Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 30, no. 771: Articles]: December 23-30, 1882

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140 The Record and Guide. December 23—30, 1883 some time past. There is no doubt that the reports which appear of these great fires are usually much exaggerated—the loss, for instance, stated to have been incurred by that at Kingston, Jamaica, being first put down at $30,000,000, whereas the most recent estimate places it at $15,000,000, though $5,000,000 would probably be nearer the mark. When greafc fires occur—such as that in which the London Alhambra Theatre was destroyed —there is much excitement in fire-insurance circles, which sometimes increases almost to a panic. Several companies have recently suffered very severe losses, and little surprise can be occasioned by the announce¬ ment that they purpose increasing their presenfc rates. It is quifce possible that the public may yield very reluctantly to such a procedure, bufc its necessity appears to be evident when it is considered that so much competi¬ tion obtains and such large losses are incurred. The great stability of every fire insurance company exists in the adequacy of its reserve fund to meet any reasonable emergency which may arise. That this may be success¬ fully accomplished where companies are so numerous, the rates mnst of necessity be augmented, even at the risk of displeasure on the part of the insured. But the latter wUl recognize, for their own benefit, that whore a company can show just cause for an increased rate it should receive their imgmdging and unqualified approval. For it is only thus that fchey can secure for themselves immunity from risk, and so rid their minds of the disturbing apprehension thafc their most vital interests are being intrusted to an insolvent company. Out Among the Builders. Mr. Jared B. Flagg proposes to erect what will be, when completed, by far the largest and handsomest apartment house ever erected in this countiy, on the Fifth avenue Plaza, extending from Fifty eighth to Fifty ninth street, and covering twelve city lots. The plans for this structure are not yet matured, the architect not having been selected. But it wiU be a brick and stone building, fronting on the Plaza. The situation is particularly favorable for a house of great height, as it is distant more than 300 feet from Fifth avenue, and thus, the objection that is made to many great buildings, that one cannot have a view from the upper stories, of the street, will be done away with. The special features in the budd¬ ing itself will be, first, a more thorough system of ventilation than has ever been attempted in a house of this character; and secondly, that the kitchen, and a very extensive dining room wiU be placed on the top floor, and direct communication by dumb waiters from the kitchen to all the main apartments will be secured. This magnificent structure wiU be erected on the home-club plan. Messrs. Robert and Ogden Goelet prcpose to erecfc an eight or ten-story stone office building on the property recently purchased by them, known as Kemble's cotton warehouse, being the entire front on Whitehall street, between Stone and Bridge streets, 133x92x76, and for which Mr. Joseph M. Two Swiss cottages are about to be commenced at Flatbush, Long Island by George H. Stone, who will also erect a two-story brick engine and bode, house, at Kent avenue and Hooper street, Brooklyn. Contractors' Notes. Proposals will be received by John D. Douglass, at the office of H. B. Claflin & Co., 140 Church street, untU January 2d, 1883, at 12 o'clock, for regulating and grading the extension to Sedgwick avenue, from Boston avenue to the Kingobridge road. Bids will be received at the Department of Public Works until Saturday, December 30th, at 12 o'clock, for flagging sidewalks and setting curb stones on streets surrounding Fulton Market. The appointment of Richard Walters' Sons, of 25 and 37 East Broadway, as Sheriff's auctioneers by Sheriff-elect Davidson, is one which will be haileil with general satisfaction by the public and all having business with the Sheriff's office. The position is a very responsible one, among the dufcies being the disposal at auction of all real and personal properfcy seized by the Sheriff. Messrs. Walters are well known business men who have held the position under Sheriff Bowe; their reappointment was requested by him on the score of fitness and responsibility, and gives evidence of Sheriff Davidson's desire fco perpetuate the many reforms inaugurated by his predecessor. The firm is one of the oldest in the city, having been estab¬ lished since 1849, The somewhat dangerous explosion of the heating pipes at the corner of John and Nassau streets, and several others of a similar nature at other points where this apparatus is being laid down, makes ifc imperafcively necessary fchat fche work should be completed with every possible speed. There are so many inventions being introduced at present, whioh require the ground to be torn up frequently, that it becomes a practical question whether subterrarean passages should not be constructed under the city large enough to admit of fche telegraph, telephone, sfceam and water pipes, etc., which might all be conducted through the same subway. The Amer¬ ican Arc/it^cct suggests that if "a conduit were built under Broadway, Sixfch avenue. Fourteenth or T wenfcy-tnird street, its value as a drain for surface-water would go far to pay the expense of constructing it, while sewage proper could be carried through it, with great advantage in all respects, in small, tight, but accessible pipes. Besides these public pur¬ poses, it would be available for conveying gas, steam and water pipes, and pneumatic tubes, such as are now employed for various uses; while tele¬ graph, telephone and electric-liKht wires, which must before long be ban¬ ished from the streets, would flnd the besfc possible accommodafcion in the same spa'je. As fche gas and steam-heating companies would save an immense sum, both in cosfc of laying pipes and in mainfcenance, by being allowed to carry their lines fchrough an open and convenient passage- I way, they could afford a high price for such accommodation, and the pro- Dunn is now preparing the plans. The same architect is at work on the j prietors of electrical wires would be eager to share their privileges; while designs for the alterations of No. 53 Broadway, 25 feet front, running through to New Church street, and now occupied by the American Bank Note Company. It is also to be an office building, and is the property of the same gentlemen. Charles H. Lindsley is about to erect eight four-story dwellings on the south side of Seventieth street, east of Ninth avenue. Four of them wii, have brown sfcone fronts and four brick fronts, with extension bay win. dows. Mr. Lindsley filed plans for the erection of sixteen houses, of this character, in September, 1881, the first eight of which have just been com¬ pleted. Mr. Richard Berger is completing the plans for the numerous buildings which the late J. Morgan Slade left unfinished, and will continue the bus¬ iness at the same office. John J. Burchill proposes to add two stories to the extension of his new dwelling, on the northwest corner of Park avenue and Seventieth street, as well as many interior improvements. The house wall also be hand¬ somely frescoed and decorated. The cosfc will be $7,000. At fche lasfc meefcing of the Board of Aldermen it was agreed that the sum of $21,173, being a balance left over from the appropriation of $70,000 for the erection of a new building for Jefferson Market, be expended in constructing a second story on the Greenwich avenue side of the building, to correspond wifch the side on Sixth avenue, and for constructing a hipped instead of a flat roof thereon. W. P. and A. M. Parsons propose to make extensive alterations in the four-story dwelling No. 18 East Thirty-second sfcreet. It is their intention to put in an entirely new and elaborate front of attractive design. The first floor will be converted into a very handsome cafe, while the upper portion of the building wiU be arranged for bachelors' apartments. It is expected that the cost of these improvements will reach $15,000. Four five-story brick tenements, with stores on the firsfc floor, are to be erected on the plot of ground on the northwest corner of Pike and Cherry streets, 93.6x63x99.5x65.5, at a cost of $50,000. The owners are Mrs, Maria Calam, Sarah E,, wife of Samuel Lawrence, and EmmaL., wife of Albert Smith, all of Sing Sing, Greorge W. Bryant will soon commence the erection of a two-story brick stable, 50x100 on the south side of One Hundred and Eleventh street, east of Third avenue. The plans are now being drawn by Thomas Stent, and the cost will be $5,000. Brooklyn. Parfitt Bros, have the plans in hand for the new biulding of the Young Men's Christian Association, Brooklyn, to be erected on Pulton and Bond streets. The reported cost will be about $250,000, though the total figure has not yet been estimated, owing to the plan being sfcill an embryo, there being a probability of the original ideas being enlarged. The work of erection will commence next spring. T. F. Thomas has completed the plans for seven two-story frame cottages on the south side of Park avenue, 215 feet east of Nostrand avenue, to cost, $2,000 each. The same architect has the plans in hand for sixltwo-sfcory. and ba^ment frame dwellings on Atlantic avenue, to cost about.$2,500 each. the public, by a judicious outlay, might thus in the end gain, not only a cerfcain return on its investment, but a great further advantage in the abolition of overhead wires, and the substantial prevention of street exca¬ vations, with their consequent injury to pavements and discomforts of all kinds," ---------•--------- When Thomas C, Fields departed for Canada in 1871, the Mutual Life Insurance Company, which held two bonds and mortgages execufced by him, foreclosad the mortgages, and upon the sale of the property there was a deficiency of $10,268,39. Florence M. Todd, who about a year ago took an assignment of the judgment for this deficiency, and also of a judgment recovered against Fields by Lewis A. Sayre for $1,302, brought an action in the Supreme Courfc upon the two bonds given by Fields, and an attachment was levied in the action upon certain real estate which Fields had owned upon the ground that he was insolvent and a non-resi¬ dent. Then Mr.«i Todd brought another action, the firsfc being still unde¬ termined, against Elizabeth W. Garrett and Harriet E, Kerr, to set aside certain mortgages and conveyances, made by Fields to them, of this real estate 3s fraudulent and void as to creditors. This action was tried before Judge Larremore, at Special Term, and resulted in a judgment dismissing the complaint. Judge Larremore holding that there could be no relief given on the Sayre judgment, as no execution had been issued thereon, and plaintiff had no righfc to equitable relief in this action until judgment had been rendered in her favor in the other action pending, and execution had been issued on such judgment.—Register. Mr. Dunn, of the firm of H. B. Claflin & Co., intends building a hand¬ some residence in Fordham, adjoining Jerome Park. The owners of this property, Messrs. Clafln, Dunn, and others, have obtained permission from the Park Department to contract for and supervise the construction of a road through this private property, in the hope chat the work will be fin¬ ished quicker, better, and cheaper than if done by a public department. The length of the road will be 3,683 feet, and proposals have been invited by the owners up to January 2, 1883. Mayor Grace has vetoed the resolutions of the Board of Aldermen made on the 5th inst., requiring the Ninth avenue horse-car road to extend its track from Sixty-fourth streefc up Tenfch avenue fco One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street. The Mayor gives various reasons for overriding the resolutions, but it is fco be regretted that any obstacle should have been placed in the way of this necessary extension of the surface railroads. Mr. Andrews, Counsel for the Corporation, has advised the Mayor not to interfere in the matter of the claims made by property-owners against the New York Elavated Railway for damage done their property, owing to the construcfcion of the elevated roads. Mr. Andrews is of opinion thafc if the owners obtain judgments against the company, the latter will not be able to make any claim against the city. The present taste in woods inclines greatly toward the rich color of Irish oak and oHve wood. A wine-cooler of the largest size, bucket of Irish oak with hoops of nickel, hangs in a frame of nickel. There are) duplicates of smaller size. A pretty set of egg cups and castor of olive-- wood have cups and bottles of nickel, gold ljn§d, and cut-glass nicke;! banded: the spools are pilyer gilt,