No rember 17, 1883





The Record and Guide.





903





Concerning Men and Things.

***

The theatrical season is in full blast, hut there ia great complaint among
managers over the sll a audiences, Irving and Miss Terry draw full
bouses at ilouble prices, aod the money paid to see them i^ well laid out,
Tbe pi«cei are put on tbe stage in a most admirable manner, and tbe sup¬
port is excellent. Miss Terry is a delightful, if not a great artist, and Mr.
Irvine Is a surprisingly interesting actor, though his mannerisms provoke
a great deal of natural criticism on the part of his American audience.s.
He is wise not to appear as yet in Hamlet, It would be looked oc as gro¬
tesque by audiences whoie ideal of the Prince of Denmark is modelled upon
the personations of Edwin Booth,

***

Several new theatres are under way in New York. The Bijou, nearly
opposite Wallack's, is being rebuilt; then the Kiralfy Brothers are to have
ft hou^e for spectacles and billets on Fourth avenue, Mr. Palmer, late of
tbe Union Square, will neit spring commence the cou'truction of a new
theatre, somewhere, it is believed, on the line of Broadway, Haverly,
also, is to construct an immense edifice modelled after the London
Albambra, That tbe floating population of New York steadily incrfasee
is shown by the great number cf places of amusement in every part of the
city. The running of night trains to points within thirty miles of New
York furnishfas a large addition to the audiences at our theatres nightly.

*'^«

John Stetson is having a bard time of it with tbe Fifth Avenue Theatre.
It haa always been sn unlucky bouse, though why it is .difficulty to say.
The manager has been trying to run his house without stars. He pays
Cbarles Coghlan tlOO a week, but (his actor seems to have lost his attractive¬
ness, He is a flne artist in plays adapted from the modern French drama,
but be made a failure at Wallack's aome eeasons ago in the standard
English comedies. Stetson ia now trying to get rid of bim by abusing him
to th • Interviewers. He says publicly that he wants Coghlan to break his
contract. Stetson commenced his career hy publishing an extremely dia-
reputable paper In Boston, a publication far worae of iis kind than the
Police Gazette of tbia (ity, yet he subsequently made money in that moral
city as a theatrical fpeculator. Hia New York venlures in the same lint
have not proved so prcfltable. It is a curious fact that for several seasons
be had in bis company Mr. Mantel, the actor, who has made so great a hit
in i^'cdoi-tt, and wbo all the critics think will rank hrgher than tbe late
Charies Ti.orne, Stetson, after engaging him, pronounced bim a "duffer,"
and sent him out on the road, but the rejected artist has proved far more
attractive than the high-salaried Charles CoghlarL

***
Miss Fanny Davenport, by tbe w-ay, has made th-i hit of her life in gar¬
den's latest and floest plaj', Fedora, tehe is an actress of great intelligence,
and in her extreme youih was famed for ber sumptuoua beauty. She
waa growing over-fleshy for youthful parts when she began a system o'
dieting and exercise which haa wonderfully reduced ber former ample pro¬
portion, and she cen now boast of quite an elegant figure. But nbat a
struggle it must have been for a full blooJed and presumably indulgent
person to starve and slint herself so aa to get rid of some fl[ty pounds of
flsth. But Fanny Davenport has accomplished this feat, whicb shows she
is possessed o an indonii able will and a high ambition. Her acting, alao
poBsessea a subtlety not objervable in former years.





The Success of the Apartment House.

Public interest io the great apartment house question is increasing from
day to day. Schemes are spoken of for the erection of even larger and
coatlier structures than the "Navarro," or the new Piaza buildings.
Hitherto the organizers have been limited in number, and Mr. Charles A,
Gerlach, the promoter of tha "Gramercy," on the corner of Gramercy
Park and Twentieth street, recently gave the result of his knowledge and
experience to a representative of The Record and Guide, which is not
only interesting as an evidence of the financial success of the apartment
bouse, but may also serve as a guidd to tbe promoters of other structures
of tbe kind.

"Mr, Gerlach," said the writer, *'I hear yonr apartment house quoted
as one of the most successful and profitable investments for the stockhold¬
ers among tbe various home clubs in the city. In what features does your
plan differ from the others now in existence V'

" Well," was tbe r.3ply, " we have taken advantage of tba experience of
all tbe other clubs, and have added to ita fuiv ideas of our own. The
secret of our success consists iu the manner in which the apartments are
apportioned off, and by the arrangement that certain apartments in the
building shall be reserved for renting, so as to bring in an income for the
beueflt of tbe stockholders or owners. Let me naake tbe matter clear to
you. There are tea stories to th? building, and of these six were sold to
the present stockholders, leaving four stories—two upper and two lower—
which are never to be soli, but are rented for the benefit of those owning
ths other six stories, Thia guarantees to each stockholder an income euf-
floient to pay all running expenses, as well as a small cash dividend."

" Tben do I understand," asked the writer, " that the owner of an apart¬
ment, if he occupies it, gets his rent free, and ia addition a small cash
return at the end of the year V

" That is just what I mean," replied Mr, Gerlach, "provided we obtain
the rents oC our original schedule. And I think we are safe on that score,
as tha annual rents we have obtained so far are from $1,000 to J3,OUO a
floor higher than our estimated prices."

"Well, it aeems to me that makes a vary profitable inveatment for parties
wbo buy to rent, for I underslaud tbat all a stockholder obtains from
leasing his apartments belongs to him, just as though it were hia own
hdiise "

" Yes, there are some apartments owned in that way, and their ownera
ara receiving from 30 to 40 per cent, a year on their investment. Apart-
auiU ta tha " Qrameroy " that sold thia last August for |13,000 bare Blnoe





been Bold for $15,000 cash. The capitalist making this investment does it
on sound businesa principles, fur the apartment ia question is rented for
|1,.W0 per year for a term of years, and 1 would gladly buy every apartm
ment now in the house at 25 per cent, above tbe prices paid by the present
owners,"

"Do yonr prices differ according to the different floors?" queried tho
writer.

"No, sir," wa'j the reply, "nor would I care to have anything to do
with an apartment house that made such a distinction."

" Why do you apeak bo emphatically on this matter ?"

" Because it ia a very important point. Tbe moment you charge a differ¬
ent price for each floor you at once change tbe caste of your whole house,
and divide it into claases. The family that lives on the ninth fl wr of tha
"Gramercy " feels just as happy and satiafled as the one on the flrst, and
also quite equal, becauae the purchasers all pay the same for their apart*
ments. and the tenanta the same rents,"

" These facts somewhat explain the reason for building high houses."

"Yes, and witb tbe modern conveniences for reaching tbe upper stiriea,
I think makes them very desirable ina crowded city. The huilding of
theae co-operative palaces is, in my opinion, in it* infancy, as a four-sCory
house on a flfty to a hundred thousand dollar lot is hardly a paying invest"
ment, when one apartment costingfrom 120,000 lo t:iO,O0O will rent for the
Same money.'

"I see." said the writer, "that Messrs, Phyfe & Campbell are pushing
the construction of their immense building on the Plaza property, on Fifth
avenue and Fifty-ninth street. Will they adopt tbe same plan there aa
they did In the " Gramercy ?"

"The same features will no doubt be adopted by them, to which will
be added some new ideas of tbeir own, which will be of interest to the
public, and which they will make known as saoa aa the plans of tbe archi¬
tect, Mr, Carl Pfeiffer, aro completed."





Staten  Island   Improvements.
II.

In the last number of The Record and Guide we gave a report on the
present status of the newly projected railroads on Staten Island, the Rapid
Transit Railway, an extension of the Ti,ttensville & Clifton road, to the
ferry connections at Tompkinsville, and thence along the north shore to
Elm Park, and the Terminal Railroad, extending from a point nearly
opposite Woodbury in New Jersey to the water front at Stapleton. The
objective points of both these roads are, of course, on tbe western side of
Staten Island Bound.

It may be tbought that these plans are made without a due considera¬
iion of the obstacles that interfere between Staten Island and the main
land which lies still under the control of New Jersey. But there is not
now much cau=e for uneasiness. New Jersey is beginninj to learn that
heneflta are reciprocal; that you cannot enhance the valui oC your own
farm by keeping that of your neighbor in an nncidtivated, unkempt condi¬
tion, and the momentum tbat will carry the railroads to the Sound will
carry them over or under the Sound without much delay. Until now the
oeople of Staten Island have never seemed to care for their commercial
future. There ara a few factories in the island, an unexpectedly large
number, indeed, as the recent hi centennial procession Indicated; hut tbat
Richmond County was ever destined to play an important role m iha com
merce of tbe por  of Kew York does not seem to havo been foreseen.

It IS not alone in planning and constructing new railroads, however,
that the island shows signs of increasing activitv. Were tbis tbe only in¬
dication of improvement there might he yet occasion to dread a collnpse;
but it is only one among other and atill more favorable symptom'. Real
esiate dealers, without exception, report an entire change in the methods
of handling property and an activity never before equalled. Men are be-
<rinning to sell land on a fair inducement, aud to build bouses tbat can be
rented to tenants of moderate means. Heretofore, except to a hmited
extent, this hasnot been true. The law of entail could bardly wo.k moro
efficiently than Staten Island custom and habit for keeping landed p operty
in the family. Few have cared to sell, and the few who undertook to im¬
prove were satisfled only with dwellings that they could offer for rent to
men who were at least nxoderately rich. As a oonaequence of Ibis policy
tbere could be only a very alow increase in population, and, as always
follows, an equally slow increment in values. But all this is now changed.
Within the past year nearly one hundred ani fifty pieces of property
whicb, during the previous ten years, were practically withheld from the
market, bave been sold, and at prices which make them easily available
for Improvement. Several scores of new buildings to be counte'J, per¬
haps, by the hundreds in all, have bsen constructed during the past nine
months, and the work of improvemnnt is still aclivfly.in progress. These
buildings were all very q;uckly rented when finished, and aganti say that
if three hundred more dwelhngs had been at their disposal they would
have been readily taken. Atoneplacs in New B.ighton where several
dwellings were built by the same builder, a placard, " Theae dwellings are
all let," was placed in tbe windows almost as soon as tbey were en=
closed.

Among recent and pending transactions which aid to show the progress
ot thenew real eatate movement on the island may he mentioned thefollow¬
ing: Theplace of Daniel Low at New Brighton, for which $150,000 has been
refused, is offered for sale :n lots. The $1^5.000 place ot Anaun P. Stokea
is to share the same fort'jns. Isaac T. Tyson offers several acres on lhe
shore road. George Law has also a considerable propei ty wbich he pro¬
poses to divide up and sell. The Hamilton Park property, about 50 acres,
now in the poasession of the Mutual Life Iu jurance Company, at a cost of
$200,000, is to he divided and sold in parcels.

Further down tbe B ly there are signs of equal activity, and of an equal
determination, now that property is in motion, to keep it moving. Georga
Bechtel, at a cost of 130,000, has recently come into possession of a water
front at Stapleton, 400 feet on the water line and 1,000 feet deep.   This Is