
was deserted for Fifth avenue, as the fashion-
able thoroughfare of New York. The pro¬
jectors of the West Side improvements
believed that New York, like other cities,
would finally find its choicest location west
of the Central Park and overlooking the
shores of the Hudson. It is, we believe,
true of every great city in the world that its
east side population is a poor one, and its
west side con tains the choicest realty. So
far the fashiojiable quarter has not jumped
from the centre to the ■western edge of this
island. The finest houses are still built
along Fifth and Madison av^enues.





Some years since, we ventured to suggest
that perhaps the building movement on the
West Side would not begin in earnest until
the upward tide of new buildings reached
above the Central Park. The current, we
thought, would then deflect towards the
west, and in time the vacant spaces north of
the park would become dotted with houses
until the heights to the west were reached,
after which tlie building would be down-
w^ard as well as upward. And so it has
turned out. Since we made this forecast,
whole streets have been built up north of
One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and
west of Fifth avenne. In last week's
Record will be found among the projected
buildings plans for the erection of dwellings
on Ninth avenue and One Hundred and
Fifty-third and One Hundred and Fifty-
fourth streets. The house on One Hundred
and Fifty-third street is to cost $65,000, and
the others projected are also high priced.
This may commence the era of fine houses
on the West Side. It wiil be easy for the
experiencf^d real estate dealer in his mind's
eye to follow the course on which the high¬
est priced houses will be erected. Were
some of our leading real estate authorities to
di'aw such lines upon the maps, it would be
found that opinions would not much differ.
All the indications are that the West Side
cannot be much longer neglected. Prices
have stiffened, and while there has been no
boom, the quotations for lots has been quiet¬
ly marked up. So far, Eighth avenue oppo¬
site the park, the Boulevard and the River¬
side drive have been apparently neglected ;
but it is very certain that along these now
apparently neglected thoroughfares the
high-priced speculation will rage within the
coming ten years.





WITH GROUNDS ATTACHED.

In the early history of this island people
of means, who recognized the possibilities
of the future, possessed themselves of acres
and built thereon their homes. On the
banks of both rivers, as well as in the central
parts of the island, were situated the home¬
steads surrounded by gardens and what in
courtesy were pometimes called farms. Some
of the great fortunes in real estate are due
t-j the possessions of these houses and
grounds in the suburbs of the then growing
city. The A stors, Whitney s, Roosevelts,
Lenoxs, among others, profited by the posses¬
sion of such rural homes.

But the time came when the growing
value and the increased taxation forced the
land owner either to erect dwellings or to
sell portions of his landed estates. The
packing of over a million of persons in so
small a space, when the only means of transit
was the omnibus or the horse car, resulted in
rows of buildings abutting upon the streets
and put an end to the villas or dwellings
surrounded by kitchen-garden, conserva¬
tories, and lawn. In this paper we have
frequently expressed the opinion, that the
town house surrounded by grounds wbtild
, again come into fashion v»tien aksh people





realized all the possibihties of steam transit.
The splendid city house, instead of being
built upon the street with no grounds beyond
a few feet of open space in the rear, will be
replaced by the fashionable edifice sur¬
rounded by grounds and having such
approaclies in the way of lawns and walks
that will heighten the architectural en¬
semble. The new Vanderbilt houses lose
much of their effect by being confined to
the limits of a narrow avenue block. If
each of 1 hose houses took up a whole block
on Riverside drive they would in every way
be more effective.

It is now rumored that Mr. Sidney DiUon
intends to take a new departure in the
erection of a city house. He has, it is said,
secured thirteen lots on the northeast comer
of Fifth avenue and Seventy-sixth street,
upon which it is said* he intends to erect the
most magnificent private edifice in the
United States. He has 100 feet front on
Fifth avenue. Few men, however rich,
would have the means to occupy so much
ground on the most costly private avenue in
the world, but any ordinary millionaire
could afford to construct splendid residences
ujion whole blocks north or west of the
Central Park or overlooking the river at
Riverside d rive. When this demand springs
up, as it soon will, the price of unimproved
property finely located on this island will be
largely enlianced. We are multiplying our
very rich men rapidly, and the example of
the Vanderbilts and the Dillons will be
quickly followed. Thirty or forty houses
with grounds attached, such as we have
described, would make a large hole in the
available eligible real estate west and north
of the Central Park.





The stoppage of business on election day
accounts for the falling off in the number of
conveyances an4, new mortgages as com¬
pared with the previous week. It willbe
noticed that the sum total of tie mortgages
is greater than any noticed during the
season.                                     .          _







Week




N.Y.




Am't.




No.




No. 23d




Am't.




No.





end




City




in-    Nom-




&24th




■ in¬




nom¬





ing.




Cons.




volved




inal




Warda




volved.




inal.





Sept.









$














$










14




75




809.071




25




13




24,450










21




111




1..S81.992




36




16




45.928




8





28




89




1,355,333




21




19




90,593




4





Oct.



































5




157




3.200,444




34




15




1.5.40O




8





12




157




2.007.448




89




21




88.289




3





19




1.59




1,00(5,607




62




18




6».00O




6





S)




146




1,720.325




44




21




213,871




6





Nov.



































2




192




3.1C3.4C9




44




20




25.725




4





9




151




2,932,410




37




14




71,300




1





Week  Mort-   Am't.      No.      Am't.   ' No. to    Am't

end-   gag-         in-     Five         in-        T. &        in-

fng.     es.     volved. perct.   volved.  Ins Cos.  volved.

Sept.                   $                         S                         $

14      108       793.153     13       224.700      17        227.S00

21      149     1,159,231     29        235.681      28        464.450

28      117   .1,076,874    29       469,100      27        562,500
Oct.

5      169     1.810,983     33        a34.900      31        378.700

13      152     1,531,8.56     28        285.611      29       549.175

19      174     1,466.930     86        a34,038      30       480,250

26      298     1,741,208     35        377,632      51        687,000
Nov.

2      241     1,866,805    55       466.500      41        376,000-

9      204     2,331,630    43        787.250      26       374,901





Old stock operators say that December is
usually a bear months and the reason they
give is, that'money is apt to be"locked up-
temporarily, due to the payment of taxec