Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 28, no. 707: October 1, 1881

Text version:

STATE Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXYIII NEW TOEK, SATUEDAT, OCTOBEE 1, 1881. No. 707 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE YEAR, in advance.....$6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 13T Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager. The fall season has now commenced in earnest. Business people are back in town and our official lists show tliat dealers in re¬ alty are at work again, As yet there has been no large sale to test the temper of the market, but wpi will have them in all proba¬ bility before the month of October is over. An active and higher real estate market is certain to come, but whether this fall or next winter and spring is not yet determined. Those who hold property speculatively ex¬ pect to get higher figures, and all the obvi¬ ous facts of the situation justify them in so doing. Our population is increasing rapidly. The very rich from all quarters are coming to the metropolis to reside, temporarily or permanently. The profits in all business, wliich was never so active, are unusually large, and the high prices of stocks and gen¬ eral merchandise are certain to be followed by a large advance in real estate values. The outlook is very hopeful. Through acci¬ dental causes tliere are just now more houses than purchasers ; but then the other fact that there are more people who want houses to rent than the market can supply settles the question that the surplus of unsold dwell¬ ings will soon be worked off. ------------^-•>--------------• The extraordinary demand for labor is shown by the high price offered by the em¬ ployers of boys and girls under age. There is found to be an absolute scarcity of female operators for mills. In the mill towns and villages, there is a dearth of hands, and the girls are more independent to their employ¬ ers than for many years. They take more holidays, avoid work when posssible, and are not so amenable to discijpline as when work was not so plentiful. Indeed, in Paterson it is said, that the girls are paid so much better than the young men, that the former do the treating when restaurants are visited. In this city office boys are still in demand ; district messenger boys command $4 and $5 a week, even when green. There is possibly a smaller supply, now that laborers are gen¬ erally employed, as the children are sent to school instead of helping to eke out the family's subsistence. Notwithstanding the great number of foreigners who have ar¬ rived, there is no falling off in the price of domestic labor. It really Io-;ks as if the rapid, transit people on the other side of the Harlem meant business. Advertisements are out for laboring men to commence work, on the Morrisania and Fordham railroad. What has become of the suburban rapid transit road ? The " street" is disposed to find fault with Secretary "Windom for not making such a call for bonds as would relieve the monetary stringency. The moment the terms of the call were known there was an enhancement in the value of money, and frequently during the week a premium has been paid over the legal rate. It is charged that the govern¬ ment is practically forcing a surrender of the bonds, by making money tight. If holders of the bonds are forced to pay 6 per cent, or over for the use of money, they are not likely to keep bonds in their possession which yield them only 'd}4 per cent. When the government wished to float its bonds it made money easy; when it wants to pur¬ chase the bonds at low figures it makes money tight. On the whole. Wall street just now is uncertain how the cat is going to jump. There is a large short interest and yet there are thousands of customers loaded up with stocks at much higher figures than those which 'now obtain. There does not seem to be much of a chance for a heavy slump on the one hand, nor for any general advance on the other. Special stocks are showing exceptional streng-th; but the era of very wide fluctuations seems to have passed by for the present. Still, the unex¬ pected is a frequent visitor to Wall street, and the usual fall bear raid may come with the equinoctials. -----------------*--•-♦'----------------. EEBUILDING NEW YORK. A shrewd real estate operator calls atten¬ tion to the fact that it is the destiny of New York to be rebuilt more perhaps than any other city in the world. In many instances down town the same spot of ground has seen four or even five structures erected upon it, each larger and more spacious than the pre¬ ceding. Tins is remarkable for so young a city; but then New York is peculiar in this respect, that it can grow in only one direc¬ tion, towards the north, whereas in most of the large cities pf the world it is possible to spread towards every point of the compass. This literally establishes what may be called a corner upon real estate on this island. As the business of the city grows, larger and finer structures are needed in the various lo¬ calities where particular businesses are trans¬ acted. The growth of a city like New York complies with the law of development as laid down by Herbert Spencer, that is, from the homogenious to the hetrogenious; from the simple to the complex. Of course the first settlers in a new city built their stores and business edifices to accommodate a sparse population. The gi'oceryman was alongside the hardware merchant, and the dry goods store was not far distant; but when the small city becomes a great one the first change is in the separation of the business from the residence portion of the town. Then, the rich choose their quarters and the poor are forced to herd together. Further along the wholesaler occupies a different quarter from the retailer; then, as the city grows a still further specialization takes place. The brok¬ ers congregate in one locality, the dry goods dealers in another, and so the differentiation goes on through every bi-anch of business. It is these changes which lead to the repeated rebuilding of certain districts in New York. Sometimes this is brought about by destruc¬ tive fires, but every rebuilding is for the bet¬ ter. Property-holders are often reluctant to buy in promising localities up-town, on which there are old or poor dwellings, because it has been found by experience that there is a temptation to delay improvement if tho property will pay interest and taxes. This is a marked contrast to what takes place in other sections of the city, where very valu¬ able buildings are removed to give place to others far more costly. It is one of the com¬ pensations of owning down-town business property which returns but a small income on the investment, that the period must come when it will be iu demand at higher figures for further improvement. But the time has arrived when buildings are being constructed not for a day, but for all time. We have now at least a hundred edifices which will be in existence in the year 2000, unless destroyed by an earthquake or a bombardment of the city. Structures such as the Equitable Building, the Western Union, the Tribune, the Domestic, the Liver¬ pool, London & Globe, the Produce and Stock Exchanges, the Stevens, Florence and other vast apartment houses, will outlive, acci¬ dents excepted, every babe bom during the present year. New York is destined to be a city of enormous buildings. The use of the elevator has resulted in economizing land, to an extent unknown in former times or in any other city. This will vastly increase the population on this island. There will be more people to the square mile in New York than in any other city on the globe. This will be advantageous, for it will lead to the more rapid transaction of business. Where people are packed close together ther.e is less waste of time than Avhere they are scattered over wide surfaces. But the moral of all this is that if we are building for the future as well as the present generation we ought to pay some attention to architecture. Let our descendants see that we can build noble and beautiful as well as large and elaborate structures. In former ages the architect showed his genius in the construction of churches and the castles of the nobles; but in modern times the struc¬ ture designer can only gain fame by erecting edifices suitable for business and living pur¬ poses, in splendid office buildings and stores, or in well-thought-out apartment houses of vast proportions. Only $50,000 has been authorized to be spent upon the Morningside Park this year: this is simply ridiculous. The property owners have paid in the money on assess¬ ments long since and [the work ;ought to be pushed forward vigorously. $250,000 ought to have been ^the sum set apart for this , necessary work.