Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 33, no. 836: March 22, 1884

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March 23, 1884 X liV.. AV\^v-vyi v» \^ L.( 1 1.1 v.. I The Outlook for Cotton, "I am somewhat of a bull on cotton," said Mr, R. P. Salter, of the firm of Lapham, Alexander Sc Co. "There is an important shortage in the Indian cotton crop, the Southern planters have marketed their crop for tbis year, and I do not think much remains upon the plantations. There is a goodly amount of cotton goods on the market, but uot, I think, mora than cau be handled by tha trade. Hence I look for firm prices and perhaps"for an advance, a speculative advance, between now and the opening of the new crop year." "But," asked the writer, "Is not cotton pretty high just now?" "Yes," said Mr. Salter, "the market flgure is a pretty good one. It might be dangerous to buy for an advance when the very people who hold the cotton, and who have the warehouses and the capital to carry it, may short the market to buy in still more." "Does it not seam, Mr. Salter, as though speculation were dying out on all the exchanges ?" "Yea," was the reply. "I think there are too man? exchangea. There is a place for the Stock Exchange. The people who own securities ought to bave where to sell them. I think a Real Estate Exchange is a very mucb needed institution. But why Oil and Coffee Exchanges J Indeed. I have some doubt if a Cotton Exchange is desirable. It has increased speculative dealings, to be sure, but it has not brought cotton to New York to be bought and sold. We bandied 60n,OCO bales la this city one year and speculated to the extent oE 36,000,000 bales, but a Real Estate Exchange ought to be second In Importance only to the Stock Exchange, I am surprised, by the way, that the Metal Exchange haa not been more successful. Its seats sell for only $200, and yet the one item of iron alone is of as great importance and magnitude in the country as cotton," " Do you not think," Mr. Salter, " that the point made by The Record AND Guide that the attempt to make gold the sole unit of value is depress¬ ing prices and injuring business ail over the world ?" "Yea," replied Mr. Salter, " it certainly looks so. The 'shortening of the yard stick,'that Is increasing the purchasing power of one metal at the expense of all other metals and products, is having an injnrious effect on the trade of the world." Electric Light Poles in the Streets. Judge Ingraham, in the New Tork Superior Court, handed down on the 1st inst, a very important decision in the suit of Tuttle against The Bruah Electric Light Company, which affects all city property owners and those along country highways toj. The company put up poles in Twenty-fifth street, between Broadway and Sixth avenue, and Mr. Tutcle tried to get an injunction against placing them there, but the Court decided in favor of the company, upon the briefs of Mr. Wm, M. Evarts and Mr. Charles C. Beaman, Jr, Tbe Judge's opinion contains the following points among others: " Twei,ty-fifth street, between Broadway and Sixth avenue, in the city of New York, was opened iu pursuance of the nrrvisions of the act of 1S13, and the land condemned by tbe city and paid for in pursuance of the pro¬ visions of that act. " The fee of the land taken under the provisions of this act vests in the municipal corporation, the Mayor, &c., of New York, not absolutely but in truat for a public purpose, viz., that the lands may be appropriated and used forever as public streets. The mu'ueipal corporation, exercising with¬ in its sphere a portion oE the sovereignty of the State, hold the property, not for its proflt or emolument, but for the public to use as a street, and has neither the right nor the power to apply anj such property to purposes inconsistent witb street uses. " But the limitation of the ownership of the city in tbe streets applies only to acts which are not ' included within the objects of the grant'— viz., that the land may be appropriated and used forever as publio streets —as said in The People us. Kerr; or 'inconsistent with street uses.' as said in Mahady vs. Bushwick Railroad Co. The Court of Appeals in the lost oase says that the Story case left untouched the decision in The People vs. Kerr, that a horse railroad was a street use consistent with the rights of abutting owners, "Defendant is, therefore, entitled to judgment, if it appears that the nets of the defendants were authorized by the proper authorities, and that the use complained of is a street use within the objects of the grant to tbe city. "Prior to the passage of the general act of 1813, the city of New York had under its general power used the streets for the purpose of providing light, and that at that time portions of the street were appropriated for luch purpose. The trust on which the city held the si.reeta was that they were to bo appropriated for the purpose that the streets of said city were at that time used, viz,, among othera for lighting the streets; and an examination of the ordinances of the Common Council, and the statutes of the State, will sbow that from that time to the present the city of New York has continually used and occupied such portion of tbe streets as were necessary to properly light them, " If the city authorities had erected the poles for the purpose of supply¬ ing the streets witb light, it is evident that plaintiffs could not complain. Such a use of the streets would have been witbin the express words and conditlona of the grant, and just such a use as that for which the city held the streets, viz., for tbe purpose of a public street. The fact that when the act was passed, the lamps were oil lamps placed on poles, and no poles were needed to carry the conductors to such lamps, would not prevent the city, when an improved method of lighting the streets had been discovered, from using such Improved method. " It cann>t be seriously maintained that the structure here erected closea the streets to anv appreciable extent, nor tbat such poles seriously affect the light or air of or the right of access to plaintiff's property; but such use of the streets is et-tirely consistent with the use of tbe street as a street, and is uot such a structure as is ' subversive of and repugnant to the uses of the street as an open public street.' "The examination that I have been able to give to this oase has con¬ vinced me that the city authorities have the power to bght the streets by contracting with the defendants, and bavinic exercised such power, they are the sole and exclusive judges of tbe means to be employed, so long as they do not authorize a use which 'Is subversive of and repugnant to the use of the street as an open, public street,' and the poles used by the defendants are not such a use. " The fact that obstructions which have from time to time been author- ieed in the streets are gradually becoming ao serious as to do great injustice to the owners of property fronting on the street used, muat be apparent to ail, but such considerations are properly addressed to the Legislature; the courts have to apply the law as tbey find it, and not attempt to correct abuses, the correction of which belongs to the legislative department of the government." Prominent Buildings Under Way. Flrst-claes apartment houses are not by any means overdone. The investor who is wise enough to proflt by the experience of previous edifices of this kind conatructed can, if he is in command of money suffi - cient, build an apartment dwelling so complete and luxurloua In all its appointments that it will bring him iri a very large income. The duplex feature is one wbich must fce always borne in mind ani then the decorative work must be such as to satisfy the most fastidious. The apartmei.t house on the northwest corner of Fifty-seventh street and Seventh avenue promises to be one of the most substantially bniit structures of the kind in the city. When completed ifc will be ten stories high, exclusive of basement and attic, and will contain forty suites of rooms, the duplex floors containing twelve rooms in each suite. The building i-^ to be strictly flre-proof throughout, no wood being used excepting for doors and windows. It will bave four Otis elevators; every floor will be trimmed in hardwood and the steam healing, electric appliances and plumbing will be of tlio most perfect character. The latter is to be done by day's work under tbe supervision of one of the ablest sanitary engi¬ neers iu the country. The staircases will be of marble aud iron, A novel feature will be a croquet ground for the use of the guests and their friends. Tbis will be on the roof, and will ba capable of being used all the year round, no matter what kind of weather. In summer it will be shaded by drawn blinds or otherwise, and in the winter will be heated by steam. By this ingenious arrangement the guests will ba able to play croquet during the severest weatber in the winter and thus obtain that necessary exercise from which they may be debarred by tho inclemency of the weather. Croquet on a green lawn in winter will be quite a new thing in modern life, aud that, too, at so high an elevation. A private billiard room will also be provided for the uae of the house, while in the basement there will "be a floriat, doctor and chemist, so that everything necessary to the.comfort and health of such a large number of people who will reside in thia large building will be provided for. It is claimed for tbis apartment house that it Is designed with a view to tho comfort and security of life rather than to. ornamentation, and no one can pass it by without feeling that it is a very solid and substantially- built structure. It will have a frontage of 150 feet on Fifty-seventh street and ino feet on Seventh avenue. What the entire cosfc will be cannot be told until its completion, which is expected to take place in the fall. Tbe architect of the building is James E. Ware, and the ovmer Thomas Oeborne. It is reported that this apartment house will be plhced in tha market as soon as finished. The Potter builiing is going forward rapidly, and will be ona of tbe largest office buildings down-town. It will have a frontage of 96.10 feet on Park row, 144.8 on Beekman street, 90 feet on Nassau s'reet and 103 8 along tbe party wall, adjoining the Times building. It will be eleven stories high, without the basement and cellar, the two latter of which will be fitted up for uae as safe deposit vaults. The building material will be of brick, terra cotta and iron. The latter is being supplied by tbe New York City Iron Works and the terra cotta by the Boston Terra Cotta Com¬ pany, The large iron piers on the first story, which are to be seen on passing the building, are 4,6x6.4 and 16,6 feet in height. The upper fioors of the building—that is, from the fourth to the eleventh—will each con¬ tain twenty rooma of an average size of 16x30 feefc. each room being capable of subdivision to suit tbe requirements of the future tenants. The main fronts of the building will be on Park row and Beekman street, though that on the latter vvIU ba the more imposing. There will ba four elevators, and etalrcases nearly 13 feet wide throughout the building. The total cost of this immense structure has been estimated at about $700,000. ; (/ ■ I. .V . • The collapse of the Standard mine ia a real misfortune to tbe mining market. It has been a splendid property from the start and has been honestly managed. But, unlike a railroad or a farm, all mines must have an end. The Standard mine was tbe only one in the Bodie region which has paid continuous dividends. Those who flrst subscribed for it In New York at twenty dollars a share and retained it must have more than doubled their money in the dividends they received. The Standard has paid eighty-one dividends, ranging from twenty-five to seventy-five cents each, and has paid out altogether $4.47.5,000. The Bodie has paid twenty- two dividends, most of them of fifty centa each, and distributed $1,430,000. The worst feature about the Standard is that its stocks are held in smal lots here in the East by investors, many of whom are women. The Standard may again discover a vein of ore, but it has found nothing profltable so far below the five hundred foot level. It is noticeable that none of the paying veins in either the Bodie or Standard were profitable in the lower levels. The present strike in the former ia above the 300 feet level. As the Standard is no longer using the Bulwer mill the stock of the latter company is selling at an absurdly high price, __—- » —■ The need for a more rapid and secure means of conveying real estate is felt in otber cities besides Now York. The Chicago Real Estate and Building Journal, under the heading of " A Naw Doomsday Book," says if the plans necessary for such a work could be made complete every owner would be obliged to produce and present his claims. Perfect lucidity would then reign in asubject which is now involved and uncertain. The benefit of simplicity and certainty in facilitating transfers cannot be exaggerated. By this plan the actual ownership and therefore the duties and responsibilities of all property would become divested of technicalities; and rights and incomes of owners would be protected. Directness and clearness in reference to the rapidly augmenting volume of our real estate interests would be worth all it would cost, and would pay for itself in a few years. Recent discusalons lend additional weight to our propoaal to fix the actual ownership of all Chicago realty by means of a standard authority exclusively controlled by the State. A definite starting point to which all titles can be readily traced, and that would render complicated abstra^jt* nnnecessary.ifi^virgently ^required, . .