Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 75, no. 1923: January 21, 1905

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Jaiiuary 21, 1905 RECORD AND GUIDE 131 to the dangers of the wastepaper basket and the carelessness of the office boy. _. Most of our irianufacturers to-day are simply distributing ; printed matter from the press to the wastepaper basket. Re¬ member. I am talking so far as we architects are concerned. I suppose people do write in making inquiries for infdrfnation; and "literature" is then in order; but why mix drinks, why confuse . ideas? The architect needs the reference, the applicant needs information, and perhaps tho story about the flrm doesn't do any harm then if thrown in. The foregoing is one of about one thousand interviews held by person and by correspondence with the leading architects of the country in regard to catalogues. These interviews were undertaken by the Architectural Record in order to appraise with certainty the value of catalogues. The information gathered will gladly be placed at the disposal "of any building material firm who will send a postal card. There is not a single dissenting opinion from the one expressed above among the entire one thousand. As a result, the Architectural Record Co. has under¬ taken to organize a modern catalogue system—a Dictionary of Building Materials on an elaborate scale and scientific method, A large number of the biggest firms in the construction field are adopting it, and arrangements have already been made to place the system in the oflices of Five Thousand Architects, Engineers, Contractors and others. The names of these flve thousand offlces will be furnished. Correspondence with flrms now issuing cata¬ logues (00 per cent, waste) is solicited. Architectural Record Co., 14 and 16 Vesey St., N. T. City; 120 Randolph St., Chicago. BACHELOR APARTMENT HOUSES D 0 They Pay, and Does the City N eed Any More? ACORrtKSPONDENT, who is the representative of a large estate, writes to the Record and Guide for information upon the standiiig and quality of bachelor apartment houses as subjects gf investment. He slates that his own in¬ vestigations have resulted in a divided verdict. Some authorities whom he consulted made favorable reports to him and others the reverse. He therefore asks the Record and Guide to give him the sum of its own observations. By inference we take it that to build or not to build, is the question. "When in doubt,—don't." This is an old maxim. Like most old sayingSj it is true sometimes. And we are willing to go farther and say, relying on the advice and experience of per¬ sons qualified to judge, that it is true in this case. As a general proposition we would not advise anyone to build a bachelor apartment house expecting a larger net return from it than from cerUiin olher forms of investment building. For the ques¬ tion Is not simply do such houses pay—^but do they pay as well or belter than other kinds? The bachelor apartment house, as distinct from the old- fashioned boarding or rooming house, is a new growth. It is in its best form, a building of flrepi'oof construction, of exterior form similar to an apartment hotel, and specially planned for its business. In such a building rooms are leased, unfurnished, to men only, by the year in suites of two or three, with bath. There mny be a restaurant, or none, in the building. Some houses serve breakfast only, in the tenants' rooms, furnish a valet and orrange for light mending fcr an additional price. There are no general parlors or meeting rooms, except a re¬ ception ro.om at the entrance. The ground floor in a number of bachelor apartment houses is a store, rented for general business purposes, and uncon¬ nected with the rest of the building. The plans of the floors above resemble somewhat the floor plans of an apartment hotel. Sucii buildings are found for the most part along Fifth avenue south of Central Park, and in the cross streets adjacent, on Broadway, and in some other choice locations. Your rich bach'i- lor prefers to live in a swell quarter. It might almost be said that location is the principal merit in his eyes. An apartment house for this sort, ir; order to succeed well, must be in the current of the best life in the city. The strongest rival of the bachelor .apartment house is the clubhouse. Among the authorities consulted the paramount opinion was that bachelor apartment houses did not pay as well, on the average, as general apartment houses; that few of them can be kept full £md that the tenantry is very changeable. However, we find, as did our correspondent, that there is a diversity of vieM's. A FIFTH AVENUE TYPE. ~ The "Cross Chambers" is an example of a profitable bachelor apartment house. It is representative of the modern, high-class. Fifth avenue type. The building itself is an 11-sty fireproof structm-e, on a plot 28x134 feet, at No. 2.10 Fifth av, extending through to No. 11.^2 Broadway. It was erected by the Hoffman estate from tho plans of Jonathan B Snook .& Sons, A. J. Robin¬ son & Co. being the builders, and reached completion in March, 1003. Originally the firm of Mark Cross occupied only the first and second floors, but it has since taken the third also, proving not that the apartments did not pay, but that business paid better. Therefore, but eight floors devote?, to apartments remain, and a part of the top floor is used as a grili-room where the tenants ■may be served with meals. There are four suites on a floor, each comprising parlor, two bedrooms, and a bath. They are thor¬ oughly equipped with all modern conveniences, such as electric elevator service, electric lights and bells, telephones, steam heat, mail chute, open nickel-plated plumbing, and porcelain baths and fixtures. They are elaborately and luxuriously finished and decorated. The building, architecturally, is in the style of the French Renaissance, the exterior being of gray limestone. On the interior the trim is of mahogany throughout, the floors of quartered oak, those in the hall being of terrazso, while the walls are covered with silk. The apartments are practically all outside ones, as the building overlooks on the north the old Delmonico building, at 2Gth st, now the Cafe Martin, which will probably not be raised or replaced with a taller building for many years, as there is a long lease to run. The building represents an expenditure of over $200,000. Mr. Crulkshank, of the Crulkshank Co., agents for the build¬ ing, said, in speaking of the "Cross Chambers": "Yes, It pays. The apartments rent from $800 to $1,600 a year and out of (he twenty-four v/e have only 3 vacant and these we expect to fill before long. The ■'hst floor store rental in itself is a fine proposition. The inquiry and demand for apartments is good, and no fault can yet be found with the location, though the clubs have gone further up town. What is the best location? Anywhere from 23d st to 59th st and a block east and west ol Fifth avenue. Investors appreciate this fact and more bachelor apartment bouses will be built." Old dwellings altered for business on the first, or first and sec¬ ond stories, with apartments above, are the most numerous sort found along Fifth av, Madison av and in the cross streets near the avenues. Next in point of number come those new buildings, built for the purpose and having stores on the ground floor. The other kind and least in number are those built for apartments only. In regard to location we might say there is the Fifth avenue type of which the above is a good example, the Broadway type and the downtown type. That 23d st is not the southern limit.of the profitable zone is shown by the "Benedick," at Nos. 79-80 East Washington Square, the oldest and the most popular of the really typical New York bachelor apartment houses. It was built in 1879, by the Tuck- erinan esiote, from plans by the Ihen young flrm of McKim, Mead & White, and in 1S90 passed into the ownership of Sonn Bros., who hold it to-day. It is a G-sty red brick building, on a plot measuring about 55x125, with an "L" 25x55, to 4th st. There are 54 apartments, T'enting from $180 to $G12 a year, un¬ furnished, and none is ever vacant. "There is always a waiting list," says Mr. Sonn, "the build¬ ing is so popular." The tenants are mostly writers, architects and brokers. The building now has one store on the ground floor in Ihe 4(h st wing, but the rest is occupied entirely by apartments. The location is, of course, the chief attraction. It not only has the charming outlook over Washington Square, with its air of old-time elegance and respectability, but it Is. accessible to both the downtown and uptown business centers, though the clubs have long since moved fsr away. A BROADWAY TYPE. The "Alpine." on the northeast corner of Broadway and 33d st. is a good example of the Broadway type, and of the prosperous bachelor ncuse given over on the ground floor to retail shops. Mr, A. H, Sirong, the manager, remarked; "Out of c:ur ninety-one apartments v/e have but seven vacan¬ cies, certainly Ihat looks prosperous. Yes, the Alpine pays, that is, it ijays well on the original investment. If the owners were obliged to buy the property to-day they could not rent the apartnierts at the present flgures, from $350 to $900 a year. Thf suites are m.ade up of various conibinations, from one room anil bath TO fi\e rooms with two baths. They are all good-sized rooms, none being of the small hall-bedroom style ko common in the ■ bo "Of course, the renting season is practically over by October 20th, but we have no complaints to make. There will be an in¬ creasing demand for bachelor apartment houses ar.d everywhere below 50th st and not too far from Fifth avenue will be a favora¬ ble location." The Alpine was erected in 1886 by the D. H. McAlpin estate, from the lOans of D, & J, Jardlne, since become Jardine, Kent & Jardiu'^ It is an S-sty brick building, on a plot wieasuring