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Vol. LXXXVIII
NOVEMBER 25, 1911
No. 2280
A DISTINCTIVE RESIDENCE NEIGHBORHOOD
Grameicy Park Has Retained Its Atmosphere of Exclusiveness and
Its Restriction Has Successfully Withstood the Assaults of Trade.
CONTRASTS between the old and the
nevv are constantly met with in New
York, but nowhere are the past and pres¬
ent so sharply defined as in Gramercy Park
and the adjacent territory. Since the time
this city began to :be prominent as a resi¬
dential and commercial center, single in¬
dividuals or groups of residents have en¬
deavored to set a'Side various portions of
the city for purely residential purposes,
and have hedged these sections about with
apparently hnpregnable restrictions. One
by one these localities have changed their
character, and the strength of trade en¬
croachments has been sufRcient to destroy
the carefully imposed restrictions, until
to-day one finds but very few spots in
the entire city where ti'ade lias gained no
foothold. Gramercy Park and the streets
which face it form a most notable excep¬
tion to the general rule, and provide at
least one spot where trade has never
entered, and in all likelihood never will,
at least for very many years. It is true
that business lias almost entirely engulfed
the surrounding territory, and that on
In lS.j2, Oscar S, Stebbins purchased the
entire front facing the easterly side of
the park and ibuilt dwellings on the site,
which were either leased or sold. Gradu¬
ally tile entire park frontage was built
up, and the residential character of the
square extended to the adjacent territory.
Irving place, which reached from 14th
street to the parlv, was almost solidly
built up with dwellings. The two blocks
of Lexington avenue, from 21st to 23d
streets, were similarly improved, and the
side streets, .east to Third avenue and
west to Fourih avenue, were improved
with dwellings occupied largely by sub¬
stantial residents of good social standing.
This district came more or less to be a
center not only for fashionable society,
but also for those engaged in artistic pur¬
suits. Painters, musicians and writers
settled here" in large numbers and gave a
local color to the district dift'erent from
that to be found in any other portion of
the city this far downtown, with the pos¬
sible exception of the Washington sciuare
locality. Even after trade had claimed
common consent of all the owners, and as
the newer buildings represent a'n outlay of
a large capita! and are sure to endure for
many years, the chance of the restrictions
being removed is very remote.
The general cliaracter of Gramercy
Park is such as to attract clubs of a high
order, and as club houses with living
rooms are also classed as places of resi¬
dence, the restriction has not been oper¬
ative against them- Several of the larger
residences have been leased or sold to
organizations, and such associations as
the Players, the National Arts Club and
the Columbia and Princeton Clubs are to
he found on the square to-day.
Great luercascs in LantI Values.
Property values on the parlc have in¬
creased enormously since the days of its
first establishment. The price paid for
the easterly block front, with a frontage
of nearly 1S4 feet, was $44,000 in 18o2.
At present the average value of inside lots
is about -'tIOo.OOO, and the corners are wortli
much more. One might think that the
CLUB HOUSE ROW ON GRAMERCY PAKK-
THE OLDEST APARTMENT AND ONE OF THE NE'WEST,
the Park buildings of a different nature
have been erected, but the four sides of
the iS'Ciuare are still used for residential
purposes in tlie broad sense of the word,
and it seems entirely improbable that this
condition will ibe changed for generations
to come. The restriction imposed on this
locality differs in character from those
found elsewhere, and its nature is such
that the replacing of private dwellings
with apartment houses, which has oc¬
curred quite frequently in the last few
years, instead of weakening the restri-c-
tion, has but served to increase its
strength- The brains and foresight of a
single man were sufficient to accomplish
this result.
In ISoI, Samuel B. Ruggles, an eminent
lawj'er, financier and .scholar, acquired by
purchase the entire tract, whicii was
known at that time as the Gramercy
Farm. His desire was to make of this
the most exclusive residential portion of
the city, and in order to add to its at¬
tractiveness he set aside Gramercy Square
to be used as a private park for the bene¬
fit of the sixty surrounding lots, the fu¬
ture owners of which were to be bound,
under the terms of their deeds, to keep
the park in repair at an annua! cost not
to exceed $600, The park was surround¬
ed by a fence, and each property owner
was entitled to admittance, but the gen¬
eral public was excluded from its use ex¬
cept on the invitation of a property owner.
The lots themselves -were perpetually re¬
stricted against use for other than resi¬
dential purposes.
the greater part of the side streets con-,
tinguous to the park and the remaining
dwellings had lost tlieir private character
and been turned into boarding houses,
they were populated largely by people of
this class, and the genteel atmosphere of
education and good breeding persisted to
such a marked degree that many pre¬
ferred to remain there and enjoy the so¬
ciety rather than move to better quarters
in newer parts of tbe cily.
N» Reistriellou Against A|iartnieuts.
The restriction in Gramercy Park, un¬
like those in many other places, was
aimed only against business and did not
covenant againss^t many-family houses.
As early as 18,)^ the property on the
southeasterly corner oC Gramercy Park
East and 2nth street was used as a family
hotel, and was successively known as
Sanderson's Famib' Hotel and the Gram¬
ercy Park House. In 1SS3 the site was
rebuilt with an apartment house, which
was one of the first to be constructed and
managed along co-operative lines, A few
years later another apartment house was
erected on the south side of the park, and
within the last few years several others
have been added, nearly all of them be¬
ing of tbe co-operative order. The oc¬
cupants of these houses have all the park
privileges of the land owners, and in
many cases being part owners of the
property are as much intei^ested in ex¬
cluding business as are the holders of
private dwellings. The restriction against
business could only be removed by the
restriction against business would very
naturally operate to check increases in
value, 'but this, apparently, has not been
the case, as the demand for apartment
and club house sites has (been sufficient to
oftset the lack of trade.
The more recent apartment hou'ses to
be built on the park have been of an ex¬
tremely high order and cater onlv to a
flrst-class tenancy. The Gramercy Park
Club House, adjoining the old Gramercy
Holel, is one of the most striking struc¬
tures of its kind, and the 'building just
completed on the site of the former Poor
mansion is another example of excellent
apartment house construction. Suites of
various sizes may be obtained in these
houses, and the rentals average about
thirty dollars a room. There has been in
the past a strong demand for good apart¬
ments in this part of town, and there is
no reason to think that this will not con¬
tinue. In time, other Park dwellings will
be abandoned by their owners and their
places taken by apartment houses, ibut
the general tone of the locality is likely
to exist for very many years to come.
The list of those who inhabit the square
and those who have lived there in the
past, reads like a page Irom the Social
Register, and many of the city's most
prominent business men have had their
homes there at various times- Among
noted New Yorkers who have >had their
residences on the square at one time or
another are Horace Greeley, Stuyvesant
Fish, Samuel J. Tilden, James W. Pin¬
chot, John Bigelow, Cyrus W. Fiekl and