March 12, 1904





RECORD AND   GUIDE





545







Dg/ajfii TO R^ EsTAjE. BuiLDij/o ft^iTECTyRE .HousErioiL DEOtHJIIOll,
.BusoiEss Alio Themes of GEtfen^ iKrai^lj

IPHICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS

Vublishcd every Saturdas

Communicatlona sbould be addreaaod to
C. W. SWEET.  14.16 Vesey  Street,  New YorK

5. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager                           Telephone, Cortlandt 8157

'"SntereA at ttie Post Office at New York. N. Y., as second-class maUer."





Vol.   LXXIIL





MARCH  12.  1904.





No.   187S





TT seems inconceivable that the stock market should remain
•^ for miicii longer in just its present condition. Even the hab¬
itual speculators are discouraged an<I find no sufficient induce¬
ment either to buy or sell stocks. Professional operators are
looking, of course, for quick turns rather than for long pulls;
and the only certain thing about the market is that in the long
run prices will go up. It seems as certain as anything can be
that a year from mow the prices of good securities will be
higher; but the fear that in the meantime they will be lower
still, and the many uncertainties of the immediate future rob
men of any desire to look very far ahead. Among these uncer¬
tainties is, of course, the prospective Northern Securities decision
which, if unfavorable, will undermine so many great fi'nancial
structures, and which, if favorable, might well encourage an
immediate bul! campaign. Then the high prices of commodities
is affecting foreign trade in a manner which will tend to tighten
the money marliet, and general trade in various lines is dis¬
turbed and friglitened. The volume of business continues to be
considerable; but profits are small and business men do not
tare to take risks. On the other side of the column is the plain
fact of a much better tone to the iron and steel trade, and the
prospect the farmers will have a good year, unless the
crops are a total failure. Before long, however, Wall Street will
shake itself out ot its present rut and begin to move one way or
tbe other. It is to the interest of everybody to have a con¬
servative market at present; but an absolutely stagnant market
is to tbe interest of nobody and to some it spells disaster.





■^pHE amount of real estate business transacted and the gen-
■• eral outloolv distinctly improves from weelv to week; and
if the improvement continues there will be enough business for
everybody during April. May, and June. The January records
were undeniably discouraging. The number of conveyances did
not diminish, compared to the corresponding period of 1903;
but the money represented by them diminshed very consider¬
ably. The meaning of this fact was shown clearly by tbe
mortgage records which indicated a decrease of almost one-
half in the money loaned on real estate compared to January,
1903—this decrease taking place entirely in mortgages bearing
low rates of interest. The huiiding records told even a worse
story. The January i-ecords, however, represent business trans¬
acted in December; and the February flgures representing the
January business tell a better story. The numbtr of convey¬
ances is actually increasing, even if their total expressed con¬
siderations remain small. The number of mortgages is increas¬
ing very considerably, while the total amount of money loaned
does not fall off more than a few million dollars. Even the
plans for new buildings filed showed up somewhat better. And
it should be noticed that the later weeks in the month were, in
general, the better weeks. Between February 26th and March
3d, and, for instance, the number of conveyances ia Manhattan
alone increased by a hundred, or fully 20 per cent, over the cor¬
responding period last year, while the number of mortgages was
augmented by 170, or over 50 per cent It looks very much as
if the market were finding its pace, and would soon break away
from the conditions wUich have been restraining its course.
Flats and tenements continue to dominate the trading; but a
fair proportion of purchases for investment or use appear in
the news, and there can be no doubt that the transactions con¬
summated are becoming, on the whole, broader in character.
Parcels situated on Washingtou Heights turn up more fre¬
quently in the lists, while so far as the Bronx is concerned, a
large real estate and building activity is plainly beginning. Both
of these sections are on the eve of a rapid and prosperous career
of development, which wfll have too forward an impulse to be
checked by dear money or dear materials. Builders have been
holding back, chiefly because of the high price of brick; but these





prices will diminish during the next month or two. It is en¬
couraging to notice also that work is being started on the new
Hotel Brunswick, an enterprise that promises to achieve great
things for the location in which it is situated. The best, how¬
ever, is,yet to come, and the news of the next two months, both
in respect to the new and the old parts of the city, promises to
be of great interest and almost uniformly encouraging in char¬
acter.





C'INCE the Court House Commission cannot reach any





K^





■espect to the site of the new building, it is tim





that the whole matter should be re-opened and given a fresh
and disinterested consideration. It is true that neither of the
two sites at present before the commission is entirely satis¬
factory. The Broadway-Chambers Street site is really needed by
the municipality for other purposes, and it is expensive and
noisy. The Mulberry Park site is in a tenement house district,
and one which will remain so for several decades. Baxter and
Mulberry Streets make a sordid environment for the law courts
of New York County. Of the two. we prefer the Chambers
Street site; but we believe that it should be seriously con¬
sidered whether the prohibition in the bill against a site north of
Franklin Street should not be removed. The suggestion that
the Washington Square neighborhood be selected for the pur¬
pose is a very happy thought. Tbe property thereabouts is
not expensive; the site could be arranged so as the building
would have every advantage of position; and above all, the
neighborhood is one which would give the law courts the special
atmosphere of seclusion and quietude which is appropriate to a
great building devoted to the expounding of the law. From
every public point of view it is desirable to distribute such
special centers of business over different parts of the city rather
than to concentrate them within a narrow area; and a site in
Washington Square would provide the law courts with a neigh¬
borhood of its own without putting the lawyers to much incon¬
venience in the way of traveling a long distance. It may be
doubted, however, whether such action will ever be taken. Law^-
yers, like other people, do not want their habits disturbed, and
such a location as Washington Square for the new court house
would, of course, have against it the great inertia of settled
ways.





AT a recent meeting of the Brooklyn chapter of the Institute
of Architests, resolutions were passed condemning the ac¬
tion of the Borough President of Brooklyn in reopening the
competition for the new Borough Hall. The chapter takes the
ground that the action of Mr. Littleton is "against public policy,"
because it practically breaks faith with the architects who com¬
peted for the award, and "compromises the integi'ity of the
municipal government in its dealings with the profession."
That this protest is in large measure justified must be ad-
mited by every fair-minded person. It is true that there is on
abstract grounds something to be said on the other side. Mr.
Littleton claims that in the present instance he does not approve
of the plans as adopted and that he could not well appear be¬
fore the Board of Estimate and ask for an appropriation for a
building which in his opinion was not satisfactory. So far, so
good. One set of city officials is not bound to accept the deci¬
sions of its predecessors. The reform administration did not
hesitate to dispense, wherever it could, with the services of the
firm of architects employed by the Van Wyck administration.
But while it is unreasonable to aslt that Mr, Littleton should
be absolutely bound by the designs, or the plans prepared under
the direction of the preceeding Brother President, he cannot in
fairness to the architects who were asked to compete, reopen
the competition without fulfilling certain conditions. Mr. Hull,
for instance, should assuredly first be given a chance to modify
his plans, so as to suit the requirements of the Borough Presi¬
dent. If no arrangement can be made with Mr. Hull, the com¬
petition should not be reopened without paying Mr. Hull that
portion of his commission to which he is entitled for the work
ali-eady performed. Finally, should the competition be re¬
opened, some assurance should be given to the competitors that
in making the award an impartial competent technical Judgment
would be rendered. Unless such assurance be given, the whole
competition becomes a farce. A competition may not be the
best method of securing plans for public buildings; but, if it is
employed, the award should be carefully guarded from any
suspicion of being influenced by other than strictly relevant
considerations of convenience and good looks.





rriHE Rapid Transit Commission has done w«ll to decide in
favor of a subway connection among the Manhattan ter¬
mini of the several Brooklyn Bridges. It was manifestly the
more economical and efficient method of handling the traffic
which these bridges will bring into being.    The decision should