December 9, 1905





RECORD AND GTJIDE







DEV&TEBpRpMLESTAJE.SuiLDIffc ^RjLKtTECTUl^.HoUSnfOlDDEQOItJTIWl.
Bdsii/ESS AifoThemes OF GeiJeraI l[/TEfl.E5T.

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Vol.  LXXVL





DECEMBER  9,   1905.





No. 1969.





INDHK TO DB3PARTMBINTS.
Advertlalag Section.
Page.





Cement....................xxv

Clay Products............xxiv

Contractors   and   Builders, .vlli

Electrical   Interests.........x

Fireproofing................ill

Granite...................xxvi

Heating...................xxii

Iron and Steel...............xx





Page.

Law.......................xil

Machinery..................vi

Metal Work...............xxl

Quick Job Directory.......xxix

Real   Estate................xlv

Stone....................xxvi

Wood  Products..........xxviii





THE Stock Market continues to maintain ita ordinary
steadiness and strength in the face of very adverse condi¬
tions. It is controlled by a number of large speculators, who
have made considerable profits by operating in specialties, and
who are determined to keep prices up over the period of high
money. They may succeed in achieving this difficult and dan¬
gerous feat; but one cannot help wondering whether their suc¬
cess will not hurt the chance of the bull market, the occurrence
of which is so confidently anticipated somewhat later. There
can be little doubt that a moderate amount of weakness during
the current month would make it easy to effect a much more
considerable advance later; but if confidence in the speculative
situation is undermined by a continuation of the forcing,
which has been underway during the past week, the general
advance, which has been so long heralded, may not come at all.
It certainly cannot come, unless the public interest in the mar¬
ket becomes larger and better satisfied; and It Is difficult to see
how such public interest can be provoked. As long as the
evidences of persistant and "even desperate manipulation are so
obvious, it will be difficult to inject any spontaneous strength
Into a general rise of values. People will be afraid that the rise
is being engineered solely for the purpose of enabling specu¬
lators to sell out their lines of stocks.





A LARGE number of sales have taken place during the past
week between Gth and 7th avs and south of Slst st, and
in one instance an offering at auction of 80 feet on 27th st be¬
tween these avenues brought a very high price compared to
the values prevailing not long ago. It will be interesting to see
how far this movement is carried, no matter what becomes
of 6th and 7th avs. It is evident that the best that ean happen to
these side streets is to be built up with loft buildings, and those
which have been planned hitherto, have with only one exception,
never been more than six stories high. But if lots on these
side streets are going to he worth as much as ?40,000 it will not
be long before builders wiil hegin to erect ten and twelve-story
loft buildings thereon. Of course, a great deal depends upon
the way in which .the plans of the railway companies develop;
but their own investment iu real estate iu the neighborhood is
becoming so heavy that they will be forced to make improve¬
ments which will help very much'to improve the character of
the entire district.





IT is hard to avoid the conclusion that Mr. Washington Hull
has been badly treated in the matter of the plans for the
new Brooklyn Borough Hall. The present President of the
Borough of Brooldyn undoubtedly had every right to change
according to his judgment, the plans, which had heen drawn
under the directions of its predecessor, because there is no
reason why Mr. Littleton should be obliged to stand for a
building, which was not in his opinion adequate to the needs of
the Brooklyn administrative offlces; but in that event the archi¬
tect of the plans already made certainly has a fair claim for
some compensation. The fact that the contract was actually
signed only the day before the expiration of Mr. Swanstrom's
term of offlce is irrelevant. As a matter of fact, the contract
,was practically of much longer duration.   Months before certain





architecta had been invited to submit plans, which were to be
judged according to a method laid down in a public advertise¬
ment. On the basis of this advertisement a numher of archi¬
tects spent money and time in preparing plans, and those pre¬
pared by Mr. Hull were declared by the judges to be superior
to the plans submitted by the other competitors. When Mr.
Hull received the award, he was fairly entitled to a certain
compensation; and even if the Board of Estimate is legally
justified in withholding it from him, their failure to admit the
obligation will strike an outsider as a very shabby piece of
business or politics. It is no wonder that architects detest
competitions for public buildings, and that some of the best of
them have decided never to submit plans under such conditions.
Fron one cause or another they rarely receive fair treatment.
In the present instance Brooklyn will undoubtedly obtain a
much better aud handsomer huilding under the new arrange¬
ment than under the old; hut in obtaining it an unnecessary and
a very petty bit of injustice wili have heen perpetrated.





TF Brooklyn Is to obtain a new Borough Hall, why should one
■•■ be denied to Manhattan? The practical need on this aida of
the river is quite as great; and the matter has been even longer
under discussion. It is very much to be hoped that the mayor,
when he begins his new term of four years will take up projects
of this kind with more vigor. During his first term, he has not
shown himself very much interested in pushing any of the
many plans for municipal improvement, which have been
seriously proposed, and which will satisfy incontestable practical
needs. The longer the erection of a municipal office building
in Manhattan is postponed, the more expensive the land which
is needed will have become; and the city cannot continue In¬
definitely to house its various departments in rented offlces
without suffering both in pocket and dignity. During the com¬
ing winter arrangements should be made to build hoth a new
Court House and a new municipal office building, and even then
judging by the Hall of Records, it will be ten yeara before they
are finished and occupied.







The Real Estate Situation—Conditions and

Prospects.

A 3 the weeks go by it becomes apparent that the demand for
•^*- real estate at the present time possesses some very re¬
markable and encouraging characteristics. It is not too much
to say that this demand has, on the whole, a broader basis and
a sounder sanction than at any previous time during the past
five years. This new phase differs from the other phases, which
the real estate market has passed through during this period,
because the activity on which it is based is more general, and
more wholesome. In every previous year since 1901 the activity
while extraordinary, was concentrated on special sections or
particular kinds of improvement. But the existing market has
no such limitation. All hinds of real estate in all parts of the
city are in excellent demand. There is no great pressure of.
speculative buying in any one section, unless it be the section
affected by the Pennsylvania terminal; but almost everywhere
in Manhattan, and in all the accessible positions of the Bronx
and Brooklyn, a great deal of real estate is being sold at good
prices, which is just the condition which benefits the largest
possible number of people.

This condition is all the more remarkable, because it is the
sequence of a prolonged period of speculative exploitation. One
part of the city after another has, as we have said, been taken
up by the operators during the past few years, and considerable
advances established in the level of prices prevailing at that
time. During 1901, 1902 and the first part of 1903, for instance,
values were largely increased iu the financial district, in the
vicinities of Long Acre and Greeley Squares, along the line of
Sth av, and in the residence section east and southeast of Central
Park. It was freely predicted at the time that this speculation
was heing carried altogether too far and that a recession in
values would certainly follow; but such did not prove to be
the case. In the summer and fall of 1903 the speculation itself
did indeed cease, except in the business part of 5th av; but
prices did not weaken, and in the meantime a speculative move¬
ment was heing developed in a wholly different direction. It
was suddenly discovered that owing to a number of different
causes, there was a scarcity of living accommodation in Man¬
hattan, and that an opportunity was offered for the speculative
exploitation both of old-law tenements, and of vacant land, on
which new-law tenements could be constructed. During 1904
and the first half of 1905 speculative interest was fastened on
these classes of rea! estate, and many advances in values were
brought about.    In respect to these advances, also, lugubrious