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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 10, no. 236: September 21, 1872

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AND BUILDERS' GUIDE Vol. X. ■NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1872. No. 230. Published Weekly by THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION. TERMS, One year, in advance......................§(5 00 Al! communiciitions should he addressed to 7 AND S WARllKN' STIIKHT. No receipt for money due tlic BhaTj Estate Bkcorm will be acknowledged unless signed by one oE our regular collectors. Hknrv D. Smith or TrrojiAS P. Cujmi.ngs. All bills for collection will be sent from the office on a regu¬ larly printed form. Speclvl Notices. Messes. Saegeant, . Geeent.eae & Cole, of 300 Broad¬ way, have a new patent adju.stable elbow for stoves, etc., which can be adjusted to any angle, is made of the best material, improves' the driiffc and, whilst being incompara¬ bly more Convenient, is. at the same time, no more expen¬ sive than an ordinary elbow. For Sale.—A 22 ft. wrought iron beam of superior con¬ struction, weighing 2,100 .lb~s. AVill support with safety a distributed load from 40 to 50 tons. Apply, 5 Dey St., Boom 13. EEAL ESTATE ASB CITY IMPROVEMENTS. While almost every class of business is re¬ ported to be in an extremely active and prosper¬ ous state, the present mouth of September surpassing any of its predecessors, since 1865 in activitj' among legitimate business circles, Ave find that real estate .scarcely holds its OAvn, and seems unable to shalce off the chronic dul¬ ness Avhich settled upon it during the heated term of July, and still holds the market Avithin its grasp. It is not improbable that this state of thing-s may continue until after the Presi¬ dential election, although Ave see no reason •why this should be so, except the old saw which everybody repeats that years of Presi¬ dential elections are always dull ones for busi¬ ness, but this year has certainly failed to shoAv the truth of the assertion. There can be no great speculation carried on without the help of the outside public, and as it has not yet •waked up to,the fact, as yet appreciated only by a few far-seeing speculators, that New York within the past four.years has made gigan-tic strides in wealth, population, manufactures, and other industries which tend to malce her the first city of the world. Within the next three years.the prize of rapid transit,;for which, she has so long strug¬ gled, about Avhich spmuch has been said and .so little done, -wOl be an accomplished fact, and trains Avill be running from City Hall to West¬ chester county inside of fourteen minutes time, stopping immediately the immense .drain which for , years New York has suffered from her ..population being: drawn to. BrooHyiiwd New Jersey. In addition to the success of the Vanderbilt transit road, A\'e shall witness with¬ in the next year the blowing up and re- moA'^al of all obstiractions to the free j)assage,of steamers of the largest draught through Hell G-ate, an undertaking of itself Avhich, if success¬ ful,—and of that there is scarcely a doubt,—Avill double and treble the value of all real estate in the vicinity of the East River from Corlears Hook to Harlem Bridge. Another gigantic enterprise, involving an outlay of over $2,000,- 000, now actively being carried out, is the sink¬ ing of the Croton Aqueduct, reducing it to the level of the adjoining property, and conduct¬ ing the Croton Avater beloAv One Hundred and Thirteenth street, through iron pipes sunk be¬ low the grade of Tenth avenue. More than 500 men are now employed upon this work, laying pipes and building sewers, which Avill be completed at an early date, after which the Avork of demolishing the aqueduct will be begun. In 18G9, when an acti^-e movement began in real estate in this vicinity, certain gentlemen who OAvned property invaded by the aqueduct, petitioned the Legislature to remove the " ob¬ struction," stating that the aqueduct diA-ided the city, separating the inhabitants of one sec¬ tion from those of another; interfering with the grading of the streets, and injuring greatly the value of property. In 1870 the Legislature passed a law enacting that the aqueduct be re¬ moved, and that the Croton water be conveyed in iron pipes, from One Hundred and Thirteenth to Ninety-second street, and that the pipes be laid below the grade of Tenth avenue. Tenth avenue, at this point, has not been graded, and vjhen the work was begun was several feet above the line laid doAvn on the maps; and as the pipes are to be laid five feet below the grade of the avenue, and are four feet in diameter, and as the seAvers require thirteen feet in many places, excavations have been made to the depth of twenty-five feet. Most of this AVork has been done through solid rock. ProAosion has been made for the future re¬ quirements of the city, and six rows of iron pipes, each four feet in diameter, have been laid. The old aqueduct is only eight feet in diameter, and consists only of a single tunnel, so that the ncAv pipes vidll have a capacity nearly three times as great as the aqueduct, and be ample for the needs of 2,000,000 people. Still another important and valuable im provement, is the tunnel under the Har¬ lem Biver, to connect this city at the north¬ erly end of Seventh avenue Avith the Central avenue, Morrisania.. . The„ tunnel proper is to be of solid masonry, -with an approach of 1,663 feet on. the Ncav York side, commencing at One Hundred and Fiftieth street and grad¬ ually sloping to the mouth of the tunnel, at One Hundred and Fifty-fifth street, with a descent of one in twenty-two, less grade than that of many of the roads on Central Park. On the Westchester side the approach AviU commence 1,078 feet from the arch of the tun¬ nel. After the approaches have reached a sufficient depth on either side, the balance of the distance AviU be covered—hght and air be¬ ing admitted to the viaduct by means of grat¬ ings, etc., similar to those now in existence on Park avenue. This tunnel Avill pass under the water-bed near Avhere McComb's Dam Bridge noAV stands, and, when completed, Avill be a structure of great solidity and strength, Avhere- as the old wooden bridge is constantly getting out of repair. The estiiaated cost of the con¬ struction is about $1,500,000, including the purchase of the lands. This tunnel and the Avide avenue leading to it will connect Melrose, Fordham, and Morrisania Avith this city, and as the grade Aviil be of such a nature as to enable heavily-laden teams to pass along without seri¬ ous difficulty, it Avill form the most direct and convenient highway for travel between the two counties. In addition to the tunnel, a suspension bridge is to be built over the Harlem river at a point about a quarter of a mile above the High Bridge. The part of the river at Avhich the bridge wiU cross is at the foot of luAvood street, or what avUI be known as One Hundred and Eighty-first street, a short distance from Tenth avenue, which crosses the street almost at right angles. The river runs northerly at this place, and nearly parallel with the ave¬ nues, thus preventing the bridge from being directly connected with one of these main arteries, bitt it is sufficiently near to the ave¬ nue as to be made of great ayailability. The bridge and approaches -will be about 1,750 feet in length, of Avhich over 1,000 feetWill be in the jurisdiction of Westchester County, the balance belonging to New York. The roadway of the bridge is to be 152,feet above high water mark, and consequently 22 feet above the level of the present High Bridge. It Avill connect the high lands of the upper part of this Island with the heights of Westchester County west of the Croton Aqueduct. 'It had-first been proposed to construct the bridge for ordinary travel above, the present High Bridge and on the same foundations, but a survey clearly , showed the impracticability of this plan, from the fact that it would not only endanger the main structure but also prevent any future im¬ provements in the Croton Avorks, for Avhich the bridge had been esxjecially constructed. Mr, Grant is the engineer of the suspension bridge, and the designs and plans have been draAvn by him. The bridge -will be of such a Avidth as to permit of the passage of vehicles, the High Bridge not being adiipted for that purpose.