REAL   ESTATE







BUILDERS





AND







NEW YORK, APRIL 12, 1913





■HI





VESEY STREET'S POSSIBILITIES                  1





One of the City's Ancient Thoroughfares.—It Will Be Situated Midway Between
Subway Stations—Seventh Avenue Extension Will Aid the Street—Other Factors.





lilillBlilMllililiBIIM^^^^^





;a!iiiiaiiiiiiiiiiMiiMiiiM





To be soon situated within the sphere
of influence of the subwray route now
in course of construction from Church
street diagonally under St. Paul's
Churchyard to Broadway, Vesey street
is a thoroughfare among others down¬
town that seems destined to undergo
structural changes as a result of its sit¬
uation. While recent years have wit¬
nessed the erection of the Evening Post
Building and the Underwood Building in
the Vesey street block between Broad¬
way and Church street, there has been
little, if any, structural changes in the
blocks west of Church street. And it
is in these blocks that notable improve¬
ments  must  take  place  if  Vesey  street





nianently superior light to buildings in
the north side of Vesey street, between
Broadway and Church street—afiforded
by the presence of St. Paul's Churchyard
in the south side—it is very likely that
all old buildings left in the block will
Ijefore a comparatively great while, make
way for modern office space. With the
subway mentioned completed, there will
he a station at Cortlandt street and an¬
other at Chambers street and Broadway;
while at Church and Fulton streets
there is already the station of the Hud¬
son   River  tunnel.

Important as a study in real estate,
also, are the blocks in Vesey street, west
of    Church    street,   which   are   covered





dealers; but these have mostly removed
farther uptown during the last two
years, or since Haviland, the French
china dealer, planned to leave Barclay
street for a location in the central Fifth
avenue neighborhood.

Some of the Old Guard Left.
There are a few crockery and bottle
dealers remaining in Vesey street. But
even if they all go, the block must con¬
tinue to be one of business importance
for some class or classes of business, be¬
cause of the easy accessibility of Vesey
street to new subway routes. What the
thoroughfare needs is a structural re¬
newal. It has suffered to a degree from
the   increase  in  the  number  of   modern







VESEY   STREET,   OPPOSITE   ST.   PAUL'S  CHURCHYARD.





VESEY STREET, WEST OF CHURCH STREET.





is to be a reconstructed thoroughfare.
If the old .\stor House, at Broadway and
Vesey street, should be torn down, the
building that would replace it would un¬
doubtedly cover the site also of some
of the buildings now standing in Vesey
street adjoining the rear of the .\stor
House; for it is known that the .\stor
estate bought the two or three proper¬
ties there abutting a few years ago.
Superior Light An Attraction.
Such an improvement would, without
question, help all of Vesey street; and
it is probable that the Astor House will
not stand many years longer, as the
land is too valuable for any pur¬
pose but that of a large modern
business building. An owner, such as
the Astor estate, can, of course, a fford
to carry the present building until it
gets ready to do what it may determine
upon regarding it.    Because of the per-





mostly with old buildings. Some of these
structures were originally private dwell¬
ings and are 100 years or more old. They
give an idea of the street in the early
period of New York. That it was once
an important residential street is borne
out by the fact that Dr. Hosack, the
surgeon who attended Alexander Ham¬
ilton after he received the fatal bullet
from Burr's pistol, resided in Vesey
street, opposite the churchyard; while
the other blocks were occupied by well-
to-do persons of that era of New York.
The ancient roof copings, window sills
and lintels of many of the Vesey street
buildings west of Church street tell their
age and indicate, with the aid of history,
the purpose for which many of them
were first used. For many years the
block of Vesey street, between Church
and Greenwich streets, was a center for
wholesale crockery and glass and bottle





loft buildings farther north; and, yet
there does not seem to be any diminu¬
tion of rental power of these old build¬
ings. The extension of Seventh avenue
southward, bringing it directly into con¬
nection with Greenwich street, will aid
Vesey street to a degree. Property in
the street will be subject to assessment
for the Seventh avenue improvement, the
assessment area extending from S9th
street south to Liberty street. West
Broadway begins at Vesey street, join¬
ing Greenwich street at that point. The
commissioners of estimate and assess¬
ment in the Seventh avenue proceeding
have not yet been appointed.

Builders Are Interested.
Speculative builders have been study¬
ing Vesey street lately, especially the
block between Church street and Green¬
wich street and offers have been made
for   certain   parcels   there.     While   the