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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 28, no. 713: November 12, 1881

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AL Estate Record AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE. Vol. XXVIII NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1881. No. 713 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TE-RMS: ONE ¥I5AR, in adviim* ..... $6.00 Communications should lie addressed to C, W. SWEET, 137 Broadway. T. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. THE LIKES OF POPULATION. It is a wonder that no one has thought of getting up a map showing the lines of greatest improvement ic New York City aince say 1830. The diagrams should show the direction and location of the growth of business property, of first-class residence* property and then of improvements which simply indicated the increase of population. Such a map would, in a rough way, indicate to the investor the best sectiors in which to put his money for future enhancement. Such a map would emphasize the fact that sudden breaks or jumps from one part of the city tb another are very rare. The lines of advance are continuous, there is a certain filiation between property of the same kind. The poorer population settled on the east side of the city and the steady growth of__tenement and other cheap prop¬ erty is never interrupted from one end of the island to the other. So also of the dwell¬ ings built and occupied by the very rich. Commencing at Washington square, the choicest property on the island continues on ihe central ridge up to Mount Morris. Above that park Fifth avenue and Madison avenue continue to contain the costliest Jiouses, and the far seeing real estate men who manage the Astor property have bought the ground north of the Harlem River, which is in fact a continuation of the central ridge of New York island. They believe that the finest houses in the Twenty- third and Twenty-fourth wards will be midway between the Soimd and the Hudson River. We have said that it is rare that any par¬ ticular kind of business makes a sudden change from one locality to another. Yet this occurred twice, if not oftener, within the last fifty years. The wholesale dry-goods business suddenly left Pearl and the ad join¬ ing streets and migrated to the West Side, in the Third and Fifth wards, below Canal street. This was a quarter of a century back. Another break occurred when Second avenue was deserted for Fifth avenue, as the fashion- able thoroughfare of New York. The pro¬ jectors of the West Side improvements believed that New York, like other cities, would finally find its choicest location west of the Central Park and overlooking the shores of the Hudson. It is, we believe, true of every great city in the world that its east side population is a poor one, and its west side con tains the choicest realty. So far the fashiojiable quarter has not jumped from the centre to the ■western edge of this island. The finest houses are still built along Fifth and Madison av^enues. Some years since, we ventured to suggest that perhaps the building movement on the West Side would not begin in earnest until the upward tide of new buildings reached above the Central Park. The current, we thought, would then deflect towards the west, and in time the vacant spaces north of the park would become dotted with houses until the heights to the west were reached, after which tlie building would be down- w^ard as well as upward. And so it has turned out. Since we made this forecast, whole streets have been built up north of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and west of Fifth avenne. In last week's Record will be found among the projected buildings plans for the erection of dwellings on Ninth avenue and One Hundred and Fifty-third and One Hundred and Fifty- fourth streets. The house on One Hundred and Fifty-third street is to cost $65,000, and the others projected are also high priced. This may commence the era of fine houses on the West Side. It wiil be easy for the experiencf^d real estate dealer in his mind's eye to follow the course on which the high¬ est priced houses will be erected. Were some of our leading real estate authorities to di'aw such lines upon the maps, it would be found that opinions would not much differ. All the indications are that the West Side cannot be much longer neglected. Prices have stiffened, and while there has been no boom, the quotations for lots has been quiet¬ ly marked up. So far, Eighth avenue oppo¬ site the park, the Boulevard and the River¬ side drive have been apparently neglected ; but it is very certain that along these now apparently neglected thoroughfares the high-priced speculation will rage within the coming ten years. WITH GROUNDS ATTACHED. In the early history of this island people of means, who recognized the possibilities of the future, possessed themselves of acres and built thereon their homes. On the banks of both rivers, as well as in the central parts of the island, were situated the home¬ steads surrounded by gardens and what in courtesy were pometimes called farms. Some of the great fortunes in real estate are due t-j the possessions of these houses and grounds in the suburbs of the then growing city. The A stors, Whitney s, Roosevelts, Lenoxs, among others, profited by the posses¬ sion of such rural homes. But the time came when the growing value and the increased taxation forced the land owner either to erect dwellings or to sell portions of his landed estates. The packing of over a million of persons in so small a space, when the only means of transit was the omnibus or the horse car, resulted in rows of buildings abutting upon the streets and put an end to the villas or dwellings surrounded by kitchen-garden, conserva¬ tories, and lawn. In this paper we have frequently expressed the opinion, that the town house surrounded by grounds wbtild , again come into fashion v»tien aksh people realized all the possibihties of steam transit. The splendid city house, instead of being built upon the street with no grounds beyond a few feet of open space in the rear, will be replaced by the fashionable edifice sur¬ rounded by grounds and having such approaclies in the way of lawns and walks that will heighten the architectural en¬ semble. The new Vanderbilt houses lose much of their effect by being confined to the limits of a narrow avenue block. If each of 1 hose houses took up a whole block on Riverside drive they would in every way be more effective. It is now rumored that Mr. Sidney DiUon intends to take a new departure in the erection of a city house. He has, it is said, secured thirteen lots on the northeast comer of Fifth avenue and Seventy-sixth street, upon which it is said* he intends to erect the most magnificent private edifice in the United States. He has 100 feet front on Fifth avenue. Few men, however rich, would have the means to occupy so much ground on the most costly private avenue in the world, but any ordinary millionaire could afford to construct splendid residences ujion whole blocks north or west of the Central Park or overlooking the river at Riverside d rive. When this demand springs up, as it soon will, the price of unimproved property finely located on this island will be largely enlianced. We are multiplying our very rich men rapidly, and the example of the Vanderbilts and the Dillons will be quickly followed. Thirty or forty houses with grounds attached, such as we have described, would make a large hole in the available eligible real estate west and north of the Central Park. The stoppage of business on election day accounts for the falling off in the number of conveyances an4, new mortgages as com¬ pared with the previous week. It willbe noticed that the sum total of tie mortgages is greater than any noticed during the season. . _ Week N.Y. Am't. No. No. 23d Am't. No. end City in- Nom- &24th ■ in¬ nom¬ ing. Cons. volved inal Warda volved. inal. Sept. $ $ 14 75 809.071 25 13 24,450 21 111 1..S81.992 36 16 45.928 8 28 89 1,355,333 21 19 90,593 4 Oct. 5 157 3.200,444 34 15 1.5.40O 8 12 157 2.007.448 89 21 88.289 3 19 1.59 1,00(5,607 62 18 6».00O 6 S) 146 1,720.325 44 21 213,871 6 Nov. 2 192 3.1C3.4C9 44 20 25.725 4 9 151 2,932,410 37 14 71,300 1 Week Mort- Am't. No. Am't. ' No. to Am't end- gag- in- Five in- T. & in- fng. es. volved. perct. volved. Ins Cos. volved. Sept. $ S $ 14 108 793.153 13 224.700 17 227.S00 21 149 1,159,231 29 235.681 28 464.450 28 117 .1,076,874 29 469,100 27 562,500 Oct. 5 169 1.810,983 33 a34.900 31 378.700 13 152 1,531,8.56 28 285.611 29 549.175 19 174 1,466.930 86 a34,038 30 480,250 26 298 1,741,208 35 377,632 51 687,000 Nov. 2 241 1,866,805 55 466.500 41 376,000- 9 204 2,331,630 43 787.250 26 374,901 Old stock operators say that December is usually a bear months and the reason they give is, that'money is apt to be"locked up- temporarily, due to the payment of taxec