March i8, 1905





RECORD ANT)  GUIDE





56:^





•r^                •*            ESTABUSHED^tfWPHSiy^lBsa.

ItaiTiDioRfA.LE:srAJE.BuiLDir/o AjK^rrECTURE.Kc'usnlouiDEBCnfllQS,
Bl/sijfess wJdThemes OF GEtJER^ 1^tzrF3T.

PRICE  PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS

published eVery  Satardap

Communications should be addressed to

C.   W.   SWEET,   14-16  Vesey  Streei. New YorK

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





••Entered at the Post Office at Neic Yorli. iV. Y.. as second-class matter." ^
Copyright hy the Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide Company.
Vol, LXXV.                       MARCH IS, 1905,                       No. 1931.

THE irregularity which characterized the marltet during the
past weelt was doubtless caused by the combination of a
high level ol: values and higher rates for money. The specula¬
tive foundation of the constantly higher quotations which have
been effected since last summei' has been an abundance of
loanable capital, and any forced conti-aetion of loans might
cause a great deal of trouble. Tho best opinion apparently is
that money will continue easy throughout the summer; but this
looks as if the wish might be father to the thought. As in
1902, enormous sums are heing spent on permanent improve-
rients all over the country; and the volume of general business
increases constantly. It does not seem possible that as much
money can be spared in the immediate future for speculation as
has been recently the ease. This does not mean any consid¬
erable decline in the values of securities, but it does mean re-
< urreut irregularity and perhaps, aiso, a period of waiting before
the marliet can take a fresh start.





inefficient and far from disinterested. During the next few
years many important franchises will have to be authorized by
the local authorities, and in case the Board of Aldermen has
to b§ placated, it will mean delay in every instance and the
opportunity for the intrusion into the question of dubious inter¬
ests and motives. The aldermen do not, either collectively or
individually, represent the city. They represent either them¬
selves or at best the district which elects them. Franchises ai'e
not matters which concern primarily the interests of one dis¬
trict or a collection of districts. They concern either the city
as a whole or one of the boroughs as a whole; and the interests
of these larger divisions are fully represented in the Board of
Estimate. That body is one of the most efficient pieces of gov¬
ernmental machinery which has yet been devised; and it is
fully competent to pass upon the desirability and the value of
franchise concessions without ths assistance of Aldermen
"Tim" Sullivan and Gaffney.





REAL ESTATE transactions continue to be unprecedentedly
numerous aud wholesomely varied. The subsidence of the
speculation on Washington Heights has not, to all appearances,
diminished the volume of transactions. There is a steady ab¬
sorption of business properties in al! those mai'ginai districts
in which they continue to be available for improvement; flats
and tenements meet with a good investment demand, and private
dwellings are selling regularly and at advancing prices. All of
these different sources of activity make the total number of
transactions extremely large. On Wednesday and Thursday
of the past week there were over flve hundred conveyances and
five hundred mortgages recorded, which exceeds the usual totals
for the first week in May. If the activity becomes stiil livelier
later in the spring, it is difficult to see how all these papers can
be recorded and how all the titles can be examined without con¬
siderable delays. There seems to be no limit to the increase in
rral estate tradings which, during the past five years, has very
much more than doubled. Building prospects continue to be
very good. The projected buildings consist chiefly of flats and
tenements, but there are signs that a continuation of peaceful
conditions in the building trades will soon bring out a large
Etmount of construction of the higher class. There is no lack of
gcod schemes, but capitalists are still hesitating. In the mean-
v.-hile it seems certain that somewhere between $60,000,000 and
$70,000,000 will be invested in tenements and flats during the
current season. Speculation in vaeant lots has been moving up
towards the Dyckman tract and into the Jerome Avenue and
Kingsbridge sections of the Bronx; but we imagine that it will
proceed somewhat more cautiously in the future than it has done
ir. the past. Intelligent operators must understand that they
cannot keep increasing the values of larger and larger areas of
vacant land to a high level without also increasing the cost and
necessity of maintaining those values for an indefinite period of
years. High prices mean five and six-story tenements, and such
buildings only absorb about one-sixth as much land per family
s.r do private residences. Increased values consequently di¬
minish the amount of land absorbed by building operations in
a geometrical ratio, and if the land is expensive and unem¬
ployed, somebody must pay the bills. The capacity even of
New York to absorb tenement house accommodation is limited.





'T^HE bill introduced hy Senator Elsberg withdrawing from
■*■ the Board of Aldermen any control over the granting of
fianehises in New York City, should undoubtedly be passed.
The city needs above all things responsible, efficient and dis¬
interested government in this most essential matter; aad the
aldermen use their authority in a manner W'hldh ig irresponsible,





The Brooklyn Bridge Problem.

'T^HE report issued during the past week by the City Club
*■ upon the solution of the Brooklyn Bridge problem has
the merit of proposing some new ways of distributing the
enormous traffic which is now congested at the Manhattan
terminal. This report, which has been prepared by a special
committee consisting of William C. Redfield, Lawrence Veiller,
and William A, Clark, shows the result of careful study, and
deserves serious consideration on the part of the Rapid Transit
Commission, The object of the study was the discovery of some
means of distributing and collecting the passengers without
recourse to an elevated road of any kind, connecting the Man¬
hattan terminals of the Brooklyn and Williamsburgh Bridges.
The City Club, like every other civic organisation in Manhattan,
is strongly opposed to such an elevated connection, no matter
whether it runs on private property or on Centre Street; and it
is right in taking this stand. The discussion of the proposed
temporary elevated road ia Baxter and Delancey Streets, which
has taken place since this plan was first sanctioned by the
commission, has, in our opinion, absolutely condemned it. A
temporary structure costing between $6,000,000 and $10,000,000, is
sheer extravagance. There is every reason to suppose further¬
more that when once erected it would become permanent;
and as a permanent defacement of the congested East Side, it
is not to be considered for a moment. It meets with nothing
but opposition in the part of the city most affected; and its
construction would he strenuously opposed both in the Board of
Aldermen and in the courts. The Rapid Transit Commission
must see that it is impossible to go ahead with such a proposal,
and that it should not be taken up until every other means of
removing the congestion are exhausted. If we must have an
elevated road for the time being, it would be far better, as has
been already suggested, to construct a wooden structure on
Centre and Delancey Streets, which would be bound to come
down in a few years.

The City Club offers, however, several suggestions which
would help to relieve the congestion pending the construction of
more tunnels under the East River. It points out, for instance,
that none of the plans now under consideration does anything
to help the distribution of the passengers who use the trolley
cars; and it proposes a subway loop in Manhattan, running
under Chambers Street as far west as Washington Street, which
would do a good deal to prevent the crush W'hich now occurs
every evening on the ground floor. This is, we believe, a very
valuable idea which should not be lightly put aside. As regards
the elevated traffic, it proposes that the right to run these cars
over the Brooklyn Bridge be granted to the Interborough Com¬
pany, and that its service be facilitated by the construction of
a loop at the Brooklyn end of. the bridge. Unless we are
very much mistaken, this change would do a good deal to facili¬
tate travel without putting the travelers to any more incon¬
venience than they suffer at the present time. There would
in that case be no terminal station for the elevated road at the
Erooklyn Bridge. The first station on the Manhattan side would
be at Chambers Street in the triangular block bounded by
Chambers Street, Park Row and Duane Street, Persons travel¬
ing by this method over the Brooklyn Bridge could transfer oa
the Erooklyn side to the various divisions of the Brooklyn ele¬
vated roads or surface cars, as might be desired. This would
be no inconvenience, because practically all the persons using
the elevated trains during the rush hours now transfer oa the
Brooklyn side. Neither does the plan present legal difficulties.
The present contract of the city with the Brooklyn Rapid
Transit Compaay, in regard to the use of the Bridge, is termin-
pble at ninety days" notice.

The City Club  has still another suggestion which  it claims