EAL  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXIX.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JAJSTUARY 21, 1882.





No. 723





Published Weekly hy The

Real Estate Record Association

TERMS:
GIVE YEAR, in adyance.....$6.00

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway.

J. T, LINDSEY'Busmess Manager.





The regular subscribers to The Real Estate Record
who wish the Index for the last six months, should
call for it at once as the supply is running out. It has
not been sent to all subscribers, as it is of no value to
any hut those who keep flies.





SUBURBAN PARKS.

Various attempts have been made in this
country to establish neighborhood parks
near large cities. The projectors in every
case secured a large quantity of land, within
easy railroad communication of a business
centre and laid out the grounds with an eye
to artistic effects. There were to be no
stores, shops or nuisances, no houses to be
built that did not cost a minimum amount,
suificient to build a very pretty edifice.
Fences were not permitted, in short every
provision was made to guard against intru¬
sion, and to secure desirable neighbors and
elegant homes. Among the most noted of
these enterprises are Llewellyn Park, near
Orange : Riverside, near Chicago, and Menlo,
not far from San Francisco. These parks
have not, we believe, been financially suc¬
cessful. The residences did not always har¬
monize, neighbors are apt to be unneigh-
borly, and the solitude became in time lone¬
some to the younger members of the house¬
hold.

But what has proved a very doubtful ex¬
periment in the United States has, in one
case, in England at least, resulted in an
amazing success. Bedford Park is within
half an hour by the underground road of
the busiest part of London ; it is near Chis-
wick and within ten minutes ride of the
Kew Gardens. Originally it was an estate
of over 100 acres, owned by one Jonathan
Carr. The domain has since been increased
to over 300 acres. Bedford Park is only six
years old. In 1875 it was only an idea in the
mind of Mr. Carr, This gentleman was
struck with aremarK of Victor Hugo, who in
one of his works says: " Nothing stifles one
like perfect symmetry. Symmetry is ennui
and ennui is the very essence of grief and
melancholy." Mr. Carr applied this remark
to the houses around London, which are all
one like the other and laid out in rectangu¬
lar blocks. He consulted with Mr. Norman
Shaw, an architect of the aesthetic school,
and the result was the construction of a
number of houses, each differing from the
other and built not on the streets, but on
lanes, curved lines and in such a way as to
excite pleasure and surprise in whatever
direction the eye was turned.

Mr. Carr's scheme was as economical as it
was striking and convenient. One artistic
house ivo'ula c6st k ^Wi fl^iil >St M.6ii.^\ ^%





if a dozen or score were prettily grouped the
effect would be much better, and the cost
a great deal less. So far there are over 300
houses in Bedford Park and the demand for
them is far in excess of the supply. The fol¬
lowing is an account of this enterprise taken
from Chambers' Journal :

One great charm of the idea is that no two of
these residences are exactly alike ; and the pic¬
turesque effect produced by the whole is »uch as
to make the visitor marvel that the idea is so
novel, and that we have so long been content to
inhabit the hideous rows of stuccoed houses
which have hitherto prevailed. Moreover, no
pains have been spared in the laying out of the
estate to preserve the silvan beauty of the scene.
Not a tree has been needlessly cut down, so that
each dwelling, embowered as it is in its own
green garden, is shaded with greeneiy which
would almost lead the uninitiated to suppose that
this chai-ming little colony had been in existence
for at least ss many generation.s as it has years.
The houses themselves vary in size from" what
may be almost callefl a family mansion in minia¬
ture, down to the co.sy little dwelling which
brings the idea of " love in a cottage" from the
realms of fancy to those of real possibility; whilst
in proportion to their size, the rents range from
forty to one hundred pounds per annum, so as to
suit a varied class of tenants. So much for the
houses themselves. The estate, which now con¬
sists of nearly three hundred acres, is laid out
on a plan of equal novelty. Some six or seven
streets, or rather winding" lanes, are bordered by
about 3.50 of these villas—a number which is in¬
creasing steadily—cunningly disposed along the
lines of street. The peculiar characteristic of
these streets is the utter absence of that stiffness
which always seems to attend the chilly, regular
and hideous house rows of our other siiburbs. From
those straight lines of flat buildings, with their
long, cold prospectives and gloomy sameness of
right angles, nothing could be further removed
than the undulating outlines of the unique little
settlement of Bedfoi-d Park.

Nor is this all. Art alone is not consid¬
ered. It has co-operative stores where every¬
thing can be purchased at the lowest retail
price. There is a club also, frequented by
both sexes, with library, billiard and draw¬
ing rooms, lawn tennis courts, both of turf
and asphalt, ball room and neat little
theatre for amatevu-performances. There is
an inn also—a kind of antique hostelry, un¬
der the name of the Tabard. The sanitary
arrangements are perfect.

We have called attention to this enterprise
to suggest that there is room for a dozen or
or twenty such in the neighborhood of New
York, One or two might be in New Jersey,
several in Brooklyn : but the site for quite a
number of such enterprises can be found in
the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth "Wards.
The difficulty in the neighborhood parks in
in the United States has been their great
cost, inconvenience and lack of sociability.
It will be noticed that the rent of a cottage
in Bedford Park is not much more than one
would pay for an ordinary tenement in the
city of New York. They average from $200
to $500 per annum and they are so near a
railway depot that there is no necessitj-^ for
carriages. Although built near together,
they have plenty of "outdoors" in the way
of gardens and shaded laines. Our experi¬
ence in this city with Paris flats, and private
hotels, shows that the average American is
gregarious. He hungers to herd with his
fellows, and these little colonies begin by
furnishing companionship. The success of
Larchmont, near New Rochellej is a base in





within fourteen miles of the City Hall Park
which might be transformed into Bedford
Parks to the pecuniary advantage of the
projectors and to the benefit of those who
occupy the houses.





THE BOULEVARD.

The sale of Boulevard property last Wed¬
nesday attracted no little attention in real
estate circles. The lots were situated on the
southwest corner of Eighty-fourth street,
were some 16 feet below the grade and 87
feet deep : yet the corner lot brought $9,400
and a centre lot $8,100, three other inside
lots $7,250. Before the sale, the impression
seemed to be that if an average price of
$6,000 could be procured it would be an
excellent sale. The last important sale of
West Side property was the Riverside Drive
lots belonging to the Fumess estate. This
was a great di.sapp.ointment to holders of
West Side unimproved lots. The Boulevard
sale shows that there is a renewed interest
in West Side property, and that from this
time forth we may expect to see a steady
enhancement in values, due to the near ap¬
proach of the time when all the vacant
property west of the Central Park wiU be in
active demand for building purposes.

What is to become of the Boulevard ? Will
it be a business or a residence street ? and if
so, what kind of residences will it attract?
This is a matter which is even now being
considered by long-headed property holders.
The Boulevard is a continuation of Broad¬
way. Broadway owes its high valuation to
its use as a business thoroughfare, as the
most attractive location for stores upon the
island. On the same day on which these
Boulevard lots were sold, a lot on Broadway,
25.4x61. near the southeast comer of Forty-
fourth street brought $31,000, while the
comor ^lot, not much larger, brought $36,500,
and a centre lot 25.4x98 fetched $35,000.
These Broadway lots were not bought for
residences clearly, except that the design
might have been to build large apartment
houses. The true Broadway extends from
the Battery to the northern part of the State.
It is the prir cipal street or avenue in every
town on the east side of the Hudson. On it
are the most beautiful residences and hotels,
as well as business establishments, in Yon¬
kers, TaiTytown, Saratoga, everywhere in
fact along its route to'northem New York.
It is not believed that north of Fifty-ninth
street there will be a sufficient number of
inhabitants on the West Side to call for
costly retail stores. The leading grocery,
provision, drug and dry-goods stores will
probably be on Tenth avenue, and the
smaller establishments upon Ninth avenue;
but there is no probability that there will
ever be inducements in the way of popula¬
tion and patronage to warrant the erection
of large establishments for business on the
Grand Boulevard. Nor does it seem likelv
that the ordinary brown stone fronts will
ever invade that thoroughfare. They would
, aiie#l?^be m^i ai 0&^g ii) that Urd9d and sp.**