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Vol.  LXXXVII.        FEBRUARY  IS,  1911.





No.   2 2 40





THE erection of a skyscraper in or near the financial dis¬
trict of lower New York bag become a most arduous
and costly task. Formerly, a bank or a building company
would buy three or four lots and run up a twenty-storj
building without more ado. But now tbe promoters of
such an enterprise contrive to buy all the property neces¬
sary to secure good air and light for their tenants, often
occupying years in tbe process, aud then erect a structure
with a forty-story tower in tbe center or on a corner—a tow¬
er whose light is absolutely protected by "the lower part oE
tbe same building. Tbe result is always spectacular, and a
desire for some kind of personal or corporate advertising
is usually associated witb the building of tbese forty-story
towers. Because of tbe difficulty and expense of securing
the necessary land, they are built only very rarely; but one
structure like the Woolworth Building will cost as much
money and accommodate as many tenants as seven or eight
of tbe skyscrapers of ten years ago.





SOMEWHAT less than ten years ago, the decorating and
furniture importing firms were moving into Fifth ave¬
nue, south of 34tli street. They stayed there a very short
time, even for New York. Recently tbey have all been mov¬
ing a mile farther north and their tendency is to pick up lo¬
cations as near 57tb street as possible. Those who cannot
afford Fifth avenue rentals are turning to Madison avenue,
just north of -12d street, and to the side streets between Madi¬
son and Fifth avenues. In a couple of years there will be
very few firms of decorators and old-furniture dealers south
of 34th street, and not very many between 42d and 34th
streets. Tbey need to keep as closely as possible in touch
with the fashionable residential district, and to stick to sites
easily accessible in carriages. The congestion of traffic on
Fifth avenue consequently makes locations in the fifties
very desirable. But they are a peculiarly fluid set of ten¬
ants. They rarely invest much money in their premises,
save by way of rent; and they are riuiek to move as soon as
a more desirable district is presented. They always pro¬
vide a safe prophecy of tbe future course of tbe more exclu¬
sive classes of retail trade.





CHARTER CHANGES.

ANY changes in tbe charter of New York City whicb
are proposed during the present session of the Legis¬
lature should be carefully scrutinized. In all probability
attempts will be made to increase the power of the Board
of Aldermen at the expense of the power of the Board
of Estimate and Apportionment. Already it is announced
that a bill will be introduced transferring to the Board of
Aldermen the power to elect a Mayor—in case of a vacancy
in that office. Such a change In the charter would not
be fair either to the existing president of the Board of
Aldermen or to tbe people responsible for his election. He
was elected not merely as a member of the Board of Esti¬
mate, but as vice-Mayor, and in case of a vacancy be Is
entitled to the succession. New legislation is needed, but
in view of the great importance of the offlce of Mayor in
the government of New, York City tbe new legislation
should assume the following shape: In the event of a
vacancy the President of the Board of Aldermen, who
had   been   elected   as   vice-Mayor,   should   serve   until   the





next election—at whicb time a new man should be chosen
for the rest of the unexpired term. The people of New
York are entitled to select their own Mayor, and they have
never shown the slightest inclination to delegate that busi¬
ness   to   the   Board   of  Aldermen,





BUILDING ENCROACHMENTS.

No DOUBT before -long the municipal authorities and tbe
general real estate interests will arrive at such an
understanding of the history and nature of buildimg en¬
croachments, and of the complemental relation which build¬
ings and streets must sustain to each other, that they will
be prepared without resorting to State Legislative aid to
draw up such an executive order or local ordinance as will
not only correct and restrain abuses but also insure the fu¬
ture stability of building lines. The fundamental related
questions are as old as the city itself, since the fore¬
fathers inherited them with their architectural examples
from "across the sea. The manner of building houses in
vogue for hundreds of years, together with the restrictions
imposed by the regulation shallow city lot, compelled house-
owners to do certain things in times past, with the sanction
of "tbe Mayor, the Aldermen and the Commonality," which
cannot be permitted in our time, at least in congested thor¬
oughfares. Public conscience has been aroused by many
small abuses, and by a few large ones, and the consequence
of this and of a real necessity for widening the roadways
of certain streets is seen in radical orders from two Bor¬
ough Presidents applying to all streets alike. If the public
mind were fully convinced of the constitutionality aud per¬
manency of these recent executive orders, the matter might
very well be permitted to remain permanently where it now
is, and builders would then see the necessity of devising a
style of construction or type of house that would fit tnto
the new order of things acceptablj'. But it will be very
difficult to make property owners believe that they have
no more right to tbe street in front of their houses than if
they had never paid an assessment for improving it, or if
the public mains in the street and tbe utilities iu their houses
were not as indissolubly connected as the fruit is to the vine
or the leaves to the trees. Furthermore, with strict pro¬
hibition against any more stoops and areas over the build¬
ing line in two of the boroughs, and no action in the other
three, it is hard for the public to see that the case is no
longer one for administrative discretion, as it was held to
be no longer ago than the year 1908 by tbe then Corporation
Counsel. If there really is a measure of discretion, and if
a way can be found of giving access to the basement of
apartment houses without seriously injuring their appear¬
ance and rental value, most of the critics of the new orders
would be disarmed by such a compromise.





THE EAST RIVER WATER-FRONT.

THE Streets along the East River have had few building
improvements in recent years. Nearly all the exist¬
ing buildings used for business purposes have come down
from previous generations, and not a few are in disrepair.
In a number of instances buildings destroyed by fire have
not been replaced. Compared with the business district
along the North River the streets near the East River appear
to have gone back in the last quarter century. It is true
that much of the property is owned by estates and a good
deal by large landlords who seldom make improvements,
but this would not have kept the district back if there had
not been other repelling circumstances-—^not the least of
which were the consequences of diverting traffic from the
ferries to the Brooklyn bridge. The times have not favored
the progress of such commercial interests as have centered
along this shore from the earliest years of the city's history,
as they have been overshadowed by those which later grew
up on the North River, The East River side is still living
in the age of coastwise sailing ships and small canal boats,
and the North River is more particularly in the age of trans¬
atlantic express steamers and continental railroads. The
east side of the island has been allied with Tradition rather
than with Invention and Progress, but it will not be always.
The development of this island has been first on one side
and then on the other, and back again, as new forces have
arisen. When the Barge Canal is opened to the Great
Lakes, and the Panama Canal to the western seaboard of
South America, we should see some new forces at work in
this harbor, the resulting benefits from which will, if they
follow   natural   channels,   be   seen   particularly   at   the   East