Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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April 23, 1881 The Real Estate Recori>. 391 know not what we lose. They cost something, but their expense may be better saved in what we can bet¬ ter spare. Better is a home with three rooms and an open fire than a gilded palace with unkindled grates." But the increased use of open flre-places has not arisen merely from reasons of taste and sentiment, as they have txeen recommended by sanitarians as afirord- ing an excellent and convenient means of ventUation. Respecting this, the Science of Health says: "In every home there should be at least one open grate, or some other arrangement for burning wood ojr soft or hard coal. A fire which can be seen as well as felt—a cheerful, bright blazing flre with shovel and tongs, and fender, too, if you please, which will attract the family by its social influences—is a grand thing in a home. * * « * It is all well enough to have one's dwelUng wai-med from top to bottom, and to have no coals to carry beyond the fur" nace, but this heating system has done immense mis" chief to the family powers, scattering the members of it all over the house and furnishing not one attractive spot in which the inmates will gather, as by instinct they do, to enjoy the cheery comfort of the fireside. There is no fireside tn most of our modern houses. There are only holes in the floor or in the walls. And we are disposed to think that the good ventilation of the open fire adds not a Uttle to the unconscious blessings of its hospitable and domestic influence." To the plain and sedate patterns of fireplaces which were in vogue some few years ago have succeeded a great variety of styles differing in material, form, color and style of ornamentation. A visit to the warerooms of a few of the principal manufacturers wiU show that the old sombre and plain japanned work has given place to gilt, bronze, brass, tile and wrought iron contrasted and designed so as to please the eye and satisfy the critical artistic taste of the present times. At the salesroom of Messrs. WiUiam H. Jackson & Co., in Union Square, the writer recently exam¬ ined in half an hour more beautifully and artis¬ tically designed fireplaces, fire irons, &c., than he covld probably have seen by visiting several himdred of the finest houses in New York. Each fireplace is made and finished throughout in its own particular style, although, of course eacb style admits of endless diversities as regards the color, form, and material used. At the rooms named may he seen splendid speciments of work in the Renaissance, Queen Anne, Colonial, Egyptian styles and the firm has designed fireplaces to order in Japanese, Persian and other styles. Any style admits of a variety of material like the following, and some of the contrasts of color are singularly effective and pleasing, for instance: a rich nickel frame with real bronze panels and gold mould¬ ings, metal or tile linings, dog grates and fenders of bronze and brass, all set with a tile hearth, which last gives a warm and welcoming effect to the whole fire¬ place. The dog grate or dog with andu-ons can easily be substituted one for the other as coal or'wood is to be used. At the salesrooms of Messrs. J. S. Conover & & Co., in Canal street, which have been newly and hand¬ somely fitted up in mahogany with crimson hangings, was seen a display of fire-place fumiture, which, for variety, and style rivals any in this city. A number of handsome specimens were seen of the Queen Anne, Eastlake, Renaissance and Louis XIV. styles, the frames being for the most part of gilt, nickel, bronze and brass. This firm makes a specialty of tile work, and they are ready to furnish tiles for hearths and facings of every known make. Some beautiful specimens of richly colored imported marbles, adapted for facings, were also seen here. Many of the dogs and andirons are fashioned in unique and artistic forms, some of them representing owls, grifSns, Uons, dogs, cats, ducks, etc. The heavy basket grates set on castors, and with the front bars nickel-plated, are flne specimens of design and workmanship. The firm is now engaged in making the grates for a number of the finest houses that are now buUding up-town, and two of the designs which the writer saw (one in the Japanese and the other in the Renaissance style) are very ornate and beautiful. They have recently sent the talented young artist, Mr. Schoonmaker, to Cleveland to make designs for a very large and costly mansion, which is buUding in that city, each of the flre-places for which will be specially designed to correspond with the furniture and decoration of the room for which it is in¬ tended. An idea may be had of the variety of work which the firm does when it is stated that the cost of a fire-place ranges from thirty doUars to seven and eight hundred. This firm has also recently fitted up thehouse of Mr. J. M, Studebaker, at South Bend, Indiana, with fire¬ places, and an elegant house in Utica, Nevv York, that it has taken a year to complete, as well as two rich residences in St. Louis, one belonging to Mr. Samuel Cupples, and the other to Mr. R. M. Scruggs, of the firm of Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney. They are exhibiting great enterprise in extending their business. having estabUshed branch houses in Rochester, Chi¬ cago, Boston, Detroit, Cincinnati and San Francisco, and are, besides, fitting up a fine new wareroom in Twenty-third street, opposite the Fifth Avenue Hotel, running through to Twenty-second street, which wUl be occupied this summer. They have also recently made arrangements to produce the different colored metals which are required in modem fire-places, such as old gold, old brass, oxidyzed silver, copper, etc., by an entirely new electro-plating process, ilr. A. E. Conover intends making a trip to Em"ope in July to examine the latest improvements and designs in flre- places. As a matter of course, each manufacturer, in con¬ formity with the demands of trade, tries to compete as to the style of work with all the rest; but, still, they vary considerably in design and ornament. At the warerooms of the ,T. L. Mott Iron Works in Beekman street the writer saw a number of fire-places the avritten description of which would not differ materially from some of the above, but which are quite original and artistic. Many of them have linings of bronze elec¬ troplate which contrasts well with the stamped brass frames. Some of the latter are beautifully orna¬ mented and decorated with tile facings. They have many styles of japanned frames, some of them re¬ lieved with a rich gold band or moulding. These are however, not now so popular as some of the modem styles, such as the Eastlake. In some richly orna¬ mented brass dogs they have introduced hand painted tile work, with a happy effect. The salesroom of Messrs. W. Jackson & Son, in Bi-oadway, where many fine specimens of the modem style of fireplaces are to be seen, would well repay a visit. At the wareroom of Mr. Elwood Hampton in Gold street, there is a creditable exhibition of styles, in some of which the different colored metals are happUy blended. It should be remarked that to obtain a handsome grate ornamented in a perfectly artistic style does not necessary involve a large outlay, as they can be made of simple as well as of elaborate designs and inexpen¬ sive as weU as costly material. The fire irons, gener¬ ally of brass, are f onned to suit the style of the fire¬ places and much ingenuity is displayed in the designs of even the wood holders, which are generally made of wood with brass ornaments. OUT A3I0NG THE BUILDERS. Mr. Lucius Tuckerman will build a wing to the Bene¬ dict building on Washington square. It will be 25x80 feet, six stories high, and flre-proof. It is to cost $50,000. McKim, Mead & White are the architects. A. Kuttroff will erect a thi-ee-stoiy dwelling, with basement and attic, on the northwest corner of Sixty- ninth street and Madison avenue. It wUl be 72 feet long on Madison avenue, and 38 feet in width on Sixty- ninth street. The cellar will be 8 feet deep; basement 9 feet G inches high; flrst story 15 feet 6 inches; second story 13 feet; third story 12 feet, and the attic 10 feet. It will be fire-proof. The interior will be finished in hardwood, and the exterior in brick and brown stone. It wiU cost $120,000. J. B. Snook is also the architect. Isaac W. Howe and William P. Draper wUl build a flrst-class store in Franklin st, 75 feet from Church, 50 xlOO feet, six stories high, with basement and sub-cel¬ lar, from designs of J. M. Slade. It wUl have an iron front and all the modem improvements, John H. Masterton wiU do the mason work, John SniEfln the carpenter work, and J. B. & J. M. Cornell the iron work. The cost is 855,000. The same architect has prepared plans for a buUd¬ ing to be erected on the corner of Franklin street and West Broadway, 50x60 feet, and seven stories high. It will be built of brick, stone and terra cotta. J. M. Dunbon and F. W. Haynes. of the firm of James L. Little, are the owners. It will eost from $50,000 to $60,000. The same firm wUl buUd a storehouse in North Moore street, 50 feet wide by 82 feet hi depth. It wUl be seven stories high, and built of brick and free-stone, trimmed with granite. Mr. Slade is the ar¬ chitect. Cost, $3.5,000. Two stores, with 25 feet front and 92 feet deep, are soon to be buUt at Nos. 86 and 88 Wnite street. They vrill be five stories high, and have iron fronts. Dr. John T. Metcalf owns No. 86, and WilUam P. Dixon, the lawyer. No. 88. The cost is $22,000. J. M. Slade designed them. A, D. Juilliard is to put up three seven-story storage buildings at Nos. 14,16 and 18 Leonard street. They wUl be brick, trimmed with granite, and cost $65,000. Mr. Slade also draughted the plans for these buildings. Alfred E. Barlow has in hand plans for a factory to be erected at Nos. 7 and 9 Elm street, by F. W. & C D. Sheridan. It wiU he two stories high, 48x100 feet, and cost $5,000. At Nos. 109, 111 and 113. Grand street a large store, 65.6x105 feet, six stories high, with basement, is to be bmlt. The fi-ont wiU be of brick, stone and iron. Thomas Stent is the architect, and William Astor the owner. The estimated cost is $115,000. P. H. Delano wiU build a palatial private residence 165 feet long by 70 feet wide and four stories high, at Bariytown-on-the-Hudsou, from designs of Thomaa Stent It vriU be buUt of brown stone and Phila¬ delphia brick. It wiU have hardwood finish, marble stairs and plate glass throughout. At length the trustees of Columbia CoUege have de¬ cided to erect some new buildings on Madison avenue and Forty-ninth street for the use of the Law School, School of Arts and School of Mme,3. A new chapel and Ubrary building wiU also be built. The library wiU have a frontage of 120 feet on Forty-ninth street and be 100 feet deep. It wUl be .«imUar in style to the wing added on Madison avenue last year. The law students, now quartered at Lafayette place and Great Jones street, wiU occupy the basement and first story temporarily. On the second floor a large apartment, which is to be used for a Ubrary, wUI have an area equal to a room 75 feet square. The ceUing wiU be 60 feet above the floor. At present the library is in the old bmlding on the north side of the block formerly used as a deaf and dumb asylumi In the Ubrary proper the bookcases are to be so arranged as to form alcoves. The books will be mainly books of references, together with ordinary books, which wiU be directly accessible to the students. In the rear of the library will be two wide staircases of stone leading from the terrace level to the floor of the Ubrary. Underneath these vaulted passage ways connect the quadrangle of the School of Arts on the west side of the square with the .quadrangle of the School of Mines on the east side. Above the staircases are the library rooms and a fire-proof apartment, 54 feet wide, 63 feet long and 40 feet high, in which all the valuable books wUl be kept. A Uft is to be provided to lower books to the Ubrary. The chapel wUl extend back of this bmlding through to Fiftieth street. New lecture rooms are to be added in place of the old asylum. The School of Mines, on the Fourth avenue side of the square, wiU have a frontage of 200 feet. AU the bmldmgs wUl be of brick, trimmed with sandstone. These buildings wUl cost over $750,000, C, C. Haight is the architect. The St. Thomas House, to be erected on East Fifty- ninth street, near Second avenue, built from designs of Mr. Haight, wiU be 75x45 feet, and three stories high. It vrin be buUt of hrick, after the English Gothic style, and trimmed with BeUevUle stone. The interior waUs wiU be Uned with red and white brick. The first-story WiU have an open timber ceiling, whUe the thu-d-story wiU have an open timber roof. The cost is $35,000. The Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, to be erected on the comer of Forty-first street and Park avenue, wUl have a front of 100 feet, and depth of 60 feet, and be four [stories high, with basement. It wUl be of brick, with stone trimmings. The building wUl be of the Jacobean style of arehitectm-e. It wiU be fire¬ proof, and constmcted in the most substantial man¬ ner. It was designed by C. C, Haight, and wUl cost about $110,000. Additions are soon to be made to the building of the New York Bar Association on Twenty-ninth street, west of Fifth avenue, from plans of Mr. Haight. They wUI be 70 feet deep by 30 feet wide, containing a haU for meetings of the association. On the upper story wUl be a library 30 feet high. The material used in the construction will be brick relieved with stone and ten-a cotta. The cost is $30,000. Charles Kneeland wiU erect a. house on Fifty-fifth street, near Fifth avenue, 25 feetin width by 95 feet in depth. It wiU be flre-proof and constructed of brick, with Rutsdam sandstone trimmings. The plans were drawn by Mr. Haight. Cost, $70,000. A warehouse is to be put up at the comer of Grand and Mercer streets, 25x100 feet, and six stories high. The designs were furnished by the same architect- The cost is estunated at $50,000. S. T. Hopkins, Esq., wiU erect a five-story ware¬ house with basement at 81 White street. C. C. Haight is the architect of this also. The cost is $35,000. Andrew J. Dam & Son wiU erect a new hotel on the south side of Fifteenth street, near Union square, from plans of James E. Ware. It wiU be irregular in shape, eight stories high and buUt on a 75x90 feet lot. The flrst story will be stone, and the other seven of brick, with Dorchester stone trimmings. At the Fif¬ teenth street entrance wiU be a massive stone porch supported by Scotch granita columns. There wiU be three Unes of bay windows on the front, thus afford¬ ing an exceUent view of Union square. The interior is to be arranged in suites of rooms, each wiU have a separate private hall, and independent bath-room and toilet accommodations. The suites are to vary in size to accommodate large or smaU f amiUes. The parlors, chambers and dressing rooms wiU be arranged so as to give from one parlor and bed-room up to one par¬ lor and four bed-rooms to each suite. In the first -tory is to be a general dining room, which, together