Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 27, no. 668: January 1, 1881

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R^EAL Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXYII. NEW TOEK, SATUEDAT, JANUARY 1, 188>. No. 668. Published. H eevly oy •S^c Uml €statg EetoriJ ^ssonatton. 1ERMS. OIVE YKAR,. in advance.. ..SlO.OO. Communications should be addressed to C. W. S"WjeET, So. 137 Broadwav The pressure on our columns, both for news and advertisements, has forced us to lengthen our pages which we hope our readers will regard as an improvement. This is but the beginning of other changes in the way of new type and the like, which will, we hope, make this journal still more attractive in its "make up." There is every indication that the year to come will show a larger real estate business than was ever before transacted in the metropolis. The signs are multiplying that the investors and speculators, who have made such large profits in stocks and general merchandise, will now invest in real estate, so as not only to permanently secure what they have gained, but to get the additional profit which clear-sighted business men are unanimous in thinking can be got by invest¬ ments in real estate at present figures. posssession of by a builder, who intends to improve them without delay. This is really an overflow from the East Side, where no more lots at reasonable prices can be had, and the West Side will at last be taken in hand and built up—not with the magnificent mansions some over sanguine owners have pictured to themselves but nevertheless, with houses that wUl answer the now constantly increasing demand for homes in the upper section of the island. The year 1881 opens auspiciously and may it end with the same feeling of satisfaction and confidence in the future of our market that inaugurates the New Year. erty owners' interests and be taken in hand at once by the members of the new incom¬ ing municipal administration. THE BROADWAY UNDERGEOUND ROAD. INDEX' FOR VOLUME XXVI. Our subscribers receive with, this issue of the Real Estate Record, their regular semi¬ annual tndex for the last six months, cover¬ ing all that was contained in vol. XXVI. of The Record, dating from July to January. Especial pains have been taken to make this index as thorough and complete as pos¬ sible, and no street, avenue, place or lane has been overlooked either in New York or Brooklyn. Those of our subscribers, who should fail to receive the Index to which they are entitled can obtain the same by making early application at this office. NOTABLE IN REAL INVESTMENTS ESTATE. The year opens with two important trans¬ actions which cannot fail to stimulate still further activity in real estate. It will be seen by our market reports that foreign capitalists have invested half a millon of dollars in Broadway business property, ..GSpjtalists too, who hail from a section of Europe known, for its solidity and cautious dealings. The next equally important transaction is the silver lining that at last appears on the : Western horizon. More than a dozen lots •have been sold, as will be seen elsewhere, • along Sixty-first street, between Ninth and - Tenth avenues, and these lots have been taken THE MADISON AVENUE EXTENSION. We publish tp-day a diagram of the section of Broadway that is to be affected by the proposed extension of Madison avenue to Union square, along with a letter from a public spirited citizen, who gives cogent rea¬ sons for this much-needed improvement. The scheme, though it may on the surface appear to be a gigantic one, does after aU only involve a comparatively small amount of money for the required expenditure—a sum total of one million and a-half being deemed sufficient to do all that is required to relieve Broadway at its now over-crowded junction with Twenty-third street. Our in¬ telligent correspondent further makes the striking observation that the carriage way as it now exists along Broadway, between Eighteenth street and Twenty-second street, is not only owing to its narrowness the source of great annoyance, but of actual danger to both the occupants of carriages and to pedestrians. It is virtually a throat altogether too narrow for New York's prop¬ er digestion. The map we publish to-day shows how this can be remedied. The distinct lines on the diagram cut off from the east side of Broadway sufficient to obviate the present difficulty of over-crowding this most iri- portant thoroughfare of our city, while at the same time, the opportunity is offered for the-arrangement of a new plaza at the Twentieth street point, where it is proposed to have the beginning of Madison avenue. The great desideratum, however, is the ex¬ tension of Madison avenue southward to the point named and the virtual establishment of a new avenue running parallel to Fifth avenue and actually not secondary as to the amount of capital invested therein. We have heretofore spoken of the great necessity of relieving Broadway from Sev¬ enteenth street to Twenty-third, and espec¬ ially at the latter junction. The letter of our correspondent and the accompanying diagram with the line of the proposed ex¬ tension distinctly marked throw the fullest light possible on an improvement that ought to be enthusiastically supported by the prop- There seems to be some hitch about the building of the Broadway Central Under¬ ground Road. From time to time, articles appear in the newspapers, to the effect that in a few days the work will be commenced; but, somehow, nothing has been done. On the 18th of December, the General Term of the Supreme Court denied a petition made by Mr. George T. Curtis, to appoint commis¬ sioners to open the road, on the ground that the owners of one-half the property along the line of the proposed road had not given their consent. We have before us a printed circular, ad¬ dressed to the directors of the said Under¬ ground road, which we judge accounts for the difficulty the new company has had, both here and abroad in raising money. This document alleges that Vandenberg and his associates have no rights on Broadway, and never had. The charter of the Central Underground Railway Company, passed in 1868, gave no right to tunnel Broadway. The circular then goes on to say: I was one of the incorporators named in that act. Vandenberg was not (see Act). Among the forty or more incorporators were many who were very strong, financially,politically and otherwise. After electing a board of directors, amDng whom were "Boss " Tweed and "Hank Smith," nothing further of notice was done un.il 1872, when a strong combination of capitalists, lawyers and railroad men—among them, Brown Brothers, Seligraan & Co.. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, G. P. Lowery, Trenor W. Park and Samuel J. Tilden —took the Central Undergound charter in hand and made applica.tion to the Legislature for an amendment to give the company rights on Broadway, which application failed, while at the same session (1872) the Legislature did give a charter to Commodore Vanderbilt for an under¬ ground railway, which covered pretty much the same route granted in 1868 to the Central Under¬ ground, thus practically repealing that charter. The circular makes other equally strong statements, and as copies were sent not only to the leading capitalists in this coun¬ try, but also in England, it seems to have prevented the raising of the money, which, at one time, there seemed some Hkelihood of being invested in this scheme. But the fact is, it is not a tunnel which is wanted under Broadway. "Never go un¬ derground until you can't help yourself," was the motto enunciated by Cyrus W. Field at the dinner given upon the comple¬ tion of the elevated roads. He had refer¬ ence to the experience of the London Under¬ ground Road and in fact aU tunnels under mountains, whether long or short. As a contrast to the elevated .road system it is •' Hyperion to a Saty." The one is the pleasantest kind of traveling known, the other the most unpleasant. But, should we not have an underground