Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 24, no. 615: December 27, 1879: Supplement

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SUPPLEMENT TO THE Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXIV. NEW YORK, SATUKDAY, DECEMBEIl 27, iSTVi. .No. 015 THE RECORD POR 1880. i J[|[ ^[gj gjj)[^ Ths Rk.\l Est.vte Record and Bcildeks' Gcide -f;icars with the New Y'ear upon ics twentj--flfth vol¬ ume a fact which alone justirie.s the estimation in which it is held by investors, capitalists, builders and ■dealers generally. Without desiring at all to boast of the safe guide The REt.-oarj has been to investors in realty during the depre.ssiou now happily passed, we are safe to say, and challenge contradiction on the subject, that cf ail the pubHcatioiis in New Y'ork City, The Re.^.l Est ITS R-ccaao has been the only journal that com¬ prehended the financial situation, and ivarned its reader.-; against coniin.;? disasters in 1870 and 1S73, and -again encouraged thera to rencved enterprise when the dark clou Is began to disperse. Having received ample support anJ praise for our ^vork fro:u those whose praise is worth having, Tns Hk;ijki) enters upon the new year w-ith a full deter- juination to pursue t!ie same untramnieled course it has followed in the past, speaking the truth on all matters affecting realty and the growth of our city and suburbs. Tha year ISSO wil! probably see the inauguration of active building operalions on the too long neglected West Side, and also along the upper portions, particularly the Twenly-third and Twenty- fourth Wards. How to build and where to build are <|uestions not onlv affecting owners bul also archi tects, builders and, in fa«t. mechanics generally. To all of the.e The Record will be a necessary adjunct to their labors, as ils columns wil! carefully reflect all that is going on to-.vard building up that section. No business man, however, who cares a', all to be up to the spirit and enterprise of the times iu which he lives, should be without it. as it furnishes regularly every Saturday the following information: First—Ml the Chattel Mortgages filed iu New Y'ork, Kings, Dutchess and Schoharie counties and New Jersey. •Second-Ail the Judgments docketed in New Y'ork and New Jersey. Tidrd—.All the Real Estate Mortgages recorded in New Y'ork and New .Jersey. F.iurth-All the Real Estate Conveyances in the same places. Fi;"th—-Ml tho Foreclo.sure Suits against real estate iu New York and Brooklyn. :Si.ttli—.\ cmiplete list of all the property lobe sold from week to week under legal proceedings. Seventh—A complete review- of the real e.state and building material market. Eight—General editorial anicles on all matters ailect ing property in New Y'ork and the suburbs. Ninth—A complete record of all the Satisfied Judg¬ ments. Tenih—A list of all property aff-eted by assessments, and a notification of the time the assessment is handed in to the Collector. Eleventh—The proceedings of ihe Common Council affecting real estate. Twelfth—A eomplete record of all iie'w buildiugs pro¬ jected in New Y'ork City or'Brooklyn, togethoi with the name of the owner, architect and builder. Mr. Edward Ciark-s Views on Modern Bnildiiigs. Paper Read before the Wes t Side Association. Improvement of the Eleventh Avenue. The West Side As.'^ociation held its usual weekly meeting on Saturday evening. December -20th, at its rooms, No. 04 West 'rhirt\--fourth street. Mr. Dwight H. Olmstead, the President, in the chair. A large number of members were in attendance aud much interest was manifested iu the proceedings. The President oj)ened the meeting by stating that it became necessarj- uow for the property owners along the line of the Eleventh avenue, from Seventy-second street to Oue Hundred and Sixth street, to determiue whether that avenue should be improved in the ordinary manner or by special treatment, plans for whieh were exhib¬ ited to the meeting. These plans provide for court yards, sidewalks and roadways of various widths, ornamented w-ith grassplots and trees. After considerable discussion, in which a special treat¬ ment of the avenue was favored, tlte whole mat¬ ter was referred to a committee, who w-ere directed to consider and report upou it at a future meeting. The subject of buildiugs then coming -jp, Mr. Edward Clark, one of the largest and most enterprising owners on the West Side, read the following naper which was listened to with great attention : TUE tlTY ov THE KUTLKE. (Paper read before the West Side Association by Mr. Edward Clark.) If the original founders of the citj- of New York could have grasped the idea that in the coui-se of years, and within a perio 1 not great when compared with the usual duration of great cities, the whole island would be surrounded bj- wharves and warehouses to accommodate the world's commerce, an I its entire available area densely covered w ith buildings to meet the varied wants of a vast population, it is quite certain that the plans for public and private improvement would have been very different from those which have actual!}- prevailed. To suit the convenience of the future city, the most important business of a pnblic nature ought to be concentrated some¬ where near the geographical centre of the island Draw a liue from the Nortlj to the East River, through Forty-second streetand the intersection of that with the line of Broadway, would iadi- ate, not precisely, but somewhat nearly, the lace where the" Courts, the Exchange, the Custom House, the General Post Office, the large nuaucial institutions, aud all other busine.ss inti¬ mately connected with these, ought to be perma¬ nently located. The present existing arrange¬ ments are about as inconvenient as could have been devised. There is a daily congestion of the currents of humanity for several hours on the southerlj- point of the island which is painful to experience or contemplate, :uid a corresponding depletion towards eveniug. The elevated rail¬ ways, to a certain degree alleviate this evil, but never can cure it. The struggle of opposing in¬ terests is alwaj-s going on, and cannot be ex¬ pected to cease imtil the citj- is finally completed. Persons who are not yet old can remember when the little triangle called Hanover square, south of lhe present Custom House was considered the choice .seat of the greatest trade in the citj-, and manj- can recall the time when it would have been thought absurd to trj- to establish a whole¬ sale business any where west of Broadwaj-. Things look differently now, and there is ho "reason to suppose great changes will cease to be made. Wall street still gallantly holds its own, but who can tell when or how- soon the money changers and their satellites will be compelled to seek other temple,-. lu our citj- of the future it seems to luc, no single lot on the surface ot the island can prfiper- ly or profitablj- be spared for a small or inferior building. It is the dutj-, and ought to be con¬ sidered a great privilege of the property owners, of the preFent time, to exercise a judicious fore¬ sight as to the manner in which their lots shall be improved, and to see to it that buildings erected hereof-:er shall be permanent in their character. Looking out from mj- office window across Union Square I see two verj- prominent edifices for business purposes—thej- "are the third series of buildings erected on the same sites w-ithin a few- J-ears—and the most conspicuous and costlj" private residence in the citj- stands on the spot where a large and handsome brow-n stone house was demollslied to give it room. The tearing- down process has been already carried on to an enormous extent, and there are yet very large districts compactly built over, where the buildiugs must be razed to the ground to give place to better. Probablj- this niushroom-style of building was inevitable during the former period of ignorance and uncectaintj'. But hereafter there will be no excuse for such improvident and wasteful building. Considering what has been done, it is not difficult to forecast the future, and the building which is done now can be and ought be such as will be appropriate to the citj- a hundred j-ears hence. It is fbitunate for those interested in this Association that building west of Central Park and above Fiftj-ninth street has been so much retarded. There is but little except the shanties that requires to be torn down. I believe some divei-se opinions have been expressed in regard to the character of the buildings which ought to be erected on the space between the westerly side of the Central Park and the Hudson River. Some have thought the most profitable course would be to erect small and cheap houses for jiersons of moderate means. These gem leiiien entertain a sincere belief that the wealth andvjl^iagmlicence of Nevv York has I x'lausted. or #511 e.xhaust itself upon Fifth and Madison avenues. But I presume most of the members of this association have a firm belief that the alti-active combination of the Central, Rivei-side and Morningside parks, and the admirable conformation of the land between them, will give this district a sure and disting- ui-ihed pre-eminence. Our newspaper para- graphists are verj- fond of speaking of the meichant princes of New York, and perhaps our WfuUhj- citizens are uot averse to being thus designated. No doubt it is true that there are many persons in New York whose incomes are princely iu amount, but princes ought to live in palaces, and where are they '. To use the idt-a and language of Gen. Viele, "few persons have thought of constructing anythhig more than three quarters of a house." Gentlemen who have visited Genoa and Venice will remember the