Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 80, no. 2067: October 26, 1907

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October 26, 1907 RECORD AND GTJIDE 651" DevStieD ĩo RPA.L EsTA;E,SuiLoiĩfe AíĩfiíITEeTui^ .KcĩusnioiD DegcĩîatimÍ, BiísnteSB AifeTHaíEs'of'CEîÍEi^L IrfiE^sĩ^ PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Communications shotild be addressed to C. W. SWEET Tublísheã EVert/ Saíurdoy By THB RECORD AND GTĨTDB CO. Preaidect, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE Vice-Prea. & Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER Nos. 11 to 15 East 24fli Street, Ncw YopIĩ City (Telepbone, Madison Square, 4430 to 44.'Î3.) •■Entereil aí the Post Offiee at Neio l'ork, N. Y., as srcoiiil-class mallcr.'' Copyrighted, 1907, by The Becord & Gnide Co. Vol. LXXX. OCTOBER 26. 1907. Nû. 2067. INDEX TO DEPARTMBNTS. Advertising Section. Page. Page. Cement ......................svi Lumber ......................\x Clay Products ...............xvii Machinery.....................vi Consulting Engjneers ........xv Metal Work...................xiv Contractors and Buiiders ....iv Quick Job Directory ..........xx. Eiectrical Interests ...........viĩ Real Estate ..................ix Fireprooflng ....................il Roofers & Rooíĩug Materials. .vii Granite .....................xviil Stone .......................xviii Iron and Steel ..............viii Wood Producta ..............xxi Real Estate and Wall Street THOSE WHO ARE interested in the vast real estate interests of New York, owners, jnvestors, speculators and brokers, are asking, "Wliat ■will be the i-esult of the serious financial disturbances tiiat have occurred during the past 'week?" Con- servative judgnient is conviuced that the outcome cannot be otherwise than beneficial. The country has long been and wilĩ continue to be on a sound business basis. While wide- spread prosperity has inûuced in some directions an over- expansion of development, there is a solid basis of legiti- mate busîness and cori-espondiiig profîts that makes the country as "sound as a dollar." Hence it was never bet- ter able to withstand and recover from a temporary and lo- cal disturbance. Had this ûisarrangement been due to a deep-seated naticnal condition at large, a "panie" far reach- ing and of long duration would have resulted. As a mat- ter of fact our troubles, if not largely local, are at worst, reparable. The house-cleaning that has resulted in whole- sale changes in trust company directorates no doubt has produced temporary alarm, but it must brĩng about a sounder business conduct of affairs and with that a renewaĩ and even an inerease of popular confidence. ALL THIS MUST RESULT in the better- ment of the real estate field. The public has received a warning of the results of "wild cat" financiering, and even if there has been a heavy withdrawal of deposits a portion of it at ĩeast will be placed in solid real estate. The trust companies whose funds have been devoted to unwĩse schemes, will seek investment in desirable real estate loans. The real estate market as a result will improve in all its branches and the "Wall Strect Panic" wiJI come to be regarded as a blessing in disguiee, to owners of and dealers in Nev/ York real estate. Mort- gage money will be hereaíter easier to procure in quarters where it has been selfishly ,held for private schemes for the profit of designing directors. Regulations that Conflíct BUILDING OPERATIONS ín this city are subject to the regulations and actions of a number of municipal departments, and the pressure of administrative control is rapidly increasing, until it almost seems that the day may arríve when every brick and trowel full oi; mortar wiU have to be duly inspected and regimented into position by half a dozen departments. We havG nothing to say against the proper supervision of build- ing operations. We do believe, however, that some objec- tion may rightly be made to the vast multitude of legal re- quirements, often în a way eonfiicting, that are imposeeĩ upon ^the builder and owner by separated and independent bu- reaus. We cannot go much further without throwîng build- ing operations into a state of confusion. An attempt to har- monize more or less conflicting regulatlons is necessary. All laws that affect building ĩn this city should be codified or unified. The ínterpr'etation and administration o£ these laws should be assigned to, or at least controlled by, some single adminîstrative centre. A new building law is now under consideration, and a commission was recently ap- pointed to revise the charter o£ Greater New York; hereiu lies an opportunity that should not be mlssed by the archi- tects, builders and owners of this clty. A commíttee of responsible men should be appointed to propose an adequate piece of machinery that, while it protects the public inter- ests, will facilitate and simplify the transactlon of building. TENTATIVE PROVISIONS nearer the limits of reasonableness have aueeeeded others of an extreme nature in the com- mittee on height and area o£ buildings o£ the commission charged with the work of preparing and reporting a revised build- ing code. Substautially this commission is the Aldermanic Committee on Buildings aided by the borough presidents and superintendents o£ buildings, and also by a committee o£ expert architects and buiiders. Real property interests being not otherwise particularly represented, they are all the more anxious concerning the changes which may be sug- gested. ÍWost important of the possibilities from the com- mĩssion are, first, a limit to building height; seeond, a limit to building area; third, stricter regulations pertaining to building materials, and fourth, a further extension o£ the limits wiLhin whieh houses and other buildings of wood may not be erected. All these may afCect the value of real es- tate, either by limiting the income which it is possible to derive from it, or by increasing the cost of building per eubie foot. The underwriters, always representing the most extreme provisions for safe construction, recommended at a public hearing that the height of fireproof ofiice buildings should be reatricted to one hundred and twenty-five feet and to an area o£ twenty or thirty thousand square feet, but that the height of non-fireproo£ and non-sprinkled mer- cantile and manulacturing buildings ought not to exceed five stories or fifty-five feet and an area of five thousand square l'eet. It is now reported that the committee has resolved to report to the main body a provision setting the limit £or fireproof oflĩce buildings at two hundred and flfty £eet in beight. This is within two feet of the altitude of the New Plaza Hotel, it is five feet short of the top of the Commer- cial Cable Building in Eroad Street, a hundred feet shorter than the Times Building and fifty-eight feet less than the Trinity Building. The desirabiiity o£ limiting the height of buildings has been pretty generally admitted, but the practieability of so doing has been questioned, for it is realized that property interests are sufliciently powerful to bring about the repeal of a law unnecessarily radical, truly oppressive or destructĩve of values, There must be a rea- sonable mean between the unrestraîned eommereial spirit that would run structures a thousand feet skyward and cover every city block to the limit, and that other kind of commercialism, quite as Ineonsiderate in its way, wliich would take no aecount of real estate values and prevent owners from obtaining a legitíraate income from theĩr ĩn- vestments. There must be in the view of many serious ob- servers of the trend of circumstances a reasonable limit somewhere to building bulk, or the streets of New York will become so congested as to make life a burden for future millions. Better spread the busĩness populatlon over a larger area than try to heap it layer upon layer upon a small sur- face. Granting that there must be a limitation to height, many will incline to the opinion that a very fair line of de- markation has been chosen. Developiog the Bronx THE BRONX 13 FARING WELL ĩn the way of securing addltional streets. Fully one-half of the thoroughfares to be opened through the eftorts of the numerous com- missions are sĩtuated across the Harlem River. Proceedings for the opening of more than a score were formally instituted by the Corpor- ation Counsel on Tuesday. It is interesting to note that these are the flrst proceedings begun within about a year. Many of the old commissions are still taking testimony, though their work is fast drawing to a close. Quite wlsely, perhaps, a large number of those selected to serve on the new commissions are members of the legal profession, and