Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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1040 RECORD AND GUIDE June 19, 1915 parison of Pittsburgh and New York facilities for obtaining raw materials cheaply shows New York to have most of the advantages. The average lake and rail freight per ton for Lake Superior ore to Pittsburgh is $2.03. while the total rate over thc Barge Canal to New York will be $1.75. As there is about 50 per cent, of metallic iron in the ore, this sav¬ ing will amount to about 50 cents per ton of pig iron. Iron Ore at Low Prices. The strength of the New York posi¬ tion is that it may secure a great variety of ores at low prices. The Adirondack ore mines are easy of access to New York. These ores will cost Pittsburgh $3.54 for transportation, while they can be laid down in New York for 11 cents per ton at present, and this rate may be cut in two when the Lake Champlain Canal is completed. The Texas ores are of good quality and may be brought to New York for about $3.70 per ton, which is lower than the rate to Pittsburgh. Tlie Cuban ores are in great quantity and cost $4.50 a ton to Pittsburgh and $1.80 to New York. Newfoundland has immense ore deposits which can be laid down in New York for $1.52 per ton. as against $4.38 to Pittsburgh. \'enezuelan and Chilean ores are likewise accessible to Xew ^'ork at a low rate. TIic advantage to New York iu the Brazilian, X'enezuclan and Chilean ore trade would lie in the return freight business which the vessels could enjoy. .\merican manufacturers going to the three places named would be carried by the same vessels which brought ore to New York. Cost of Coke. Ncw Vork is able to produce coke at a low rate because it has a plentiful coal supply and a sufficient market for the by-products. Pittsliurgh has an advan¬ tage over New York in the manufacture of coke. It can make coke for $1.94 per ton of pig iron, while it would cost the New York producer $3,85. This is more than offset by the saving in transporta¬ tion of Adirondack, Cuban and New¬ foundland ores, and the cost of delivery of manufactured iron from Pittsburgh to the New Vork market. New York has large and cheap avail¬ able supplies of limestone on the Hud¬ son River and in Maine. ( New York has the largest supply of lai)or. both common and skilled, in the United States. The convenience of New Vork to its own large market and the markets of New England give it a great advantage over i-'ittsburgh. Much of this distri- butioti can be made by water. New ^'ork has an unusual location for the manufacturer of steel because it can jjroduce the pig iron cheaply and can buy the scrap iron for melting at a low rate. Beyond thc unusual facilities for rail and water domestic distril)ution, the Bronx afifords fine accommodations for foreign shipping. Ore-bearing vessels from Cuba and South America need not go through the tortuous and congested channels of the East River and Hell (jatc, but can come around the east end of Long Island directly to thc Bronx. This slight extra distance is of no im¬ portance. On their return they can carry manufactured products. The establishment of iron and steel industries in the Bronx will be only one factor in the tremendous industrial de¬ velopment which is bound to come to ithat fortunately situatcd part of Greater New York. TRINITY'S DWELLINGS LIKE OLD NEW YORK Comfortable Little Homes From Which the Tenants Sel¬ dom Move—Report of Miss Dinwiddle in the Year Book '"THROUGH the expiration of leases •I more of the dwelling houses erected on land belonging to the parish have come under Trinity's control and the general standard of living conditions in the property of the parish has been fully maintained.* Fifteen houses built and formerly be¬ longing to other owners holding ground leases have been purchased by Trinity Corporation during the year. Houses on Ground Lease Sites. There are now only 97 dwelling houses on Trinity Corporation's land which do not belong to the corporation, instead of between two and three hun¬ dred, as was the case when the prelimin¬ arv study of the properties was made in'1909. The ground lease properties still re¬ maining are of two classes, those still on old long leases and others on short leases. For some years past no re¬ newals of ground leases have been granted for more than twelve months, and examination of the premises is made in every case before renewal of the lease of the site to ascertain whether the house is in good condition and complies with the law. Beside one former ground lease house torn down, two houses which were owned by Trinity last year were torn down in the course of the year, the sites being taken for a new building for a working girls' home by one of the churches of this section. General Conditions in the Houses. In spite of some changes from year to year in the purchase of additional houses as ground leases expire and in the tearing down of a few buildings here and there to make way for ncw improve¬ ments, the general type of Trinity's dwelling houses and tenants remains the same. The length of residence of the families is conspicuous. The Trinity tenants do not move once a year. To have been in a house less than a year is the exception and to have occupied the same dwelling for a number of years is the rule. Even the families in the vicinity of the street widening and subway work are prefer¬ ring to stay on in spite of inconvenience from noise, dust and strcct obstruction. The occupations of tlie heads of fam¬ ilies vary widel}'. ranging all the way from day laborers to professional men in comfortable circumstances. Of the total of 359 dwelling houses now be¬ longing to Trinity Corpoiation, 241 or ♦From tho Year Book and Register of the parish. 67 per cent, are private dwellings for one or two families in each, and 118 oi Zi per cent, are occupied by three or more families each. The largest numl>er of families in any one house is 21. in a building erected as a model tenement. The next largest number is 13 in a house. Next come five houses built as model tenements with ten families in each. The houses owned by the corporation contain ac¬ commodations altogether for 889 fam¬ ilies, an average of 2.5 families per liouse. .\bout one-half the houses have a place of business, usually on the ground floor. These are groceries, dress¬ makers* and tailors' shops, candy or candj' and stationery shops, cigar or cigar and stationery shops, restaurants, liarbers' shops, or distributed among a variety of other businesses. Not only are no gambling places or immoral resorts permitted in the houses owned by Trinity, but there are also no rag shops, junk shops, stables or bakeries. The Prevailing Type of Houses. The low, old-fashioned buildings with a large yard in the rear, commonly used as a flower garden or flower and vege- tal>le garden are still the prevailing type. Out of 359 houses. 3 are two stories liigh, 290 are two stories and attic, or three full stories; 60 are four stories and 6 (of which 5 were built as model tene¬ ments) are five stories high. There are none higher than five stories. The ordin¬ ary six-story, double-decker, dumbbell tenement of downtown New York is un¬ known among the Trinity houses, though such l)uildings are seen in large numbers in thc section east of the corporation's dwelling houses. The whole area of the Trinitj" proper¬ ties, though l)uilt over in past years by individual ground lease owners ac¬ cording to tiieir individual ideas, is re¬ markably free from congestion, as com¬ pared with other sections of the city below 14th street. The absence of tall buildings and of overcrowding of lots is a great advantage, and the practice of the corjioration of removing rear buildings, if there are any on the backs of lots, as soon as these come under control, has l>een a further help in this direction. Rentals. The rents average about $1 a week, or between $4 and $5 a month per room. The rents for private dwellings range from $12 a month for a very small, one- family housc to a hundred dollars a month for a two-family house with an pflfice. The lowest apartment rents are $7 a month for three rooms; the highest are %2(y for five rooms. The houses are all on the West Side, and are scattered about in thirty differ¬ ent city blocks throughout an area about three-quarters of a mile long. Trinity Corporation thus has on an average ten or eleven dwelling houses to a block, sandwiched in among buildings iielong- ing to other owners or of other kinds. Systematic inspections of the proper¬ ties are made on the corporation's own initiative, in order that all defects which call for attention may be discovered and remedied. But special credit is due to the tenants also for their part in the work of keeping tho houses up to a good standard and making them attractive and comfortable homes. The William Street Subway Entrances. Through the efforts of Borough Presi¬ dent Marks, a public hearing on the matter of subway entrances and exits has been arranged with thc Public Serv¬ ice Cornmission for Wednesday. June 23. at II A. M., at the hearing room of the commission. Room 310. 154 Nassau street. Borough President Marks is op¬ posed to the placing of entrances and exits on W'illiam and Nassau streets. This matter was also taken up some time ago by the Real Estate Board with the Public Service Commission, and the board's position placed before the com¬ mission. The subway plans show proposed en¬ trances and exits of 6 feet 6 inches on these crowded sidewalks, which are only 9 to 10 feet in width. On account of the narrow streets, contour of ground, etc.. only two stations will be placed on this route, one at Wall street and one at Fulton street. At the Fulton street station, entrances and exits will be on the easterlv side of the street only. From 5.000 to 7,000 persons pass on these narrow sidewalks in a given hour, morning and night. The Real Estate Board has placed itself on record, through its committee on rail¬ roads and transportation, against the proposed plan. It believes that the necessary easements should be con¬ demned for this purpose. In Boston, subway entrances are put on private property where similar conditions exist. The Real Estate Board is urging that its members and property owners on and about William and Nassau streets write to the Public Service Commission and attend the public hearing on Wednesday, so that the commission mav be thor¬ oughly convinced of the public feeling against the proposed plan for obstruct¬ ing the sidewalks on these streets.