684





RECORD  AND  GUIDE





October lo, 1908







fflllv:





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Published Every Saturday

By THE RECORD AND GUIDE  CO.

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Copyriglited,   1C03,   by   The   Record   &   Guide   Co.





Vol, LXXXII,





OCTOBER 10, 190S.





No. 2117





(Continued from page 6S3.)
he won't, as the saying is, "walk to eat." The Record and
Guide, therefore, as the leading trade and building conslruc¬
tion paper in New York City, has oecided to reverse the old
saying and bring the mountain to Mohammed. We will pub¬
lish an "Opportunity- Number," wherein the leading brokers,
operators and corporations interested in real estate will point
out where, in their judgment, the great "Opportunities" lie.
This number will be issued early in December, shortly after
election, when people wiil have buckled down lo business
with the assurance of political calm, aud no doubt with in¬
creasing business activity and confidence based upon a
vastly brighter outlook. Every sign visible today is of au
optimistic nature. Business is certainly reviving all along
the line. Crops, so far. are more than satisfactory. IVIanu-
factories are opening up, production is increasing and the
purchasing power of the people is plainly much greater than
it was. In other words, the procession is on the move.
Some will get In on the band wagon, but others wil! walk,
some trailing along at the end. The Record and Guide, with
the "OPPORTUNITY NUMBER," wants to help those who
are thoroughly alert.

' This "OPPORTUNITY NUMBER" will contain Important
articles contributed by many of our leading constructors,
building material firms, real estate brokers aud operators.
It will be fully illustrated so that its contents will insure its
being very carefully read and studied by the vast number
of capitalists, specialists and the public,'who are today finan¬
cially interested in real estate and building.

Everybody wants to know where money can be made.
Everybody turns, in what may be called an investing frame
of mind, to any serious story along this line. Everybody is
seeking "Opportunities." The publication of the "OPPOR¬
TUNITY NUMBER" of the Record and Guide will be the psy¬
chological moment for all who have anything to sell in con¬
nection with building and real estate. Therefore this "OP¬
PORTUNITY NUMBER" of the Record and Guide offers un
usual advantages to advertisers and to all who are desirous of
stimulating their business or increasing the force of their
sales department.





house work, taking the city over, is going ahead faster than
last year at this time, for the plans filed during the last quar-,
ter represented an appropriation of six hundred thousand dol¬
lars in excess of the sum specified by the plans in the third
quarter of 1907. In the month of September the total amount
of all work planned in each of the three largest boroughs ex¬
ceeded both in number of buildings and in estimated cost the
records in these respects made by September, 1907. In Man¬
hattan tenement work has been slower in overtaking the
record of the previous year than any other class of work, but
the improvement in this respect will in all probability be
more marked from now on, judging from the number of loans
that are being made, in amount much greater than a year ago.
One of the large lending corporations, to give a specific ex¬
ample, reports that its mortgage business for September of
this year was more than three times that in September of
last year. It is to be said, however, that not all the work
that has been planned since midsummer has yet been trans¬
formed into signed building contracts even when suffieient
time has elapsed, as a feeling is abroad that some advantage
is to be gained by waiting until political questions are settled
by the election. Other investors are taking advantage of this
general disposition to make their contracts before the event
with the expectation that they will save both in time and cost.
They have faith in the recuperating power of this great coun¬
try of ours regardless of anything that can possibly happen,
in politics at this time. No one should worry about impos¬
sibilities. To estimate the amount of work that is being held
back-is not possible, but if it shall all be released after elec¬
tion dav busy times for contractors will begin about then,
though "the full benefit to the trades will not be observable
for several months to come, or, with allowances for the em¬
bargo of the winter season, not until next spring.





/-|-^ HE upturn in building operations in New York since the
i first of July was emphasized strongly in the quarterly and
monthly reports appearing in last week's Record and Guide,
where it was set forth that the estimated cost of the build¬
ings for which plans were filed in Manhattan during the
last quarter exceeded the sum represented by the filings in
the corresponding quarter of last year by four million of
dollars, the increase being principally in office and loft buiid¬
ings. In the Bronx also the reeord of the quarter just ended
surpasses that of the corresponding quarter in the year 1907,
both in the number of buildings and in the estimated cost,
the increase being mostly in dwellings and tenements, as is
natural for this borough it it is to make progress. It is sig¬
nificant of the turn which affaire have taken that tenement-





NOW that the plan for widening the roadway of Fifth
Avenue   from   Twenty-fifth   to   Forty-seventh   Streets
has   been   definitely   undertaken,   the   Bureau   of   Highways
should   consider   one   consequence   of   the   widening,   which
hitherto   has   not   received   enough   attention.     We  refer  to
the increased difficulty of crossing the widened higiiway.    A
pedestrian can cross a street forty feet from curb to curb
with  comparative  ease  even  when  the   vehicular  traffic is
heavy.     But  a street fifty-five feet wide is a very different
matter.     Such a thoroughfare, when used by a large num¬
ber of vehicles, cannot be crossed with safety, unless islands
are placed in the middle of the roadway upon which pedes¬
trians can remain until they find a chance of getting through
the second stream of traffic, which will, of course, he travel¬
ing in a direction opposite from the first.    This is the prac¬
tice in all European cities, and it must eventually be adopted
on Fifth Avenue.     The vehicular traffic on that avenue will
undoubtedly   largely   increase,   not   only  on   account  of  the
widening itself, but because of the inevitable augmentation
in the use of motor-cars.    In the taxicab systems. New York
has for the flrst time a cab service which is satisfactory and
which is destined to grow rapidly from year to year, and. of
course, the good private cars, which are now being put upon
the market at a comparatively low price, will soon multiply
even the existing large number of automobiles in the hands
of individual owners.     As a consequence, Fifth Avenue will
be more than ever flooded with two streams of rapidly mov¬
ing vehicles; and the safety of the pedestrian absolutely de¬
mands an island opposite every corner on which he can stop
and await his chance.    Moreover, these islands are just as
necessary in the interest of the storekeepers of Fifth Avenue
as Ihey are  in that of pedestrians.     Any considerable  diffi¬
culty in crossing the avenue will deprive them of a great
deal of trade.    It is essential for their prosperity that shop¬
pers should be able to get to a store on the other side of the
avenue without too much delay and without anxiety.    The
Fifth Avenue Association should, in their own interest, take
this matter up, and see that the pians for the improvement
comprise  an  adequate  number  of   "Isles  of  Safety     in  the
middle of the widened roadway.





rr* he''Bunding Code Revision Commission has finally an-
X nounced theltind and degree of limitation which It
proposes lo place upon the erection of skyscrapers. In gen¬
eral the proposed regulation would restrict the height of
office buildings, to 300 feet on ordinary streeta and 350 feet
on public squares. That a regulation of this kind should he
called a restriction is an interesting comment on the change
which has recently taken place in the standard of office
building construction.    Only a few years ago there was but