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The Real Estate Record. j>aiac»"S which ]n-iiices who were merchants in i.
be like princes niaj* hereafter do in the WHV I.f iMustniction in New York, particularij- if tl:»\- select the Westside plateau as the scene ■ •I their munificence. Tte jiractical question presents itself—how upht the West Side to be improved .' We will .lirrw. 1 think, that it should lie built so as to ac- ooniniiHlate a great number of families, some -)t]cndidlj-. manj- elegantlj-, and all comfortablj-. r hat the architecture should be ornate, solid and }»Tniaiieut, and that the principle of economic .- niihniatit'U >hoiild be employed to the greatest ! o^ible extent. Thu-: far in the better parts of the citj- the gen- • lal })lan has been to buikl single houses, each • wner of ,i Int exercising his own ta.<hed favor. Mostof them, thus far, have lieen cheaplj-built to accommodate people ol verj- limited mean.s. Some few have been very thor-Mighlj- aud elegantlj- constructed, with a view to iK'in;; occupied bj-small families who can alTonI to expend from five to ten thousand dollars a J-ear. The advantages and economies of these vjjjierii'r dwellings Iwive been so evident that thej- 1 avo alwaj-s been eagerlj- taken bj- excellent ten- •nits a* soon .as reailj- for occupancj-. The economy will Ih? understood when I state, as probably others can. that 1 have paid at a leading hotel in New- York, for seven or eight consecutive months, at tiiC rate of seven thousand dollars ayear for the r«nt «f two smali rooms, and that I am able now- i.> i-*'nt to others suites of nine rooms, finished in the b-si possible waj-. ami adopted to all the re- tjU!r!'nient.s of elegant housekeeping for fifteen h.judred doihars a J-ear. There are but few per- s->ns who are princelj- enough to wish to occupy an entire palace, and possiblj' most of those who are In-st able to do it, would be most unwilling to take upon themselves the inevitable worrj- and trouble; hut 1 believe there are many w-ho would like to occupy a jiortion of a great building, which would lie more perfect in its arrangements than anj- ]«ilace iu Europe, unle.ss it would be one of very recent construction. For the principal streets and avenues of the West Side plateau, I should l>e disjKised to advocate the construction of apart¬ ment houses, with suites of rooms varj-ing in size and number so as to be suited to the uses of famil¬ ies havingtheahility to expend from fivethousand to fiftj- thousand dollars or over a year. There is hardly any limit to the rat« of expenditure and slj-le of social splendor, to wjiich the apartment house might not easily be adapted, but, w-hatever tbe «"ale might be. it is quite certain that for a given aniount of money a vastly greater amount of oo*3venience, comfort and display might be se¬ en. -hI, There is a considerable class, and such as would be esjiecially desirable on the West Side, who have houses ont of the city in w-hich they wish to reside the greater part of the year. To all these the advantages of an apartment iin town, into which they could come, and out of which they could go. at any time, are very obvious. But the comparative advantages of apartment houses over single dwellings, though many, I have no time lo discuss now. The fjuestion arises—how are these buildings to lie erected, and who are to pay for them ? In other cities such house.s are built, and certainly the ability exists to construct them bere. The first and main point is to establish the neces¬ sity for tbem. The very be.st and most economi¬ cal way to prosecute a grand scheme of improve¬ ment woidd perhaps be something like this : Suppose a whole blo<:k on the West Side to have no buildings on it, and the lots to be owned by twenty different persons, in different propor¬ tions. Suppose tbe time to have arrived when most of tiiese owners are of the opinion that the bioc^ should be buUt upon. Evidently, it is for the interest of all to have their property improved in the best way, and so as to secure the greatest profit. By combining together, employing a single architect and building upon the entire block as one enterprise, the work could be done with much greater economy than by any indi- TidtuI effort, and a splendid result could be aUained. As the owners of some of these lots would be much more wealthy than others, those least able to b^ the expense of building ought to be able to borrow from the richer as much monej- as would be required, and at a low rate of interest, a.s the security would be perfect. When such a building should be completed, it might be divided bj- commissioners, expert in tbe business, in accordance with the ownership of the land, and the cost of building might be equitablj' ap- port'oned iu the same w-ay. Thus all parties would be benelited. the w-eathier owners by pre¬ venting injury to their property by the erection of inferior buildings and the poorer ones by shar¬ ing iu the advantages of a great capital at moderate interest. The city would gain iu the .splendid character of the improvements. This is only a .suggestion of a plan, but I feel confident it might be elaboi-ated and put into successful execution. It ma J- be objected, perhaps, that in this out¬ lined scheme uo provision has been made for the laboring population. There is the highest au¬ thoritj- for believing that the poor will alwaj-s be with us, but it does not follow that the poor w-ill necessarilj- occupj- anj' part of the West Side plateau. Indeed, I think we should agi*ee that the verj- poor would be sufficiently with us if thej- should Hx their habitations in New Jersej- or on Long Island. But to accommodate the industri¬ ous and meritorious w-orking people, the same plans should be pursued substaiitiallj' as in pro¬ viding dwellings for the rich. The model dwelling for the poor man should occupy a sjiace, not '25 bj- 100 feet, but an entire block. It should be quite plain, but solid and sub¬ stantial in everj- part. The rooms for each fam¬ ilj' should be of moderate size and few in num¬ ber, but everj- room shculd have good air and light. Water should be supplied to each apart¬ ment or suite of rooms, and they should be heated bj- steam. The building should be made quite safe as to fire, and a passenger elevator should convej' the tenants up and down. -A.11 this and more could be furnished to the laboring popula¬ tion, as cheaply as the miserable rooms in tene¬ ment houses which they are obliged to occupy now. I suppose the ow-ners of such a model ten¬ ement house ought to be, and would be, satisfied w-ith 5 per cent, upon the investment, over and above all expenses. In such a case cheapness and verj' superior accommodations w-ould naturally and easily follow from the vast extent of the en¬ terprise, and the greatly increased number of families who w-ould thus be furnished w-ith homes. The advantages, in a sani'arj- point of view, of the plans for building, w-hich have been faintly suggested, would be greater than can well be estimated, and it would be easy, as to such dw-ell- ings, to exercise a most rigid supervision and effective police. Probably some judicious legislation might be advisable to aid the formation of combined build¬ ing associations; but even under the present gen¬ eral law-s I believe, with a reasonable and proper feeling among the owners of adjacent lots, what¬ ever is needful might be done to the great mutual advantage of all concerned. Mr. Church moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Clark for his very interesting paper, w-ith a request that it be given to the -Association for publication, which motion was unanimously car¬ ried : It was announced that the rooms of the Asso¬ ciation were open dailj', except Sundays, from S A. M. to lOJ^ p. 51., and the special meetings of the Associat^n will continue to be held every Satur¬ day evening at 8 o'clock. Also, that special meet¬ ings of the sub-committees of the Board of Direct¬ ors of the Association w-ould he held at the rooms of the -Association on the tw-o Tuesday evenings of tbis month at 8 o'clock, and afterwards, until further notice, on every Thursday evening, at the same Hour, when will be considered all (complaints, suggestions and matters connected w^ith, and directions will be given to carry out the wish of the Association. AU persons whether members of the Association or not are invited to communicate matters of interest to the Assistant I Secretary, Mr. Walter G. Elliott. I After the election of about twenty-five new I members and the proposal of others, the meeting I was adjourned to next Saturday evening when J will be considered the question of " Taxation and Local Assessments." We call the attention of our readers to tbe mport- ant sale of tbe estate of John H. Graham, deceased, advertised in our columns to day by A. H. Muller & Son, auctioneers. The sale, which is to take place Jan. 20, iocludes valuable Broadway property, in the very heart of the now flourishing district south of Bleecker street, also lots on Second avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-flrst street, and also a flne plot with mansion and stable, at liewburgh, on tbe Hud¬ son. El.,WARD CL.A.RK. In this edition will be found, iu the proceeding.^ of the West Side Improvement Associatiou. the very suggestive address of Edward Clark, Esq , a member of the Bar of this city, a gentleman of very little public notoriety, of rauch experience iu his profession, a shrewd observer of men and phici-s, and one who has achieved success iu the introduc¬ tion of a well known branch of .-luierican indur-ny. Iu a history of Otsego Countj-, this State, witli illustrations and biographical sketches oi some of its prominent men and pioneers, ap-oears among some hundred uauics, those of Auilipise L. Jordan and Edward Chirk, and from which -.V'lik we learn the following fuels: Mr. Clark was bom at .\thens, Greene Co., N. Y., Dec. 10, 1811. His iiither, Nathan Ohuk, a sucooss- ful mamifiicturer, still resides there, at the advanc¬ ed ago of ninety-one years. His mother was* the daughter of John Nichols, of Waterbury, Conn., of the same family as Hichard Nichols, comuiande- of the expeditiouaiy force, by which the city ol New York was taken from the Dutch. Paasiiig over his early years and academical training, we tiud he graduated from Williams' College iu IS;JO, and the same year entered the law ofiice of Ambrose L. Jor¬ dan, Esq., at Hudsou, N. Y., a city then disliugui-sh- ed asa school for intended lawyers. In I.S3;3, he be¬ gan the practice of law iu Poughkeepsie, and, in 1837, formed a law partnership with ^Ir. Jordan, and commenced a successful practice iu this city. Iu the year 1818, Isaac M. Singei, one of their clients, an erratic genius, having followed various occupations- without much succese. aud invented valuable me¬ chanical devices which brought no profit, was a client of Messrs. Jordan A- Clark, and, shortly after this time, made his great invention of the Sewing Machine. Undi r the niauagemeut of the inv<. n'or, the title to the invention became involved and was likely to be lost. In that emergency, Singer applied to his k-i;al advisor, Clark, to advance the means to prosecute the business successfully, and thereupon w-as form¬ ed the co-partnership "of I. M. Singer & Co. with eminent success from 1851 to 1803. It was during these years of costly and vexatious law suits, niou- aced by hostile iujuuctious, that, under the mau- agemeiit and direction ol Mr. Clark, the contest was perseveringly maintained, the business con¬ tinued to prosper, and defensive litigation termi¬ nated. It is known that the early raanagenieut of the busiuess, and the direi tion given to it in lhe beginning by Mr. Clark, have contributed to its- preaeut permanent success and celebrity. In 1803, wishing to be relieved from active duty,. aud desiring to secure its contiuued good manage¬ ment, he conceived the scheme of organizing "The Singer Manufacturing Company," and, upon its formation that year, though a director, retired from active ma'nagement, aud, during several years, spent considerable time abroad. In his travels over Europe, he examined what¬ ever was worthy of notice in nature and art, aud had full and lengthened experience of the various methods of living in hotels and rented apartments in the principal cities of those couutriee. In the autumn of 1854, he fixed his residence in the village of Cooperstown, Otsego County, N. Y., and has continued to reside there ever since. He purchased, at that time, the dwelUng known as "Apple Hill," formerly owned by Geo A. Stark¬ weather, and by Hichard Cooper, aud occupied at various time by Hon. John A. Dix, Hon. Samuel Nelson, Judge L". C. Turner and others. This building was torn dowu, and a new stone*one occu¬ pies ita place. It and the grounds are now called "Fernleigh." In tho guide books this house is ex¬ travagantly praised, and few s rangers visit Coop- erstown without seeking to see it. We have passed over his professional career iii this citv, in great part occupied by the care neces¬ sary o-s-ier the interests of the hrms above men¬ tioned. Constantly on the alert for new moves, and called on incessantly for professional advice, he was quick to perceive, and prompt in action. The partner of tbe late Anibrose L. Jordan, he was obliged to share and assist iu the labors of that distinguished gentleman and lawyer. From 1838 to 1860 the firm of Jordan & Clark was retained and prominently engaged in a large proportion of the aeverelv litigated oases which occnpied the Courts of New York, and were opposed by some of tbe fore¬ most advocates of the New York Bar. Having done, and still contintiing to do his part for the improvement of Cooperetown, his home and residence, Mr. Clark has now turned his atten¬ tion to this city, the scene of his early labors and successes.
