Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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/É^" # ESTABLISHED^ fiVWCH^l^^ Î868 YoL, L. ^'EW YORK, SEPTEMBER 10, 1892. tíUPPLEMENT. Notable Sections of the City.—No. I. A SELECT DISTRICT OF THE WEST SIDE ILLDSTRATED—FROM WEST END AVENØE TO THE RIVBR—ĨGTH, 17tH AND TlbTH STREETS. Oue of tbo mosb iuterestiug Cbapters iu a liistory o£ ihe Naw York Build- iug Trade would be thît whicb set fortb tiie reasons for the successes of the leadiug builders of the day. It is commou euough to see two men of about thesame experience begln cperatious wbicli end very differently. One buiHer sells liis houses, if uotasfastas they are finished at least within a reasonable time after complotion The other mau's houses drag ou tiip market aud though they are viewed by scores of iuteudiug purchasers are sold '.vith u diflSculty, the cause of which is uot apparent to the casual observer. Tbe houseá seem to be as nell boilt as the others, aro as present- abJe and attractive ou the exterior, and iu the major matters are as well finisbed in the iuterior. Wby don't tbey sell '. The most couYÍnciug auswer woiiĩd be " Go and live in Ibem and see," but thab isn't practical. TtiTe was a time, uot so very long ago, wheu tbe purchaser oí a house bought littlemcre than acoveriug aud shelter He was coutented with good walls, asound, lasting roof, and such dĩvisious of tbe interior spaco uclosed thereby as would give him a certain uumbBrof rooms. The plumbirg up to the latest saoitary staudard, kitcheus aud all the offices of the bouse furnished with the very Jatest improvements. Surely it is no easy task to accomplish a)l tbis. Tho builder who can ûo it haa tn be iotelligent and wide awake to a degree, must be origínal in his ideas and yet coDservative in practice, and beyoud all must himself know completely all the wants of the moderu bouseboJd of the higbest class, as well as the domest'c irritations which aríse from tbe deficíeccies o£ bádly-planned, poorly-arrarged houfes. No wonder so few builders cũeet thercquirí-n.ents of tbeir business fully—tho^e that do deserve to be the successful meii, That we hive touohed ia the foregoing tbe roain elemeut of success any ooe may see bv visitiug the sectiou of ihe West Side, between 70th and T8th ^treet?, west of West Eud avenue. There is uotbing !ike an object lesso.-. ticonvÍDce. and thereis one. No doubt tbat Eectmn is oueofthe cboicest resideutial spots iu the city—iii mauy respects, perhaps., the choicest Its character is permaEently fised by tbe nature of the improve- meutsthat have been made there—a matteroE the greatest importance. The improvemeEts are all of tbo highest cIbss and the people who have made their homesthere areof positiou and wealth. AII tbese factors, and others, too, such as proTÍmity to the ĩĩudion with its Eplendĩd ever-chaug- iũgpauorama, Riversid? Drĩve aud Park, accessibilitj to therestof tho A'os. ĩlll-SSl West TlitA Street, between 'Wcst End Avenue and Riverside Drive. Jacob & Skiuiier, Owaers aiĸi Builders modern purchasor, however, is not so casily satisfied. Wbat he secks to purchíseis the very complex productoC ascoreof iudustries; indeed, wheu one consid-rs the matter, there are really few manofactured articles that are anythiug like so complex, wheri'in so many problems are involved, as the modern residence. The home o£ to-day has to atford a great rteal more than shelter aud a rough com- fort. It has to meet a huudred demauds of domestic life at every .possible point, deirauds, too. uot aloue of utility, but æstbetic deniauds as well. A large We^t tíide builder recently declared thai there is uo more inexorably fastĩdious customer iu the inarke-t for anyihiug tban tho avcr- age bouse seeker. That is so. To sel) readily, a hnuse must be well cou- structed of materials barmouiously combined. Tb'í aichitecture must al least be stylish. Tlie p)anning must always coutaiu soDietbiug of a miracle, for uo matter hot'small the lot may be, or where localed, all the halls must be wide and every apartment rromy and lÍRht, There must be an abundanceof cloaet íoom, every ciuvenience onevery floor—all sometimes vfitbiu an extreme spsce o£ 16i50. Theu, too, tbe decoration must be ÆTtistic aud feshionable, n antels aud wood carvirgof the newest Btyle, city with seclusion from noiseand the well-nigh ineviiable disagreeable conditions of urban life, high land, good draiaage. nalural salubrity—uo doubt all these h»ve coatributed to ibe desirabili'y of the district; but the greatest factor o£ all bas beeu that the sectiou at the fltsC fortunately fell into the handsof a few of tbe bost aod most succe^sful builders of the present day. ThoQgh working separately, each enterpriae has contributed to the cbaracter and nppearaDce of the locality, which ts now a model oueaud deservesinfpfctĩou no less ihau the bouses themselves whicb in every sense are typical of the best couítructioo, planuing, decoratiou and iũterior arraugements of thi day, tioiue of thi' bu Idiogs bave beeu com- pleted oũly recently, soiue are in proceáS of construction, uevertheless several ha^e beeu Éold,at:d sborily all wil) be off the inarbet—a fact jufti- fyingthe cpiuion that the qualÍLj of the producL mabes the successful buiider. We iílustrate ou ihe accompauying pages the exteriors and some of tbe interiorsaud plans of the most uotewortby of the bouses in this section. The buiIdingB deserve greater ^pace thau we bave been able to give them, but euough is showu to mdicato elearly the character of the houaes aud prompt a visit to them.