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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 20, no. 496: September 15, 1877

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XX. NEW YOEK, SATUEDAT, SEPTEMBEE 15, 1877. No. 496. Published Weekly by TERMS. ONE YEAR, in advance....$10.00. Communicafcions shoiUd be addressed to C. MV. SWEET, Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadway. THE MARCH OP IMPROVEMENT. The twelve months ending September 1, 1877, are notable and distinguished for a miscellaneous and voluminous projection of buUding. We have selected this arbitrary period for review, as it fm-mshes the data of four different seasons. Usu¬ ally the spring and fall are the most prolific in buUding enterprises. Owing to the intense politi¬ cal excitement of last f aU the season was practi¬ cally lost; building operations being genei-ally sus¬ pended. As soon as a peaceful solution of the troubles became assured, the floodgates of enter¬ prise and industry were bm-st asunder with an overwhelming pressure, and a degree of building activity exhibited such as the city has not seen at any other period since the great coUapse of 1873. Not thafc there has been any actual intermission of buUding enterprise, as every year and every month since the panic has developed a share of activity. It musfc be confessed, however, fchat the business tapered to a very insignificant volume affcer the fuU significance of the monetary revolu tion contemplated and set in motion by President Grrant, in 1874, -«'as completely reaUzed by master buUders and speciUators. The sudden shock and violent distui-bance of values that resulted envel¬ oped the projectors of buUding in a maze of un¬ certainty and doubt as to aUowable cost and proba¬ ble result. The operation of building on a faUing inarket is about the most certain way imaginable of emptying- a bank account. The patience and foresight of buUders were not subjected to any pi-olonged or inoi'dinate tax. Labor qiuetly yielded in horn-sand pay, adjusting itself to al¬ tered conditions. As stubborn as New York lot owners proverbiaUy are, a year or so of depres¬ sion and stagnation sufficed to convince them that inflated prices were no longer realizable. At aU events, by the opening of this year the situation became clearly and sharply defined as regards land, labor and materials, prices for these having crystallized on a plane that promises steady and remunerative employment for all our mechanical forces. In the absence of any untoward condi¬ tions or fresh calamities, we may justly suppose prevaUing rates to be representative of the gold values of respective conamodities, and Ukely to be permanently estabUshed and maintained untU, afc least, the next financial cataclysm sweeps over the horizon. We would characterize the prevaU¬ ing business in bmlding, in the majority of cases, as extremely natural and legitimate. BuUders have no longer to contend with that excrescence and parasite, the lot speculator, but are aUowed to determine the value of land in the Ught of their own experience, and according to the capabUities of the business, and in conference with 6o?3,a fide OAvners—whose tenure is qualified by no mort¬ gage, and to whom landownership is no new or recent thing. During the past whiter the prices of labor de¬ cUned below the lowest scale of gold times, but this may be ascribed to the peculiar exigency of affairs then prevaUing. Nearly all wages have since re-acted, imder the impulse of this years' activity—a little defcerminafcion on the part of fche men enabUng fchem, wifchout open demonstration, to secure what may be termed living wages. The extremely faA'orable conditions for build¬ ing purposes, that marked the beginning of the year, were plentifuUy availed of, seemingly, by aU classes who had money to invest or spend, spec¬ ulatively, in buUding schemes. The capitalist and the mechanic, the man of doUars who pays for all, and the man of limited means who reUes upon loans, were equally ready to reap the advantages offered by cheap building rates. The year has fuiiushed another iUustration of the remarkable pluck and fche unquenchable vigor of our masfcer buUders—in fche main fche best representatives of their class that the world can produce. We fancy we see the incipient verification of one of om- f oreshadowings—that, at low prices, the city wiU be built up and completed more rapidly, solidly, and beaufcifuUy, than at extravagant or high prices. Our analysis of the record, of projected buUd¬ ings during the past twelve months, reveals the facfc that they aggregate over fifteen hundred erections, divided thus. First-class residences........................ Second-class residences...................... Aparfcmenfc houses............................ Sfcores and warehouses...................... ................... 200 ................... 300 ...... ............ 75 .................. 75 Tenemenfc houses___............................. 500 Facfcories and shops............................. .50 Miscellaneous small buildings, under $5,000 value........................................... 150 In annexed disfcricfc.............................. 150 Tofcal.......................................... 1,500 This aggregafce may seem smaU, but must be measured by compai-ison with similar periods immediately antecedent, and in the light of the fact that the bulk of it originated in the first eight months of this year. If the ratio is pre¬ served to the end of the year the total for 1877 wiU approximate closely to the normal average of the besfc of times. The result thus far attained may be haUed with satisfaction by our citizens at large, and especiaUy by the real estate commu¬ nity, as indicative of revived interest and the beginning of a new era of buUding development. Any one possessed of the impression that the bottom has faUen out of New York real estate, or that grass was growing in our sfcreets, had better take a cab and employ a leisure hour in a tour of inspection -within municipal limits, the sequel of which wUl certainly be the dispellihg of such iUusions. A careful examination of our analysis, accom¬ panied with personal observation, wiU develop many interesting topics of i-emark. The quaUty and character of present projections are more significant and iostructive than the mere bulk or aggregate of figures. We remark, pi-imarUy, that the major share of building is of an invest,ment character, and partakes of the solidity and pei-- manence which such a purpose demands. The largest estates, such as the LoriUard, Wolfe, Rhinelander and Roosevelt, are conspicuously represented in the field, besides a few capitalists, who appear for the first time, aU intent upon securing the best income that improved property can be made to produce. A .suggestive fact is found in the i>rojection of over five hundred tenement houses, many of which ai-e connected -with stores on the first floor. When we state that about three-fifths of this number are separate projections, by as many indi¬ vidual o-wners, we discover a favorite method of investment by persons of smaU means, wherein productive property becomes competitive with sa-vings banks. A notable feature is the sparse- ness of individual projections of first-class private residences, showing a striking indisposition on the part of wealthy citizens to embark in these costly luxuries. The Record reveals but five such pro¬ jections within the period we are consid«-ing. Among these the brown stone palace of Mr. J. A. Bost-wick, Fifth avenue and Sixty-fii-st street, looms up prominently and notably—destined, we believe, to become one of the many models of luxurious and highly embellished mansions that adorn our city. On Pifty-eighth street, befcween Fifth and Sixth avenues, Messrs. Hubbard, Samp son & Bence have constTucted unpretending but comfortable homes, while on Fifty-seventh street Mr. Von Post, of Oelrichs & Co., has struck out- an entu-ely new model of front elevation, whose unique and highly wrought features form an agreeable contrast with sun-oundmg platitudes. The erection of so many pubUc edifices and of costly and elaborate stores and warehouses must be deemed either anachronisms of investment or else indicative of greater thrift in business and plenitude of cash than falls under the observation of ordinary financial editors. The large out¬ cropping of speculafcive building, so-caUed, in the way of private single dweUings—no less than five hundred in all being recorded—^wiU convey an assurance to the pubUc of a plentiful supply of this prime necessity of Ufe, and a likelihood of acquiring it at an outlay less fchan an average fortime. The aceepfced line of residence buUding fuUy confirms our past prognostications that the gro-wth of the fashionable quarter wUl foUow the narrow belt between Fourth and Pifth avenues, and partake of the character of soUd blocks of mason work rather than of detached residences with grounds. The apartment system, despite aU unfavorable auguries, is receiving notable and numerous iUustrations—some of a highly ex¬ pensive character. The grovrth of our city proceeds so steadUy and unobtrusively and buUding projections drop upon us so like sno-wflakes, that we can readUy imagine the average citizen immersed in affairs may pass his days almost unconscious of what is transpiring except in a given locaUty. Por the edification of om-readers and on account of the inherent value of the subject, as typical of the Indomitable energy of New Yorkers, and Ulus- trative of the peerless spirit in which they battle