April II, 1908





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President,  CLINTON  W.   SWEET                      Treasurer,  F.  W.  DODGE

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Copyrighted,   1908,   by  The  Record   &   Guide   Co.





Vol.  LXXXL





APRIL 11, 1908,





No. 2091.





SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS' worth of new buildings ha-ve
been scheduled for coustruction in Mauhattan since the
first of April, for all of which financial accommodation has
probably been arranged, and which are projects very certain
to result in actual work. It ia the hest ten days' filings in a
long period, and manifests not only a desire to take advan¬
tage of exceptionally favorable conditions in the material and
labor markets, hut also, as we believe, a praiseworthy dis¬
position on the part of at least some large interests to pro¬
vide work at a time when it is urgently needed. April has
thus far marked a distinctly forward movement for building
interests, hardly to be continued uninterruptedly at the same
rate, but yet having some enduring power and certain after a
tirae to gain more momentum. There may be some significa'nce
for speculative interests in the locations chosen for the three
largest pro.iects of the season, namely, Madison Square, lower
West Street and Times Square; the first two for office build¬
ings, and the third for an hotel enlargement. A great deal
might be said of each section, as representing the judgment
of some of the best minds that the real estate field can
claim, and the advantages to result to others who' may be
able to follow these leads. The lower West Side, -where the
Century Realty Company is about to add to its existing im¬
provements another monumental building, is accumulating
what seems certain in time to become a preponderance of
commercial and transit facilities over the corresponding East
Side. The importance of the Madison Square region has been
decidedly enhanced in the last few years, to which the im¬
provement of the Fifth Avenue Hotel site is an early testi¬
mony. Equally certain is a large development around Times
Square, led by the Astors. Large works will naturally take
care of themselves, and what need to be especially fostered
in New York are the smaller undertakings, the home-building
spirit among individuals, whence comes the widest possible
distribution of elements making for the general good. The
lending institutions and the rapid transit powers particularly
can contribute to this end, and legislative bodies co-operate.
Business interests in the Bronx have unitedly asked for cer¬
tain modifications of law to favor the erection of a three-
family detached house, the granting of which request, it ia
declared, would start another building campaign in that bor¬
ough. We should consider that every reasonable request
unitedly asked for by the building interests, -which are the
real city builders, is .entitled to well-disposed attention in
legislative halls.





T NVITATIONS to contractors to bid for the construction of
-I- six sections of underground road in Brooklyn for the
account of the City of New York were issued this week. Pro¬
posals will be received up to the 8th of May, and then the
contracts will be awarded, if at all, within twenty days. Ap¬
parently the beginning of another great line of urban travel
Is at hand, though the progress of the work will hardly be
attended by the same amount of house-building and real
estate speculation as would be the case if the whole route
were to be put under contract at this time, rather than to be
pieced out at some future period. The six sections about to
he contracted for will carry the Brooklyn system of subways
no farther south than Forty-second street, which is barely into
South Brooklyn,.after traversing long-settled parts that are
already quickly and easily accessible from Manhattan by the
existing traffic conveniences. The better part of the benefit to
real estate will therefore come when the road shall be extended
into those newer and more distant parts of the borough, but





the confidence and certainties that will follow from the actual
signing of contracts will put such a firm footing under prop¬
erty interests in southern Brooklyn as to warrant a very large
amount more of anticipatory improvements. This is the
second occasion when bids have been advertised for in con¬
nection with this route. In the first instance it was proposed
to have the road huilt by a private syndicate with its own
means, for the sake of the profit lhat would accrue from the
privilege of operating the line for a term of years as provided
under the existing Rapid Transit law. But there were no
bids forthcoming under such an arrangement, and the pres¬
ent hope is to find a lessee after the road has been con¬
structed at the expense of the city. Such an eminent author¬
ity as President Winter of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Com¬
pany predicts that there will be a long interim during which
a subway in Fourth avenue will be unable to pay an adequate
interest on the investment. But a more favorable prospect is
presented when the road is considered not by itself alone, but
as an integral part of a system including the Broadway-Lex¬
ington route iu Manhattan with branches into the Bronx, all
the divisions to be operated co-ordinately, as a real tri-bor¬
ough system. It is iu that light which most men prefer to
think of a Fourth-Avenue-Brooklyn subway. Regarded as a
means for employing large working forces and utilizing vast
quantities of materials, the impending contracts are alto¬
gether an encouraging subject of contemplation to the build¬
ing interests of the whole city.

—■—■----------------------•—---------------------.-—

AIVTARKED improvement in the condition of the streets
is noticed this spring over some former years. The
previous Commissioner of Public Works, Mr. Henry S. Thomp¬
son, during his very brief term in office gave particular at¬
tention, under Mayor McClellan's direction, to street repairs,
and it is to this fact presumably that the public is indebted
for the improvement. Commissioner Thompson found the
paving of asphalt streets practically in the control of
three companies, whicli had always been slow in complying
with the orders of the department, and in a report, which
has just been printed, he recommends that the city establish
and operate an asphalt plant of its own, one which would not
only maintain the large number of streets where the guar¬
antees have expired, but also be able to make repairs to pave¬
ments at the expense of the asphalt companies when they
fail to comply promptly with orders. An inspection system
established last summer has, with the co-operation of the
police department, proved a very effective aid in preventing
injury to the streets and obtaining more prompt repairing.
One of the principal causes of injury to pavements is fire
burns. To repair the damage done in Manhattan Borough
alone by bonfires after the election of 1906 cost a sum ex¬
ceeding one hundred thousand dollars, at the rate of $1.75 to
$2 per square yard. Over twenty-three thousand openings
were made in the surface of pavements by plumbers last
year, and in all more than thirty thousand, in Manhattan
Borough alone. Prom the section of the report covering the
work of the bureau of sewers it is learned that the borough
is now almost completely sewered, with the exception of a
part of the extreme northwest corner of the island, where
the street system has not been fully determined. At the
same time a large part of the system, being old and inade¬
quate for the giant buildings that have displaced small ones,
is in need of reconstruction, and here the old question arises
of the necessity of a radical departure from the existing
method of disposal, a question which will become acute when
the rebuilding of some sixteen miles of sewers shall have to
be undertaken on account of the Broadway-Lexington sub¬
way, connected with which are syphon problems that must
cause the Department of Public Works no little anxiety. In
this connection, it may be, a way can be devised to prevent
the further pollution of the waters surrounding New York
City.





AN amendment to the State law regulating the operation
of steam engines and boilers, and restricting such oper¬
ation to licensed engineers, is embodied in a bill which has
been introduced in the Legislature again this year, after hav¬
ing been vetoed by Mayor McClellan last year. It would re¬
quire a licensed man in almost every steam-heated apartment
house in the city, and in every building where there are small
boilers, motors and engines of various kinds not requiring
licensed engineers under the existing law. The payment of
union wages to such licensed engineers would have absorbed
the income derived from many houses, as well as displaced a
great number of persons sufficiently competent to discharge
the duty' of caring for the small heating apparatus now en¬
trusted to their charge,    The bill was opposed last year with