August 13, 1904





RECORD AJVD  GUIDE





.341





^r^                 ^              ESTABUSHED^WvARpHSl^^iaeS.

toilTEDpHE^l-EsTWE.BuiLDIh'G A,RafiTE(rrtmE,HoiiSOi01D DEQCHlATIOtl.
.BUSIliESSAliDTHEMESOFGEtJERAl  Ij^TEf^ST,

PRICE   PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS

Published etierff Saturday

Communicatlona should bo addressed to

C.   W.   SWEET,   14-16 Vesey Street, New YorE

J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager                        Telephone, Cortlandt 3157

-Entered at the Pjs( 03ee at New Yorle, N. T.. as seeond-dass matter."





Vol. LXXIV.





August 13. 1904.





No. 1900





The Index lo Volume LXX III of the Eecord and Guide, covering
the period beiivcen January 1, and June SO, IflOl, is ready for
delivery. .Frivr *1. This Index in It.^ cnJargnl form is recog
ni:ed a.-: iiuli.'<jiriiKablc io every one eii'jii'jrd «i- iulm'slnl in real
estate 'mil biiUdiny operallons. II corvis nil lnni.'^<(cliinis—deeds,
mortgages, leases, auction sales, building plans filed, etc. Orders
for ihe Index should be sent at once to the office of publication,
14 and 1(5 Vesey Si.

THE stock marUet has developed marked strength during
tlie past week; and while this strength is in some meas¬
ure justified by crop certainties and prospects, it looks as if
the advance was becoming rather too rapid, A careful review
of the stock market during the past six or seven months shows
on the one hand a steady accumulation of stocks whenever
val .IGS receded, but also a lively disposition to sell whenever
they advanced very rapidly. The result has been a slow but
steady levelling up of prices, due to a kind of buying which
took stocks out of the market, jand was not looking for
immediate profits. In spite of the crop situation there is no
reason to suppose that times are yet ripe for any more rapid
or considerable advance. The west and the south wil! draw
heavily on New York this Fall for money to market the enor¬
mous corn and cotton crops which they wil! probably harvest;
and there will not be much money available for a big specula¬
tion in securities. Furthermore, there is no evidence as yet
that the public is prepared to stand behind a big bull cam¬
paign, and in case the speculators accumulate long lines of
stocks they will probably be obliged in the end to sell them
back to each other. Everything looks very favorable for a
recovery in prices during the early months of 1905, and general
business conditions are undeniably both sound and improving;
but for the present caution is wiser than, excessive confidence.





LAST week the Record & Guide stated.as one reason for
confidence in an active real estate market next winter,
that renting conditions continued to be good. As a correspond¬
ent tocji exception to this assertion, a special and careful canr
vass was made of Harlem aud the East and West Sides during
the past week, and the truth of the assertion fuliy verified.
In Harlem the local brokers report without exception ari" ex¬
cellent demand at once for tenements, flats, and private houses.
This demand does not extend to the purchase of these build¬
ings, for selling conditions are distinctly unfavorable at present,
as they naturally would be after tho riotous speculation of the
last year. But tbe demand for rentable space exceeds the sup¬
ply, and it is expected that by the end of this month very few
vacancies will remain. There are fewer now, so it is stated,
than there were at the corresponding time in 1903 and land¬
owners are not obliged to make any concessions in order to
obtain tenants. The only buildings which should be excepted
from this statement, are some tenement and flat houses, wbich
have changed hands frequently during the recent speculation,
always at increasing values, until the present owner has made
excessive advances in rent in order to put his profits on a
sufficiently good selling basis. There are a number of houses
partly vacant for this reason; but the reason is special, and its
results will soon disappear. On the West Side renting con¬
ditions are, if anything, even better. The broker's offlces are
overflowing with people inquiring for house room, the existing
vacancies are being rapidly filled, and renewals are frequently
being made at advancing rentals. Th^s applies to private
dwellings, as we!l as to apartments. Altogether, there is every
evidence that however considerable the emigration from Man¬
hattan h£.s been, the demand for house room exceeds the sup¬
ply, and will encourage builders to erect during the coming





year every grade of residential accommodation, except the most
expensive private dwellings. Even for such dwellings, how¬
ever, the demand, while it is not sufi^cient to clear the existing
surplus off the market, is very fair, and points towards a re¬
newal of good selling conditions for costly properties. It is be¬
coming more and more evident all the time that the drawbacks
from w.hich the real estate market suffered most during the past
season will soon yield to the more genial general business con¬
ditions which are coming to prevail, and that only a continua¬
tion of local labor troubles will stand in the way of a good deal
of wholesome activity.





•^"HE IMunicipal Art Society, in a pamphlet discussing the
■A. plans for the Manhattan Bridge, which it has Just dis¬
tributed, calls attention to the fact that there is no proper
system of procedure either in initiating or in developing plana
for great public worlts iri the city of New York. The Record &
Guide has h-equen.tly called attention to this defect in the exist¬
ing charier. In the case of the plan's of the Manhattan Bridge,
for instance, the officials of three different administrations
have had a hand in making and unmaking them, and the plans
have been frequently changed, while at the same time work
on the piers was begun without any reference to the entire
structure. The trouble not only is that there is .no continuity
of action among the successive administrations, but that so
many officials and boards have to be consulted before any
plans are approved that the delay becomes interminable. The
Bridge Commissioner draws up the plans, v/hich then have to
be approved by the Board of Estimate and the Art Commission,
and which finally are subject to veto by the Board of Aldermen.
Under the Van Wyck administration the Board of Aldermen re¬
fused to appropriate money more than enough for the piers.
Commissioner Lindenthal's plans were approved by the Board
of Estimate and the Art Commission, but rejected by the Board
of Aldermen. The plans of the present commissioner meet with
no opposition in the Board of Estimate and probably would
meet with none in the Board of Aldermen, because they satisfy
that Board's technical preference for wire cables; but they run
against the stone wall of the Art Commission and go no fur¬
ther. The result may w^ell be that nothing will be achieved to¬
wards proceeding with the construction of this very necessary
bridge during the life of the present administration. It is in¬
teresting to note, also, that each one of these authorities has a
teudeucy to interfere on grounds, which properly speaking, be¬
long to the Jurisdiction of another set of officials. The Board of
Aldermen rejected the Lindenthal plans on technical grounds,
although they had been fully approved by a committee of ex¬
perts; and at the present time the Art Commission is being
advised not to be content to pass upon the aesthetic features of
(he new.design, because its appearance is so much the result of
its engineering structure that the approval of the one would
be tantamount to approving the other.





THERE seems to be no way at present of reducing the num¬
ber of these several Jurisdictions, or of simplifying their
organization. Somelhing of the kind will have to be done
■ eventually; but the way to do it is a matter for very careful
consideration. The plans for a great public improvement, such
as the [Manhattan Bridge, which will cost $20,000,000, arid will
endure for centuries, should be approved by competent judges
at once as an engineering, as an aesthetic and as a flnanc>al
proposal. At the same time it should have its logical place
in a general scheme of great and public improvements, and it
should connect integrally with the general transit system of
the Metropolis. How these several requirements will be met,
we do not pretend to say, but when the time comes to organize
this important aspect of the city government property, the
power which the existing Boards and officials will keep will
depend upon the way in which their present power is used.
Both the Board of Aldermen and the Art Commission are, as
constituted at present, experiments, which will be continued or
dropped according as they make good. The Board of Alder¬
men has not done anything as yet, to justify the increase of
power, which it was granted under the revised charter. The
Art Commission started humbly, but was granted some power
when the charter was revised, and it has on the whole gained
in public confidence. But apparently it must in the future be
either more or less important. At present its powers are ex¬
clusively negative. It can prevent the adoption of bad de¬
signs; that is all. But why should it not iu time be given as
well some initiative, looking towards the securing of good de¬
signs. Probably in the course of time it will be granted some
such initiative, or else will be merged in another Board.   The