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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 26, no. 642: July 3, 1880

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXVI. NEW TOEK, SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1880. No. 642 Published Weekly by TERMS. ONE YEAR, in advance....SIO.OO. Communications should be addressed to C. AV. SVl?^EET, No, 137 Broadway OUR INDEX. Simultaneously with the publication of the first number of the new volume. The Recorb presents its subscribers to-day with an elaborate, carefully collated Index of Volume XXV., just closed, and covering transactions ofiicially recorded up to date. The transcendent value of the Reai, Estate Record Index has been heretofore attested by our appreciative friends, and the fact that our journal has become the standard work of refer¬ ence in regard to values of realty and other sta¬ tistics peculiarly its own, makes this Index a mat¬ ter of necessity. The labor involved in its com¬ pilation, the care taken in the revision of its num¬ erous details have heretofore challenged the ad¬ miration of our readers, and yet, notwithstand¬ ing all this labor, it is again furnished to our sub¬ scribers freo of cost. To-day's Index surpasses preceding numbers, in so far that it has been arranged with still greater simplicity, condensed where condensation renders the search the easier, and expanded where ad¬ ditional explanation makes a vain search impossi¬ ble. For instance, where a lot in the form of an L has been transferred at a certain date, the Index gives the page of the avenue, as well as the street, where said transfer is described. There are those who occasionally complain that they cannot find the street or avenue on the page quoted in the In¬ dex, to them we must repeat that they will find it there, if they will onl^ look far enough. Often, the allusion to said street or avenue is to be found in the body of another transfer. The key to the transactions of the past six months will be appreciated during the revival of activity, two months hence, when investors and operators will be glad to refer back to the trans¬ actions that startled the market during the late boom, and also to those that were recorded dur¬ ing the sudden reaction, which created such a lull in activity. It will be seen at a glance that transfers in New York during the past six months have been most numei'ous on the extreme East Side, be¬ tween Seventieth and Eighty-fifth streets, and also between One Hundred and Fifth and One Hundred and Fifteenth streets. In Brooklyn a large number of transfers of lots in the vicinity of Prospect Park are recorded. Not only, however, does the Index simply fix the reader's eye upon the transfers of real estate, the numerous new buildings erected during the half year, the new laws passed—bearing on prop¬ erty, the mechanics' liens, but all the various matters of interest that are from week to week found in the columns of The Record are carefully indexed in alphabetical order, so that our sub¬ scribers can have no difficulty in ascertaining, without delay, where to look for the information required. WHERE THE GRANDEST IMPROVEMENTS ABE IN PROGRESS, AND IN EMBRYJ, The exceptionally long and important list, which appeared in this journal last week, under the head of "Buildings Projected," and the steady and continuous sales of first class residences, so un¬ usual in midsummer, betoken most clearly the unabated demand for good houses in desirable localities. Many of the purchasers seem to be availing themselves of the interval of leisure afforded by the summer vacation, giving them time and opportunity for looking about and of securing the] required domiciles suited to their tastes and means, or the sites for their speedy erection in advance of the more active demand for both, which is sure to return with business activity. There are in our midst many gentlemen of fore¬ cast, who secured valuable property as opportunity offered, and have been holding it for years in an unimproved state. They seem to have just got in readiness for erecting the houses which have been their ideals during all this period. For these, and other reasons which are obvious, the building of princely residences is more active at the present time than for several years past. This is notably true of that especially attractive section so long known, and appropriately called "Lenox Hill." In many particulars, " Lenox Hill" is already in advance of the still famous " Murray Hill;" especially in the magnificence of ita palatial archi¬ tecture. In the section embracing " Lenox Hill" there are, to-day, more elegant, commodious and costly private, not to aay public, edifices than in any other diatinct locality in the city. By way of illustration, we point to a number, all of which may be characterized as graceful in exterior, ani fitted, furnished and equipped without any close study of cost. The residence of Mr, David Dows, (Herter Bros,, architects) is a double house, fifty feet front; that of Mr, Heber R. Bishop (Mr, C, W. Chnton, architect), also double, fifty-four feet front; of Mr, Geo, W. Quintard (Mr, Arthur Gil- man, architect), thirty feet front, with an attractive exterior; of Mr. Alex, H, Stevens (Mr, Haaney, of Baltimore, Md,, architect), eighty feet; of Mr, Lapham, of Brooklyn (W. H, Hazeii, architect); of Mr. S, Bradley (J. G, Prague, architect), twenty-eight feet, with a beautitiil facade ; of Mr. Anthony Mowbray (Lamb & Wheeler, architects), three houses, all extra size, Mr. Wm, Pickhardt and Mr, Ladieux have their plans out and do not intend to fall behind their neighbora. Any easen- tial deterioration in this direction is precluded, both by the honorable emulation and friendly atrife of gentlemen of wealth and ambition, as well as public spirit lor pre-eminence in the designs and structures which they contemplate erecting; alao, by the conditions attached to the sale and transfer of this property for building purposes, most wisely transmittei by the public- spirited and far-seeing man whoae name it must alwaya bear. Of the comparatively small portion of this " eminent domain " which could be obtained at any coat, Mr, John D. Crimmins, to whose excel¬ lent judgment and splendid enterprise these columns have borne frequent testimony, succeeded in March last in purchasing a most magnificent plot on Sixty-ninth street and Madison avenue, of Mr, Robert L. Stuart, who purchased directly from Mr. Lenox many years ago, Mr. Crimmins, in offering this property to the public, announces his purpose to enforce the original conditions of Mr, Lenox in their fullest spirit and intent. The en¬ tire block is thereby reatricted to first class housea only, and nothing in any way noxious or offensive to the neighboring inhabitants will be allowed or tolerated. We believe Mr. Crimmins will very soon have the aasurance that these restrictions, thus publicly made known, as surely as they enhance the value, will proportionately accelerate the sale of these splendid lots. The names of other gentlemen, besides those we have mentioned above, occur to us as owning beauti^iil residences in the same vicinity; among them Mr. J. M, Fiske, Hon, H. C, Van Vorbt, Mr, F. D, Tappan, Mr, Anderson Fowler, Mr. Parker Handy, Mr. B, B, Atterbury, and others equally prominent, whose names do not chance to be familiar to us, Messrs, J. M. Fiske and T. G. Eastman (Mr. E. D. Hatch, architect) have, at the present time, two new dwellings of the highest order of architecture under way. Builders have erected the moat expensive and magnificent houses in this neighborhood, and so great is the demand, that they have almost invariably disposed of them. Owing to the character of these structures, as well as the assured respectability of their owners alid occupants, and especially owing to the scarcity of lots in this immediate vicinity, the importance of the restrictions in question can scarcely be ex¬ aggerated in the estimation of both present and prospective residents. The security they afford the purchaser is an important factor in the con¬ sideration of the deed. The value of such a guar¬ antee cannot be measured by legal tender, Mr. Crimmins, we understand, will illustrate his good faith in this behalf by building a house on one of these exquisite lots, which will be, in some sense, a model of his ideas of a " first class" house, as wed as those of the original grantor. The re¬ maining lota will be so eub-divided aa to enable any party purchasing to determine the dimensions of the ground he may require, be the same twenty^^ five feet or more ; and, at the same time, he can fix his own terms of payment. Much might be said of the beauty, salubrity and healthfulness of the locality, on the latter point especially, by reason of the nature of the soil and its elevation above tide-water, which s eighty feet, at least ten feet above the highest point of " Murray Hill." The indications are unmistakable that, with the incoming autumn, the demand for residences will be unprecedented. Let gentlemen of means, not yet provided with homes of their own, consider whether the inducements here pre¬ sented are not worthy their immediate and practi¬ cal attention, especially before a still more active and speculative market yet further enhances the value of these peerless building sites, in thisr choicest of localities, ynth the most attractive surroundings. Investors should also bear in mind that the area of what is known as "Lenox Hill" is not over one eighth the size of "Murray Hill," the park occupying all the ground west of Fifth avenue. Heaoe the ntuaber of lots offered