Vol. LXXXVIII





NOVEMBER i8, 1911





No. 2279





HARLEM'S PREMIER STREET NEEDS REBUILDING.

The Full Development of  125th Street is Hindered by the Lack of Mod¬
ern   Buildings   and  the   Owners  Are   Maintaining   an   Obstructive   Policy





HARLBM was the oldest settlement in
upper Manhattan. Oringinally, an
isolated village on the Boston Post road,
it is now a district of the city, comprising
the territory above 110th street, between
Morningside and Colonial parks and the
Harlem River. Not many years ago it
had an abundance of fine private resi¬
dences, but its population has radically
changed, and to-day it is distinctly an
apartment house section, possessing no
exclusive private house quarter. Many of
the old residences that still exist have
been turned into business places or flats
or used as boarding houses or furnished
room houses.

The growth of Harlem lias brought
many changes and several shifts of popu¬
lation, but the local character, which was
always its distinguishing feature, still
persists, Yorkville, Manhattanville and
Bloomingdale were all well-known set¬
tlements of early New York, but they
have Ijeen engulfed to such an ex tent-
that their boundaries are no longer dis¬
tinct; Harlem js still Harlem, a city with¬
in a city.





ings where much business is transacted,
as a rise in values is generally reflected
in a building movement, A decade ago
125tli street did its fair share of busi¬
ness, and since that time its earning
power has increased many times, yet one
almost searches in vain to find a sub¬
stantial improvenient, and so far as build¬
ings are considered, the street resembles
the main thoroughfare of a thriving vil¬
lage.

The best block lis the one between
Seventh and Eighth avenues, yet only one
or two six-story buildings are in evidence
and rauch of the property on the south
side of the street is taken up with one
and two-story buildings.

Considering the prices which prevail
and the rentals obtained, this is indeed
surprising- Very little land is for sale
on the south side of this block, and real
estate men in the neighborhood place a
A-alue on it of frora $5,500 to $0,000 a
front foot. A twenty-five foot store, of
full depth, would easily rent for $10,000,
and might bring naore in prosperous
times.     The  north   side  of   the  street  is





one flnds some of this valuable property
encumbered with antiquated frame struc¬
tures that would hardly be tolerated on
the business street of a third-rate town.

That the maintenance of these inade¬
quate structures is unwise and unprofit¬
able is shown by the few modern build¬
ings which have been erected. A few
years ago a building of a modern type
was erected on the northwest corner of
Sevemth avenue, extending through to
126th street. AVitliin a very short time
the space was all taken at good prices,
and this particular improvenient lias re¬
sulted in making tlie corner one of the
best in Harlem. Up to a certain point,
stores alone can return a fair percentage
on the value of the land which they oc¬
cupy, but when the cost of a lot exceeds
$100,000, either the owner must improve
it in an adequate fashion or he must be
content with an inadequate return on his
investment. Beyond a certain point, store
rentals cannot be raised without disaster,
and apparently that condition has been
reached, at least in the blocks between
Lenox and Eighth  avenues.    In  the last







THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF STH AVENUE—ONE  OF THE FEW
MODERN BUILDINGS OX 125TH STREET.





THB MOST VALUABLE BLOCK IN HARLEM—125TH STREET,  BETWEEN
7TH AND STH AVENUES,





Its population lias increased enormously
and as a result land values have risen
and the commerce of the neighborhood
has become so important that Harlem
possesses the most notable crosstoAvn
thoroughfare in the city.

From a business standpoint, 125th
street has more A-alue than any other
similar thoroughfare north of Forty-sec¬
ond street and values and rentals on the
best blocks compare favorably with those
in the midtown section. Excepting Thirty-
fourth and Forty-second streets, no cross-
town thorouglifare has exhibited such in¬
creases in rentals as 125tli street, the
shopping and amusement center, not only
for all Harlem, but in a large measure
for Washington Heights and the Bronx.
Some of the best known houses in the
city have located there, and one or two
department stores are to be found. Other
streets in Harlem have derived beneflt
Irom the enlarged population, and small
retail stores are supported on nearly
every avenue, but the bulk of the d^is-
trict's general shopping is done on 125th
street. From early morning until late at
night a continuous throng is to be found,
especially on the blocks between Eighth
and Third avenues, and in mid-afternoon
the casual observer would be led to be¬
lieve that the entire population of Har¬
lem was parading 125th street.

In spite of all this travel and apparent
activity, the street presents a condition
radically different from that of any other
thoroughfare of equal value. In this city
one naturally looks for substantial build-





naturally not so valuable, worth about
one-tliird less, and yet the difference be¬
tween the two sides of the street is not
nearly so marked as in many other of the
city's crosstown streets. A station of the
Sixlh and Ninth avenue elevated lines
is at Eightli avenue, and this is one of the
busiest corners in the city, yet the two
westerly corners are given over to Raines
law hotels and the easterly ones are im¬
proved, respectively, with four and flve-
story buildings.

The reason for this remarkable state of
affairs appears to lie almost entirely with
the owners, Por a long time the bulk of
the property has been under wealthy and
extensive ownerships, and most of the
land holders have adopted an obstructive
policy, either refusing outright to sell or
else asking such fancy prices as to drive
the prospective builder elsewhere. Some,
it is true, have leased their property for
long terms, biit the conditions have rarely
been sufficiently advantageous to induce
the lessees to make extensive improve¬
ments, and one or two-story buildings,
occupied solely by the tenants, have re¬
sulted. These conditions are not con¬
flned lo the block mentioned, but are met
with on nearly the entire length of the
street. The block between Seventh and
Lenox avenues is not quite' so valuable
as the one to the west, property being
worth about $1,000 less a front foot, but
retail stores are in demand and tenants
are easily obtained at fair prices. The
subway station at Lenox avenue makes
this  an   extremely   busy  corner,   and  yet





two years there has been very little en¬
hancement in these blocks, and every
effort to raise rents has been met with a
determined opposition on the part of re¬
tail merchants.

What 125th street needs to-day, accord¬
ing to brokers in the neighborhood, is
modern six or eight-story mercantile
buildings, and a careful survey of tlie en¬
tire situation should, it is said, convince
any owner or prospective purchaser that
the future of the street is sufficient to
warrant investments in this class of
structures. No important street in the
city is so well supplied to-day with trans¬
portation lines calculated _to bring busi¬
ness to the district as is 12oth street. The
western end is served by the Broadway
branch of the subway, and the Broadway
and Tenth avenue surface lines. The
Sixth and Ninth avenue elevated lines
and the Lenox avenue subway branch, as
well as the Eighth and Lenox avenue
surface cars, run through the central dis¬
trict. The eastern end has the New Tork
Central Railroad, the Second and Third
avenue elevated lines and tlie surface
cars on every avenue. The Third avenue
surface cars turn into 125th street, cross
to Amsterdam avenue and run up that
thoroughfare to AA'ashington Heights,
tapping a residential district in which
dwell an almost countless number of
buyers. Besides the lines mentioned,
which are all in operation, the new Lex¬
ington avenue siibway will have an ex¬
press station at 125th street. Undoubt-
ediy this will be extensively used by Har-