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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 10, no. 240: October 19, 1872

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AND BUILDERS' GUIDE Vol. X. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1872. No. 240. Published Weekly hy THE REAL ESTATE PiECOPJ ASSOCIATION. TERMS. One year, in advance......................SC (10 All communications should he addressed to 7 AND 9 WAUREN STRKIOT. No receipt, for money due tho Real BST.vrR Record will be ackno^vledgell unle.ss signed by one of our ref^ular oollectors. Hk.nuy D. Smith or Thomas P. Cujimings, All bills for collection wiU be sent from the office on a regu¬ larly printed form. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Since tlie erection of the splendid synagogTie of El Emanuel, on Eiftli avenue, no place of public -worsMp Las been constructed in this city- more pleasing and satisfactory, as a specimen' of ecclesiastical architecture, than the new Episcopal church of Saiat Bartholomew, now rapidly approaching completion, aud situated at the south-west corner of 44th street and Madi¬ son avenue. This elegant structiire occupies— with the handsome little rectory adjoining— a frontage on Madison avenue of IOO feet, runs back from the avenue 145 feet on 44th street, and is 58 feet high to the top of the groined in¬ terior, with a capacity of one thousand sittings. It has been very rapidly erected, for a building of such solidity of construction and elaborate¬ ness of ornamentation, having been commenced in June of last year, and expected to be com¬ pleted in the coming November. The design is in what might, in general terms, be called the Byzantine style of archi¬ tecture, but the architects have so closely ad¬ hered to the peculiar branch of it illustrated by the Cathedral of Pisa and other works of that character, that it may more properly be classi¬ fied as Pisan Bomaulesque. Nothing can exceed the care and beauty with which the architects have carried out the minutest details of this somewhat peculiar but fascinating form of ec¬ clesiastical architecture, both a,s to the exterior and interior. The frontage is one perfect fyet- work of little arcaded recesses and -windows, resting on small columns -with floriated capitals, and adorned -with rare carvings, especially one in high relief over, the entrance doorway, illustrative of the history of Saint Bartholomew. No less than five different stones enter into the composition of the front, all introduced and ar¬ ranged so as to form the most pleasing contrasts and combinations of color. In this the design is eminently successful, and shows great prac¬ tical skill in the knowledge of material on the part of the designers. New Jersey freestone forms what may be called the groundwork of the composition, and this is interveined throughout, the plain surfaces or ornamental parts, according to their best mode of applica¬ tion, -with Pottsdam freestone, Cleveland free¬ stone, Schenectady blue-stone, and Pennsylvania serpentine. In outline and proportions, the whole frontage toward Madison avenue is very grand and im¬ posing, and, with the leviathan Grand Central Depot right in front of it, and so many other first-class buildings in the immediate neighbor¬ hood, gives to that portion of the city a pala¬ tial appearance scarcely to be seen elsewhere in New Tork. "Where there is so much to ad¬ mire, it is not ijleasant to find material for fault-fiuding, but we must take decided excep¬ tion to the termination of the otherwise beauti¬ ful tower at the north-east angle of the build¬ ing. There is no such crucial test of the deli¬ cacy of taste, feeling, and artistic tact in an architect as planning a perfectly graceful ter¬ mination to a tower or steeple. To lead the eye gracefully away, from base to pinnacle, strictly confining all obtruding projections with¬ in that rigid pyramidal outline which is the essence of architectural grace, requires the ut¬ most delicacy of touch on the part of the artist. This is where Sir Christopher Wren showed his wonderful power of composition, in the thou¬ sand and one spires he scattered over the sur¬ face of London, all differing, but aU, tapering away in snch elegant gradation, no matter how elaborate the various parts, that the whole looked as if they had been made from two rigid straight lines meeting in an apex, and the eye is charmed -with the universal symmetry, even when forced to condemn any intervening parts in detail. In St. Bartholomew's church, the whole frontage niay be pronounced absolutely perfect, tower and aU, uutU we reach that stage of the latter where an open octagonal turret, formed of a wooden and slated dome resting on slender columns, is placed upon the square portion of the tower, sloping away at the angles to receive it. It is in the slope of this dome, still more in the yet smaller turret placed on the top of it, and forming a termination to the whole composition with its little spiral cover¬ ing, that we find the outline very defective. The lower dome might pass, if redeemed by the other little terminal turret placed upon it; but -She latter, instead of tapering away gradu¬ ally to nothing, actually projects and overhangs just where it ought to recede, producing a most' uncouth effect. The most impractised eye will find a ready illustration of what we niean by contrasting the mode in which this tower is terminated -vvith that of the terminal turret to the synagogue of El. Emanuel close by, at the comer of 43d street and Fifth avenue; literally the same idea, but far more ably tre^ed. The interior of St. Bartholomew's church is no less satisfactory than the exterior.' The effect, on entering, is gorgeous and imposing. Beautiful polished columns, of Aberdeen and Peterhead granite imported from Scotland, sep¬ arate the lofty nave from the aisles on either side, surmounted by richly eaiwed and gilded floriated capitals, while the whole vaulted roof and surface walls are ablaze with polychromatic decoration- of well-contrasted colors mingled with gold. Many of the side windows are already filled with rich memorial windows of stained glass,- presented by various members of the con¬ gregation, utterly devoid of that vulgar transpa¬ rent green and yellow and orange glare so com¬ mon in our churches,"but executed by variousNew York artists in such.fitting designs and brilliant but subdued rubies and other rich colors, that some might pass for the works of the famed 'Willement or Wailes of England. The organ, too, forms a very striking feature of the inte¬ rior. It is said to be one of Odell's best manu¬ facture, and fills up the whole space of the eastern end with a grand device. It is being painted in variegated colors to suit the rest of the interior, and will look splendid when com¬ pleted. The whole cost of this structure, in¬ clusive of the rectory, is not expected to exceed |240,000. Messrs. Eenvrick & Sands are the architects, Duke & More the builders, Moran & Armstrong the masons, and Hugh & J. Young the stone-cutters. GOSSIP. We extract the foUov/ing from a circular sheet sent around to merchants by one of the largest Commercial Agencies in the United States. The letter is dated St. Paul, Minn., Sep. 2S, 1872, and reads as foUows: " On my return from Now York I found money very clo.se here. That none of our Banks were discounting anything. Also, that Country Merchants and .small Country Dealers were paying Uttle or nothing; and that our Johhers were often very hard up. I h.ave been at some pains to ascer¬ tain the causes of this .state of thing.«, and am satisfied they are substantially these: " First.—The Biinks here, and at some other places, h-avo been furnishing for some three months abont all the cash consumed in carrying forward the various lines of the Northern Pacific Railroad, so that that Company now owes directly and indirectly to St. Paul, not less than Six Hun¬ dred Thousa7id Dollai's-^a. laxge sum for our people to carry.. The Road is now ' hard up,' the .sale of its Bonds having been seriously damaged. " Seco7id.—The wheat crgp w-as late and large. The re. cent 'Wheat Corner' has been followed by a coUapae, and wheat dealers have not as yet fairly recovered their equi¬ librium, and thenumber of buyers on the various roads is so few that the price is down, and farmers are not selUng much, therefore "not paying their debts. The depressing eflfect of this state of atfairs upon the Country Merchants is seriously felt by our Jobbers. ' " We are in a vexatious situation, and many may require time to turn themselves, notOTthstanding our State is in good shape, and really able to pay aU her debts in fuU." The Commissioners, in the matter of the extension of Eleventh avenue, have discovered that the avenue had been laid out previously and ground dedicated for it by a number of property-holders, as shown-by several deeds, and they have determined to "reduce the awards accordingly. This is resisted by some persons, who as.sert that their titles are free from such encumbrances, and they claim they are en-