June 19, I







Record and Guide





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Vol. LIX.





JUNE   19, 1897.





No. 1,527





'   NEW  BUILDING  LAWS.

The Record and Guide will publish a new
edition of the New York Building Laws and
ordinances as soon as official copies of several
recent laws can be obtained from the Secretary
of State's office. Those who are familiar with the
manner in which our previous editions of the
building laws have been compiled know what to
expect—a handy volume, with headings and mar¬
ginal notes, full indexes and colored engravings.
This is a complete and standard work, edited by
William J. Fryer, and is invaluable to architects,
builders and others interested in building oper¬
ations. The new edition will bring the building
laws up to date, together with the Greater New
York Charter provisions, which latter take effect
next January. Orders for the new publication
may now be sent in to the Record and Guide,
Nos. 14 and i6 Vesey Street, New York, and
deliveries will be made at the earliest day practi¬
cable.





THERE could be no better bull point on tbe stock market
. than the way it resisted an organized selling movement
this week. Some of the best known speculative houses and
operators led the movement. The selling preceeded the an¬
nouncement of the Hawaiian Treaty and was based appareutJy
on advance information and the expectation that it would be
frowned upon in financial circles and that a smash in prices
■would follow. If the advance information cost anything to get,
the operation must have been a very satisfactory one, inasmuch
as it has not yet been possible to cover the shorts put out upou
it except at considerable loss. This is one of the occasions when
the sharp set got bitten. Thanks are due them, however, fov
having, even though unintentionally, removed a suspicion that
the present bull movement in the market was artificially con¬
structed and sbown that there is steady buying by the public
whenever good opportunity therefor presents itself. Bulls will
consider, no matter what it costs the would-be bears, that the
money was well spent and tbe results cheap at the price. There
is still room for advance- Prices are lower generally thau they
were last November, aod those of last November did not reach
the point at which they stood in the previous May. Yet all the
time the business situation Is continually improving, in support
of which statement the advance in iron prices can be confidently

pointed to.

^•„   •     ♦ f--------

PROGRESS is being made in arranging the basis for peace
between Turkey and Greece in spite of, aud apparently
much to the regret of, the special correspondents, whose chagrin
finds expression in "alarming rumors." The removal, melancholy
as the circumstances were, of the celebrated Barney Barnato
from the field of European speculation will re-act advan¬
tageously in South Africa. His executors will find it necessary
to act with more circumspection than he did in the management
and disposal of his estate, and will not be at liberty to employ
its resources in creating political ferment, as its late owuer un¬
doubtedly did. Moreover, we are to find out how much of fact
and how much of fancy there was in the popular estimates of
Barnato's fortune, and will be mueh surprised if, as usual, they





have not been greatly exaggerated. It would be very remarkable
if such a man as Barnato had shown modesty in his intimations
of his wealth, when he was so grossly immodest in all elsa.
However, the reported results of operations in the South African
gold fields are more than sufficient to offset any adverse influ¬
ence that might be expected from the death of one of the active
spirits iu their development, and it is beeau,se of this fact that
Barnato's suicide, even with the inference of personal losses
that underlies that act, has uot had any injurious effect upou
speculation or business.





NOTWITHSTANDING that an appeal made this week to the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, to reconsider their
decisiou iu the matter of the Third Aveuue approach to the new
Harlem River bridge, was backed by the strongest kind of a
representation from the district afEected aud by the weightiest
of argument, the Board persisted in its determination to approve
the approach through the easterly blocks.   Consequently this ab¬
surdity of engineering is to be perpetrated upon the city. What
reason the Board had for this obstinacy, beyond the minor one
of a saving in the cost of the work, if any, does uot appear, but
we are confident, as we have stated before and as Mayor Strong
pointed out to the Board, that the money it is now intended to
expend in making au approach will be wholly wasted, because
the direct approach must eventually be made.  What is proposed
will be so intermixed with elevated railroad structures and other
things that it will be not ouly unsightly but inadequate and im¬
practical also.  To avert it, it is almost to be hoped that, in the
official changes that may be expected next year, the personnel
of the Board of Estimate aud Apportionment will be so changed
that another appeal can be made to it with more prospect of
success. It is not even apparent that those who refused to adopt
the direct approach were wholly swayed by economical reasons.
Oue of the members of the Board, the head of the Department
of Public Works, who was most positive in his refusal, is, we
understand, preparing to ask for power to make additional ex¬
penditures on the Lexington avenue approach—a matter he has
all along had iu view.   These expenditures are for the purpose
of taking thirty feet from the Hart and Remsen tracts iu order
to construct a sidewalk for this approach, aud further to take
fifty feet from the north side of 130th street, between Park aud
Lexiugton avenues, in order to make access to it easier-   We
have no objection to seeing Lexington and Park avenues derive
all the benefits they can from the bridge, but why they should
do it at the expense of Third avenue, the origiual and legitimate
artery of travel to the bridge, is beyond our comprehension, aud
looks very much libe a great injustice to that historic thor¬
oughfare.





SOONER or later the courts will be asked to pass upou the
constitutionality of recent legislation which allows title to
be taken for property in condemnation before payment is made
therefor- Several acts were passed by the last legislature giving
title at certain dates, both specific aud general in their scope, and
their provisions have been stated in these columns. Their in¬
tention is to prevent in the future the tiresome delays that have
almost without exception attended the carrying out of needefl
public improvements, while the city and property-owners have
been fighting over the matter of damages, and assessments,
where there were any, in the courts. The Third avenue bridge
would have been completed long since but for the inability of the
city to obtain possession of the laud needed for approaches until
special legislation was obtained- The widening of Elm street is
another important work that has dragged wearisomely for a
long time for a like reason. The city now has title so far as an
untested act of tbe legislature can give it, and should there be no
intervention from the courts, the work will be pushed rapidly
to completion. It is rumored, however, that that is not to be
allowed and that possession will be denied to the city until the
Commission's report has been approved by the Supreme Court
aud the way cleared for an immediate payment of the awards-
Whether this fs so or not, it beiug a matter for careful considera¬
tion on the part of property-owners, cannot be deflnitely ascer¬
tained, but the argument on which opposition to entry by the
city is based is deserving of consideration- Stated crudely, it is
that it is unjust to the owners of property and a violation
of their constitutional rights to compel them to turn over
to their opponents for destruction the evidences of value
ou which they base their claims to compensation. As re¬
gards the Elm street property it is questionable if any¬
thing is likely to be done to jeopardize such awards
as have been made iu that case, especially as these awards
carry interest at six per cent, from May 1 last. The act
authorizing the acquirement of a site for the new Hall of
Records gives title to tlie city of the site selected four months
from the flling of the oaths of the Commissioners of Estimate.