September g, 1905





RECORD AND  GUIDE





r





393







'Mil.





._^                       ^           ESTAEUSHED-^ilWPH2lii^l868.

DnM F REATEsTATE-BuiLDIffe A^RCKlTEeTUI^E.HoUSEHOlDDEOCI^JTIDltl

Busn/Ess jufo Themes ofGEiiEf^l Ii^TWF*J«
PRICE   PER  YEAR   IN   ADVANCE   EIGHT   DOLLARS

Published  eVery  Saturdag

ComnmnlcBtlons ehould ce oddreBBed to
C. W. SWEET,   14-16 Vesey Street.  New York

Talephoue, Cortlandt 3157





"Entered al the Post Office at New York. N. Y., as second-clasa matter."

Copyrieht by the Eeal Estate Record and Bnildera' Gnlde Coinpaiiy.
Vol.   LXXVL





SEPTTEJMB'EIR 9,   1805.





No.  1956.





INDEX   TO   DEPARTMENTS.

(Advertising Section.)

Page                                                    Page

Cement   ................     xxv     Law   ...................      ^Oi

Clay Products  ...........    xxiv     Machinery    .............         v

Contraclors and Builders..        vi     Wetal Work   .............    xix

Fireproofing    ............         ii     Stcne   ..................    ^^111

Granite    ................      xiv     Quick Job Directory......    xxvi

Heating   ...............       xx      Real   Estate   ............         x

Iron and Steel   ..........    xvili     Wood Products..........     xxii





MR. JAMBS HILL'S statement that he is a conservative
bull, provided there is no over-speculation, is a fair
estimate of the prevailing situation in Wall street. The ob¬
vious comment is, however, that there does not, at present,
seem to be any danger of over-speculation. There are cer¬
tain powerful banking and other interests behind the present
market, which are apparently determined that whenever specu¬
lation shows a tendency to become excessive it must be dis¬
couraged with a strong hand. The consequence is that sev¬
eral times in the course of the last year the same story has
repeated itself. The market will go up continuously for sev¬
eral mouths, until the speculative structure becomes a little
top-heavy. Then on one excuse or another a re-action always
takes place and a certain fraction of the previous gain ia lost.
In this way the condition of the market la kept sound, and
the possibility of any repetition of the experience of 1903 is
avoided. Just at present the excuse for the re-action is the
danger of tight money; and it ia undoubtedly a sufficiently
' good excuse. It is entirely possible that in spite of large
railway and industrial earnings, and excellent crops, the
scarcity of loanable funds will keep the market down during
the next few months; and it is more than possible that the
banking interests prefer that it should be kept down during
that period. But should no change in the general situation
talie place in the meantime, it will in that case be gathering
momentum for a further rise late in 1905, or early in 1906.
There will be large issues of new securities during the com¬
ing winter, and it will he desirable to float them on a bullish
market.





REAL ESTATE trading already shows a broadening ten¬
dency. Several comparatively large transactions have
been announced during the past week; and in addition a
fair volume of the ordinary speculative operations in flats
and apartments have been recorded. Private dwellings con¬
tinue to sell prosperously, and it looks as If they would sell
still better somewhat later. Many-people living in New York
have made a great deal of money during the past year; and
this circumstance always has a noticeable eHect upon the de¬
mand for residences. This demand will be increased by the
steady conversion of dwellings on the side streets along the
line of Fifth avenue into business buildings. A great deai of
this kind of conversion will take place during the coming
year. It will be encouraged by the excellent character of the
local business situation. The hotels and the retail stores
have both enjoyed a very prosperous summer, and they are
likely to enjoy a prosperous winter. The retail trade of New
York more and more profits from the fact that so many well-
to-do Americans, living elsewhere, malte their purchases in
the metropolis; and it is after a year of remunerative busi¬
ness that this fact counts. There are not likely to be any
aOd/iVfy "J, removals of big stores into the Fifth avenue dis-
progress ther^ Ailing of the side streets with small shops will
All through the .nj^gd rate. The new wholesale district will
houses and apartments-           i^flyg^^gg_     ^^            -^  .^   p.^i^able

ieeted,   and   all   requ.re   brick.     ■ ..„      ^^^^ ^.^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^





ty-eighth street will constitute one of the largest fields of
building activity during the coming season. Already the an¬
nouncement is made that a fifteen-story building is to be
erected on the site of the Hotel Kensington, on the corner
of Fifteenth street and Fifth avenue; and this is one of the
few corners still available for improvement on the avenue
sou-th of Twenty-third street. The new loft buildings will
soon have to he erected north of Twenty-third, and the ques¬
tion is where can they go, because Broadway and Fifth ave¬
nue are, for the most part, already pre-empted and there is
not so very much room on the side streets. They will have
to go farther east, or farther west, rather than farther north.





'T* HE Record and Guide is always surprised at the lack of
* interest which is displayed by the citizens of New York
in the vital problem of important street improvements. The
efforts which a few societies and individuals have made to
interest public opinion in a comprehensive scheme of street
improvement aud embellishment seems to produce very little
result. One municipal campaign succeeds another, and neither
Tammany nor its opponent deems the matter of sufficient im¬
portance to make Its bulk large in its program of municipal
public works. The report of the City Improvement Commis¬
sion, which was made last winter, provoked very little inter¬
est. At a time when, schemes of this kind are arousing en¬
thusiasm in cities all over the country, and when many of
these cities are taking serious steps to realize these schemes.
New York remains comparatively indifferent. Yet with New
York, it is not a matter merely of making the city a morf
attractive place of residence and of temporary sojourn; it i
a matter which vitally affects the city's economic future. The
street system of Manhattan is inadequate at the present tim
to the demands which are made upon it. Vehicular and sur
face trafflc of all kinds is subject to intolerable delays, pw
ing to bad planning, some thoroughfares are cro\
others to which a portion of the traffic might ea,
verted, are practically deserted. Large parts of the
made partly unavailable for business, because ol
culties of communication.   In the meantime, every





lay is making the curing of these evils more diffieul





ge,
. west side,
'.er 2, at his

expensive.     Real   estate,   which   the   city  will   neei    home ex-
up in price.   Slcy-scrapers are being built at importa,f |;i-,e West
points.    It seems impossible to put through a stregngs  which
ment which is as obviously necessary as the widenrside Drive
street.    In addition, several legal obstacles exist to-i^h st,  and
tive action on the premises;   and when action is d
essary, it will take years to remove these obstacles,
years  from now, when the subway system has bee
and  when  the  population  of the  city will have  idcr-g^yQj.j^ijiy
6,000,000, or more, people will suddenly realize that\tht(jf  jno.
prosperity   of   the   city   has   been   imperilled  by  tfhe ihronze
which has been shown about this fundamental task of pre said

ing  for  freedom  of  movement  through   the   streets of f ^^-^
,   ..                                                                                                      ition

•                                                 s to-





THE statement by President Orr, of 'the Rapid Tr. was
Commission, that contracts for the flrst extension ^^'^J
the Subway system will probably be let with six mo^" ;'
is good news. It is over four years smce the necessit;gjjjj_
such extensions was fully recognized, and no matter how with
tbe excuses are for this long delay, public opinion, paseems
larly among property-owners, is impatiently demant
actual beginning of the work. It is no exaggeratioi
that new subways are more necessary to-day than ^^ Fifth
subway was in 1899, During the last six years an e'^^^^'^l'j,'
increase has taken place in the population of New Ycj^ Roths-
and an equally important redistribution; and it so happ on the
this redistribution has so far taken place, somewhat itouildlng,
ently of the existiug subway. Of course, the great buildirwith the
ment in the Bronx would have been impossible witb.'^^^ ^'^^
improved means of transit offered by the tunnel, but ^^^^^_
as Manhattan is concerned the great increase in po,j.j^ ^q^^.
has taken place on the East Side; that is, in a districtmun es-
unaffected by the underground railroad. At the presef an li¬
the tenement house district of the upper Bast Side ai!. f*:,^^,^
lem is the area of greatest building activity, and it is,-





of 18th
s for a





same time the area in which population is pressin| ^^ |.,^g
heavily on the space available for habitartion. This i Eight-
which already supplies much more than half of the ineie four-
the elevated roads, needs early relief more than an--th. The
part of the city; and it is very much to be hoped t^'''^^\ ^^
contracts for the Lexington and Third Avenue subw^ ^ngin-
be the first ones which will be let. It should be po
build a Lexington Avenue extension to the present
from   Forty-second   street   north  within  two  or   thre