Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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620 The Real Estate Record June. 24,1882 unenUghtened times, and bears the impress of the comparatively absurd customs and practices.of those days. As well might we imitate the social customs and conditions of centuries ago, instead' of rejoicing in the superior civilization, culture and refinements of tjie present day. The intricacies inseparable from the existing system of examinations of titles require the most careful, patient, laborious and anxious efforts to secure accuracy on the p.irt of those whose ser¬ vices are, of necessity, engaged for such examina-' tions: Fii-st, in the counsel who takes the responsibility of passing upon the validity of the. title, after all the facts in respect to it are ascer¬ tained; second, in this county, are six separate,; independent searchers for records and liens in ascertaining these facts. These six searchers are respectively in the offices of the Register, County . Clerk, Clerk of United States Circuit Court, Clerk of United States District Court, United; St&.tes Loan Commissioners and Commissioners of_ Taxes and Assessments. The rate for the, search for taxes and assessments has, within a few; years, advanced from one dollar and a half to fifteen dollars per city lot; and the number of' Uens in the County Clerk's Office has increased.! so that the cost there in the same time has about i doubled. The compensation for these services, j besides a long list of other and necessary pay-: ments (but too" familiar to buyers of real estate); renders the acquiring of a .title to realestate a! most seriovB burden to the purchaser. And then, ^ with each succeeding transfer, the same labor? and solicitude are called into requisition, and the' same expensive burden must (again and again) i be borne by each succeeding owner. With this' presentation of the difficulties of the present' system, in regard to the subject committed to us, the necessity of reform therein becomes glaringly apparent and imperative. We beg to suggest, as some of the methods of reform: That of instituting a registration of titles indexed by the Block and Ward numbers of the several Wards. That of repealing the laws which permit general liens upon real prop¬ erty, and leaving it subject to specific liens only, as in the case of personal property. That of abrogating the legal distinctions be-) tween real and personal property, as to inherit-; ance and distribution. That, after a certain: date, ^ the validity of aU, titles to be transferred be determined by a public officer quaUfied for that purpose, and a certificate of ownership be- issued, which (certificate) shall carry with it the title to the property, and be .negotiable by trans¬ fer in some manner similar to that of railroad and .other stocks. Government and other bonds, or warehouse receipts.' These warehouse receipts carry the title of the property, and are now cur-; rent, as security for banking purposes, the same as are stocks and bonds, thus adding greatly to the facilities of merchants in the prosecution of their business. We believe some system, similar to this, can be adopted with regard to real estate; thus effectu¬ ating one of the most gi-eatly needed of reforms. All owners of realestate wiU hail the glad time when they can be relieved of -the expensive - and vexatious customs and laws which govern ojily with regard to this particular species of prop¬ erty, and when they can sell their real estate, or pledge "it,'.with the same facility they can any other description of property. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the evils complained of, and the pressing and growing urgency of a speedy and thorough relief therefrom, your committee have endeavored to present this matter with all possible brevity, looking and hoping for that careful consideration and enlightened judgment which it is the prayer of your committee may be more elaborately given to it, and to the cure of these e\rils, by our Legislature. In conclusion, your committee submit the foUowing resolutions, and ask for.their, adoption, viz: Resolved,. That the report of this committee expresses the sense of this Chambei'.as to the im- portajice of this subject pf Real Estate Titles, and that the remedial mggestions made meet with the approval of this Chamber. Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of New York be, and is .hereby^ respectfully re¬ quested to appoint a commission to consider and suggest a methodl of transferring titles to land in this State, in accordance with the views above expressed, so far as they may be deemed consist¬ ent with the attainment of the object desired, and tp report a bill therefor. Resolved, That a copy of this report be trans¬ mitted by the Secretary of the Chamber to the Governor, to the President of the Senate, and tp the Speaker of the Assembly. AU of which is respectfully submitted. (Signed,) Henry M. Taber, ) „ ■ • , Elliott F. Shepard, V^ opeciai Jams Talcott, ' j Gommittee. W. J. Fryer, Jr., has written a very sensible letter to the President of the Fire Department proposing. that • a new ■ building law should be drafted for pr6sehtetion to the next Legislature. So as to have-every interest i-epresente'd, he wishes six persons.."to';be appbihtedj tp'be coiisti-' tutedas follows: "One representative from the American Institute of Architects; two repre¬ sentatives frorn the Mechanics' and Traders': Society, one of whom should be a master mason and one a master carpenter; one representative from the Society of Architectural Iron Manu-; facturers; one representative from the Board of Fire Underwriters and one representative from the Fire Department." Such a board, Mr. Fryer thinks, could draft a law that would at once do justice to the builders and protect the public. ----------------------------------------------■•-------------------------------------------------- THE ELEVATED ROADS. .EcZlio}* Real Estate Record: I have always been favorably impressed with the articles on different subjects in The Record! as being sound, but when I see you advocate thei 4 per cent, tax on gross receipts of the elevated railroads, and condemn the tax on values, the same^ as other realty, I am inclined to think you are asi liable to err as most people. The franchises of the elevated roads wei e ob-! tained without pay, and were worth to the.ins.or-i porators four times the actual cost of construe-: tion, and made to pay 10 percent., afterwards- reduced to 6 per cent., on watered capital. Those^ receiving such valuable franchises ought to be wUhng to pay their proportion of the taxes that as incurred to protect them, the same as other property not paying hardly 5 per cent, on actual value. The disposition so prevalent with incor-' porated companies to get rid of paying taxes, and throwing the whole burden on real estate is be¬ coming oppressive, and unless some other Avay than making realty the only source forthe col¬ lection of taxes, and making all classes of prop¬ erty share an equal burden, the future for real estate will not be so encouraging as the present seems to indicate. The operations of Jay Gould, C. W. Field and others in manipulating the stocks of the elevated railroad was the same as any other business transaction under the same circumstances. Give other business men the same chances for naampulatmg and they will take the same ad¬ vantage of the public the elevated railroad' manipulators did. Corporations, in fixing the amount of capital of the enterprise they are embarked in, first; estimate the amount of probable net earnings from this they determine the amount of capital the enterprise wHl stand, the cost is not taken into consideration, provided it is sufficiently less than the amount of capital required to be watered. It is time the people woke up to the importance of this matter, in giving away valu¬ able franchises without pay, also those already obtained, and require them to pay taxes the sanae as other property. The only way to put a stop to these swindling operations is to' make them pay for the privilege sought after and tax them their proportion of taxation. No more reasons why railroad, gas, telegraph and other corporations should not pay taxes in -proportion to other property. They receive the protection of the government the same and should be made to pay their share of the ex¬ penses. You state, " but we have always held that the taxation of the elevated roads was excessive and indefensible m law and equity, and that its owners were quite right in protesting against the injustice." ^ In discussing the merits of the case, the com¬ munity at large will sustain me in asserting that the tax on value is the proper tax, instead of gross receipts, and not "excessive and inde¬ fensible m law and equity." The equity of the ca^e is on the side of proper taxation. ^ In dealing with this question we have nothing to do with Gould and others, but sunplv require all taxable property to bear its full share whether it be railroad or realty. ' ' The argument generally used .is- that these enterprises are public improvements. Admit they are ! So with all other business operations for public improvement, but none of them would be started unless they had a reasonable prospect of paying largMividends on capital invested. The welfare of the pubhc is only taken into con¬ sideration to secure the privilege asked for: when obtained we hear no more about the pubhc bene¬ fit ; on the contrary, they are taxed for these accommodations the highest amount they wUl stand, and the corporation gets rid of aU taxa¬ tion that human ingenuity or money wiU secure . New York, June 5, 1883. '^^ ^-Lawton. ^ A petition by property holders to the Corporation .Counsel for the appointment of a commissioh of esti¬ mate and assessment for the opening of Lexington avenue, from Ninety-seventh to Ninety-eighth and from Ninety-ninth to One.Hundred and Second street was by him submitted to Judge Lawrence, of the Su' prenle Court, the Cbrporation Counsel thinldng that the act passed hy the Legislature in 1881 for the open¬ ing of the above avenu'e^ab uiconstu'utibnfil ind-that therefore-he-could"^not grant^the'petiflbii:" "imgl Lawrence has just given his opinion, in which he liolds tha;t the act is constitutional and therefore grants the order prayed for in the petition. OUT AMOM THE BUILDEIIS. George W. Da Cunha has drawn the desig^ for the extensive family hotel, on the European plan, to be erected on the northeast corner of Gramercy Park and Twentieth street. It will be nine stories high, iv'th a frontage of 63 feet on the Park and 125 feet on the street with an L in the rear 27x44. The flrst two stories are to be of stone, while above brick with stone and terra cotta trimmiogs will be used. The building being in the Rennaissance style, there will be three large open courts, two of which will open directly on either street, thus giving all the main rooms direct light and air. It will be furnished with two freight and one passenger elevator, and contain all the latest con¬ veniences, all the larger rooms being supi)lied with open fireplaces. The owner, Mr. James Campbell, expects to expend at least $300,000 on this fine building. Mr. Edward Clark will go on at once with the erection of the twenty-six h uses on the north side of Seventy-third street, between Eighth and Ninth .avenues, heretofore described in The Record. Mr. Clark will also erect a five-story flat house, with stores, on the northeast corner of Ninth avenue and Seventy - third street. It will be 30x93, and H? J. Hardenbergh is now engaged on the plans, the unusual feature of which is that the cellars are to be under the side¬ walks. Messrs. Elias Solel & Brother are about to erect a flve-story flat house on Division street between Nor¬ folk and Suffolk streets, from plans drawn by H. J. Dudley, at a cost of $12,000. St. Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church, it will be remembered, own the plot of ground on the west side of Park avenue, between Eighty-third and Eighty- fourth streets, having a depth of 270 feet on Eighty- fourth street, and 100 feet on Eighty-third street, and that they have about comp;eted on Park avenue, a little north of Eighty-third street, a flve-story granite parochial residence, at an expense of over $20,000. They now, propose to erect a new church, fronting on Eighty-fourth street, and extending to the west corner of that street and Park avenue. It will be built of two kinds of granite, and will be an ornament to this improving locality. It is also designed to erect a college building, fronting on Eighty-third street, which will harmonize with the other two structui-es. Work will not be commenced for some time yet, as P. C). Keely, of Brooklyn, the architect, is only preparing the preliminary studies. We hear that the appointment of the Rev. Robert Fulton, S. J., as Provincial General.of the Society of Jesus, and, which will necessitate his return to this city, has given fresh impetus to this extensive improve¬ ment. . Mr. J. Bentley Squier will shortly commence the erection of two first class flat houses on the east side of Park avenue, between Eightieth and Eiglity-first streets. One will hh a double house, having a front¬ age of 31 feet, while the other will be 20 feet front, both being five stories high, with brick and brown stone fronts, richly ornamented with terra cottta. Cost, $45,000. ' : i John Brandt is at work on the plans for two five- story brick tenements, to be erected on the south side of .Seventy-sixth street, 300. feefwest.ot the.Eas'tem Boulevard. They will be 25x72 each, and cost $15,5Q0. Owner, George Muller. .R. H. Treacy will shortly commence the erection of seven five-story flat houses," on the north .side of Fifty-ninth street, commencing'. 150' feet east. of Ninth avenue. .They wili be' 17.10x8^x100.11^ ahd R. Rosen¬ stock; is now engaged on the plans. ^ The same archi¬ tect is also.preparing the designs for the three four- story double flat houses to be erected on the north side of One Hundred a*id Twenty-eighth street, 434 feet west of Sixth avenue, 29x67x100. II each, by Charles P. Twigg. Messrs. M. Gibbons & Son have drawn plans for the erection of four two-story and basement brick stores with plate glass fronts, on the west side of Court street, 50 feet south of Third place, Brooklyn. They will be 20x50. Miss Helen D. Nelson, of this city, is about to erect a summer residence on the six acres of ground recently purchased by her, at Ronkonkoma, for. $.^,00.").: '. ■ -. Mr. Louis Leypoldt, instead^ of build{jig,a, .large apartment house on the plot of groimd on the west side of Sixth avenue, 20 feet south of Fifty-seventh street. 56x100, will build'three four-story, flat'houses ■with stores. The fronts vVill be constructed bf ■bricki -with Wyoming-blue stone'triminihgSj^ndtiie cost will l)e ahout$60,0pa. Architeots, Thom-& Wilson-. - - ;„The stole, architectaara.ijfeparing the preliminary designs lor tviro^eight-stftry .'.brick and browJii'stohe S'Partoent.hous.es, 50x85x100 each, to.be erectedloh, thie Bouthside of i^ift^r.seventh street, between-.Eighth