Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 47, no. 1211: May 30, 1891

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May 30,1891 Record and Guide. 857 established' W NWpH 21'-''*^ 1868. De/ote* to Rej^L Estme BuiLDif^G -MtKiTEcnui^E .HouscWoLD DecoratioiI BilsirJESS aiJd Theme? or GE^iElV.llJV^EFl£sT PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. Telephone, - - - - Cortlandt 1370. ConuuunicatioDS shoidd b^ addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. 16 Vesey St. Vol. XLVII MAY SO 1891. So. 1,211 NOTICE OF REMOVAL. The publication offices of The Eecord amd Guide have been removed to Nos. 14 and 16 Vesey street, over The Mechanics' and Traders' Exchange, a few feet west of Broadway. Every subscriber should see that he receives vnth this number of The Record and Guide the illustrated supplement of the East Side. A Building Material Exhibition for New York, llTHEN, during the agitation to obtaiu the Columbian Expo¬ sition for this city, The Record and Guide proposed the estahliehment of a permanent exhibition of building materials, tlie desirability of an institution of that character was acknowl¬ edged in the most positive manner by architects, builders, real estate agents, property-owners, and the public in general. Since that time Building Material Exhibits have been started in several citiea, as in om- neighbor, Brooklyn; and the older establishments, as for instance in Philadelphia, have justified the wisdom and purposes of those who founded them. All of this is only what was to be expected. The educational and the practical value of these exhibits are obvious. For instance, to speak only of the latter: The architect to-day is forced to maintain in his offices a good-sized lumber-room, wherein to keep sample bricks, odd pieces of terra cotta, |iron work, door knobs and locks, models or segments of scores of patented articles which annually make their appear¬ ance on the market. These things are forced on him with a persistence and insistence which is one of the most admirable characteristics of the modern commercial instinct. The architect, however, is not an altogether unwilling recipient. These samples are of value to him. He needs to refer to them from time to time, be it to refresh his mind as to the color or quality of a cer¬ tain brick or make of brick or terra cotta ; or as to whether this appliance or that can be made of service in a given position. Nevertheless, at the same time the lumbering up of office room isa nuisance, it is costly, and it serves its purpose only in a very imperfect way. But in an exhibition these materials can be shown not only much more effectively thau is possible with a single sam¬ ple ; but they can be seen, as it were, in bulk, whereby a truer idea of their qualities can be obtained. So, too, in the case of devices and appliances—they can be seen in working order. The builder is in a position somewhat similar to that of the architect; and as to the general public, in these days of exhibitions aud shows, there can be no doubt of the interest that they would take in a well-arranged and instructive display of the different materials which enter into the construction and decoration of the houses in which they live. With these facts in view The Record and Guide has decided to establish a Building Material Exhibition wbich shall be national in character and repute, and fitly represent the metropolis of the country wherein, with the immediately contiguous district, over $100,000,000 is spent annually in new buildings. As a preliminary step, this journal has opened a Hall at Nos. 14 aud 16 Vesey street, over the Mechanics' and Traders' Exchange, which is now fitted up and ready for the reception of exhibits. Floor plans and full par- ticularg will be furaisbed upon application, and further announce¬ ments of the scope and progi-ess of the enterprise will be made in these columns. THE stock market may be regarded as in very much of ihe same positi'on as a man who is just beginning to recover from a severe fever. Signs unmistakable show that the illness is passing; but po prudent physician would countenance any vigorous exertion until the last traces of the fever had disappeared. Consequently caution should still be the watchword for dealers in Wall street. It must be remembered that although in many respects our indus¬ trial situation is sound, that general business isnot al! thatthe manufacturers and jobbers could wish. Retailers are not buying very rapidly, and are apparently overstocked. They are depending, as is Wall street, ou the future; and after all, the greatest crop factor, the corn crop, is as yet an unknown quantity. So while prospects are favorable, they are by no means so favor¬ able as has been hastily assumed. The bull movement has been BO much talked about, and ao much expected, that when the time comes for the " hurrah," the enthusiasm may have petered out. The boud market still lacks activity, and bonds are still very low. Investment buying should reach them first. Cables from London point to an easier money market in that center; but for Berlin and Paris the outlook is by no raeans so good. The investors of these cities are far more heavily iuterested in Portuguese and Spanish securities tban are the Englishmen. A default on the former seems probable in the near future and the latter are by no means safe. But the United States are soundly circumstanced as re¬ gards the continent and may view with equanimity these troubles. ----------■---------- THE retention of the Bank of England rate of discount at 5 per cent is due in all probability not so much to the needs of the present to those of the future, for if Wall street is expect¬ ing heavy importations of gold in the fall, Europe is also making preparation to supply tlie metal. Very little complaint as to the state of business in England is heard at present. The condition of the skilled labor market is improving; in the aggregate the trade societies sending in returns to the Board of Trade show some diminution in the number of the unemployed., Strikes are alao on the decrease. The new French tariff bill is undergoing dis¬ cussion in the Chamber of Deputies, but aa yet it has been uninteresting and unedifying. So much time has been consumed in the general debate, that it now looks as if no oppor¬ tunity would be left to consider the bill iu detail, and that the 700 articles, most of which contain numerous subdivisions, would be inashed through Parliament very much as the McKinley Bill waa rushed through Congress. In Berlin the market is as depressed aa ever ; and even sanguine people are abandoning hope of ai^y con¬ siderable improvement in the near future. The depression is the direct and inevitable consequence of previous excesses in many directions, Berlin people entered into extensive speculations in iron, coal and other industrial shares; for a while they were very successful, but the thing was overdone, and they are now reaping the fruits. Vienna is also entering uito a period of inflated speculation. The local improvements recently noted iu tliis column have sent up all local stocks to a price that is not justified, and tbe rise has not been affected by the unfavorable state of the other con¬ tinental money markets. The government is exerting its power to discourage this speculation, for one of the great factors in Austrian finance, the harvests, is anything but promising. THERE can be no doubt that the Rapid Transit Commissionera have selected the best possible route for the West Side. It has the paramount advantage of being directly in line with the greatest travel. If constructed, it will be adapted to the needs of more people than any of the elevated roads now in existence; and that part of the 13th Ward, not as yet improved, into wliich it will be extended will be above all that section of the city the inhabitants of which will be obliged to take a morning and even¬ ing trip down and up town. As fai- north as 110th street, it wiil be a keen competitor for the business of the 6th avenue line; above that street it will open up v/liat is practically a virgin territory, and one which will originate enormous amounts of traffic. All experience in transit matters iu this city controverts the supposition that the new route will in any sense super¬ sede the elevated roads any more than the elevated roads superseded the horse cars; but it will supplement them, deprive them of that rapid transit monopoly which the Manliattan Com¬ pany has held for a decade, and by making adequate provision for future expansion and the peculiar aud trying necessities of the transit problem of this city will distribute the traffic more evenly and more fitly. By making the system mainly an underground one, to be operated by electr c traction, they have made a concession to the financial obstacleSjwhich it would have been weii if possible to avoid, and this fact in itself is a sufficient guarantee that the eminently pleasant transit on the elevated roads will not be neglected; but this concession was necessary and wise. In short the Rapid Transit Commissioners have completely vindicated the wisdom of Mayor