JUNE 15, 1912.





CITY'S PROPOSED  $8,600,000 TERMINAL MARKET





A New Departure in the Collection and Distribution of FoocJ Supplies-
Will Displace 300 Buildings,  Whose Tenants Must Be Housed Nearby.





QN the 26th of this month the Commis-
^^ sioners of the Sinking Fund will have
hefore them for a final hearing the pla,n
of relocating West Washington and
Gansevoort  Markets.

West Washington Market occupies the
bulkhead space between Gansevoort and
Little West Twelfth streets and is used
for the handling of meat and poultry.
Gansevoort Market is directly opposite,
on the open space between West, Wash¬
ington, Gansevoort and Little West
Twelfth streets. This is used by dealer.s
m fruits and vegetables, and is known
as the Farmers' Market." Both sites are
owned by the city.

Considering the immense economic im¬
portance of the proposed public improve¬
ment and the large questions of munici¬
pal policy involved, it is rather curiou:^
that the prtan has aroused so little public
interest. The indorsement which the plan
has received from a number of civic
bodies and business men's "associations
-will, however, undoubtedly have weight
with the Sinking Fund Commission and
later with the  Eoard   of  Estimate.

Briefly, the scheme involves the pur¬
chase by the city of the flve blocks be^
tween Little West 13th street,' Bethune
Greenwich and Washington streets; that
between West 13th, Bethune, Washington
and Greenwich streets; a strip 70 feet
■wide on the west side of Washington
street, from Gansevoort to AVest 12th
.street, and the erection on this entire site
of a six-story structure to be used for
wholesale market purposes. Elaborate
provision is to be made for receiving,
handling and storage of freight, mostly
perishable foodstuffs. The total assessed
value of this land is $3,421,000. The cost,
including land and structure, is placed at
$8,610,832.

Origlu of fhe Plan.
Curiously enough, this important proj¬
ect did not originate with the business
interests which are now chiefly identified
"With its presentation to the city authori¬
ties. Large as the scheme is, it is close¬
ly associated with another quite as im¬
portant public utility scheme—a new
West Side docit—and both of them dove¬
tail into a still larger project—the pro¬
posed marginal freight railway which
Dock Commissioner Calvin Tomkins has
been advocating for several years.

About two years ago the White Star
Line announced that it was about to
construct two ocean greyhounds of 900
feet in length. The officers of the Dock
Department here in New York were con¬
fronted with the problem of how to ac¬
commodate these ships. The longest
available docks were about S35 feet.
After   some   delay   permission   was   ob¬





tained from the Secretary of War to ex¬
tend two piers on the West Side to the
required distance. Further encroach¬
ment on the North River channel, how--
ever, is against the policy of the War
Department, and the permission grantea
was only temporary, June 30, 1913, being
fixed as the date of its expiration.

This necessitated the formulation by
Commissioner Tomkins of some perma¬
nent plan for bringing our dock facilities
up to the requirements of the largest
ocean liners. The Gansevoort street dock
had the double advantage of being owned
by the city and of being the only dock
not tied up by long leases. Its use for
dock purposes would not entail expensive
and tedious condemnation proceedings.
It lent itself to the plan of extension by
dredging Inland toward the marginal
street.

Application was made to the Commis¬
sioners of the Sinking Fund for permis¬
sion to utilize this property to its fullest
capacity for steamship purposes by re¬
moving West Washington Market from
the bulkhead space so as to permit the
necessary extension. This seemed par¬
ticularly feasible, as Washington jMarket
obtains no advantage from the dock,
practically all of its freight coining to
it by the New York Central cars and
truclis.

The "new plan" submitted to the Com¬
missioners of the Sinking Fund provided
for a basin 350 feet wide, to accommodate
two ships 900 feet long. The necessary
legislation was  sought.

At this point the opposition of the mar¬
ket men to the abandonment of the West
Washington iVTarket resulted in the pre¬
sentation of a second bill to the Legisla¬
ture giving the Sinking Fund Commission
authority to permit the use of the market
site for dock purposes provided a plan
was devised for relocating the market.
This bill had the indorsement of the city
administration. It passed the Legisla¬
ture and was signed by Governor Dix
and Mayor Gaynor. The marketmen at
once changed their attitude from oppo¬
sition to intense enthusiasm. Mayor Gay¬
nor subsequently appointed a City Mar¬
ket Committee to go into the matter and
devise a plan for locating the new mar¬
ket. The committee included Borough
President Miller of the Bronx, B. H. Out¬
erbridge. of the Chamber of Commerce,
and Lawrence L. Driggs. attorney and
chairman ol; the City Club's Special Com¬
mittee  on   Market  Policy.

This committee invited the co-opera¬
tion of the various-marketmen's associa¬
tions connected with West Washington
and Gansevoort Markets, and with other
local  business  men's  associations  of  the





Chelsea and Greenwich village sections.
These combined organizations prepared
ill detail an elaborate scheme for relo¬
cating both  markets.

Their report was presented to the
Mayor's City Market Committee on May
20. It is signed by P. Maxwell Sayford,
secretary to the joint committee repre¬
senting the following organizations;
Gansevoort Market Business Men's Asso¬
ciation, Chelsea Association of Merchants
and Manufacturers, West Washington
Market Association. Greenwich Village
Public Service Committee. Accompany¬
ing their report are drawings and detail
plans by J. G. Glover, architect. The re¬
port was presented by the Mayor's com-
rnittee to the Eoard of Estimate on May

It is not the purpose of this article to
exhaust the details of the plan for the
uew municipal market, but rather, with¬
out omitting essential points, to present
in its broader aspects a scheme which is
of great importance; first, because it
promises to solve the grave question of
needed local docking facilities, and sec¬
ondly, because it presents to the City of
New York an opportunity to take flrst
rank even among those cities which long
ago adopted the policy of scientific treat¬
ment of the collection and distribution
of foodstuffs. The proposed West Side
market would embody, in the character
of construction and in the facilities for
handling wholesale produce, the best
methods employed by the successful
wholesale markets of European cities, in¬
cluding Paris, Berlin, Budapest, Vienna,
Iiyons. London and Glasgow. For loeal
reasons, and in view of other large mu¬
nicipal projects which the Dock Depart¬
ment is trying to worli out, the market
would ultimately be a more eflicient fac¬
tor than any of its European prototypes
in the distribution of foodstuffs and in
reducing the percentage of excess cost
between the producer and consumer—in
other words, the high cost of living.

The   Scheme   Outlined.

It is designed, assuming the city pro¬
cures the land already specifled, to erect
four six-story and basement buildings
running longitudinally from the south
side of Little West 12th street to the
north side of Bethune street, each 80 feet
wide and 920 feet long, one on the west
side of Washington street, from a point
about G6 feet south of Gansevoort street
on the present open square, 60 feet wide
and 760 feet long, and one building run¬
ning east and west on the block bounded
hy West 12th street. Washington, A^^est
and Bethune streets, fronting 140 feet.
With a depth of 366 feet.    The first four







^ I   .a^^/,.// \^-   [ __]_, !j.





)7









. PLANS FOR  THE NEW TERMINAL MARKET
ON   THE   LOWER   WEST   SIDE.
Prepared by J.  G.  Glover, architect.





Submitted to City Authorities by the Ganse¬
voort Market Business Men's Asso., -West -Wasti-
lugtoa Market Asso., Chelsea Asso. of Mer¬
chants and Manufacturers, Greeu-n^icli Village
Public   Service   Committee.