Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 34, no. 862: September 20, 1884

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948 The Record and Guide. September 20. 1884 and an inducement held out to all property holders to rebuild under the provisions of the new alignment. This scheme might prove practicable under a responsible and energetic city govern¬ ment, but with our chaotic municipal organization any coherent icheme of street widening is out of the queation. There have been plenty of good suggestions anent city improvements that were never carried ont. Long before the Central Park was thought of, while Fifth avenue was yet in the future, it was proposed to run a street 250 feet wide, midway between the two rivers, from Twenty- third street to the Harlem River. It was to be a splendid drive and residence street, shaded with trees and adorned with foun¬ tains and statuary, but nothing ever came of the proposal. It was regarded as visionary. Some day, also, our sewerage and drainage aystems will be thoroughly overhauled aud made to con¬ form to the most recent demands of aanitary science. It will be a costly work, but it will certainly be undertaken. Whenever com¬ pleted New York will become the healthiest city in the world. It is better situated for healthfulness tban any centre of population in Europe or America. With abayatoneendandriverson the three sides, twGOf which have rapid tides, its sewers could be flushed and cleansed at every tide. This will all come in time. The Dakota. "We have heretofore spoken in high praise of the architecture of the Dakota apartment house, a species of design which is here so successful that we are apt to forget the extreme difSculty of the problem. The Dakota is, indeed, the most succeasful, architec¬ turally, of all the apartment houses, although the enormous Navarro houses are successful also in securing dignity without monotony. We mentioned when the Dakota was still far from completion what seemed the principal shortcoming of its design, a defect of vigor in the modelling of the parts. This is still evident, and it seems also that the building would have gained in clearness of division if the two stories of the basement had been built throughout of atone. Notwithstanding this, the division is clear, and it is to this clesrness of division and to the careful study which has been given to the relation of its principal masses that the Dakota owes the real nobility of its general impression. This impression is enhanced by an extremely fortunate combination of color in the Nova Pcotia stone and saimon-colored brick of which it ia com¬ posed, and by the appropriate and constructional use of these colors, the stronger tint everywhere going with the structural emphasis; and it ia not injured by the treatment of detail, though this latter ia seldom exquisite. Everybody knows the building and we need not waste space in description. It is worth while pointing out, however, how thoroughly it conforms to the Aristotelian precept of being divided into a beginning, a middle and an end, and to the other precept, which Aristotle omitted to lay down, that one of these principal divisions should be superior in magnitude aud importance to tbe rest. Vertically this requisite is secured in Ihe first place by the grouping of the two lower stories, the upper being distinguished by round arched openings and by a somewhat more copious use of stone than has been employed elsewhere, although, as wehave intimated,astill freer use here, or perhaps an exclusive use of the stone, would have been atill more effectual to differentiate the basement from what is above it. It is, however, sharply set off from the wall above by a heavily moulded string course of atone, and the spandrils of the archea are filled with a fripze in terra cotta of very nearly the same strength of color with the stone. The principal wall contains four Btoriea of square-headed openings, similarly treated, but rescued from monotony by the differences cf arrangement laterally. Above this is the cornice line, emphasized on the projecting parts of the building by corbelled balconies above an arched frieze of yollow terra cotta of an unfortunately glaring tint, which is no mellower in color now than when it was put up two years ago. Above this ia the varying outline of the roof, with a row of dormers in the curtain walls, and with one or two or three tiers of windows in the walls of the terminal gablea. The treatment laterally differs with each front, but it is so skill¬ ful that the variety thus secured seems to have come of itself, and has no look of being forced or capricious. The long opening in the centre of the Seventy-third street front is an apparent excep¬ tion to this remark, sirce it is hard to see why an opening, of which the only purpose is to admit sunlight and air into the central court of a building, should be cut through tlie only front from wfiich the sunlight can never reach the court. Nevertheless, the composition of this front, with the steep gables flanking the opening, ia very effective, and even piquant, without any derogation from its dignity. Of the other two fronts the eastern, facing the park, is much the most conspicuous, or will be when the block south of Seventy-second street is built up, but it ia by no means so well composed as the southern front. The central feature, with its roof hipped back, is too large for, its place, and too nearly equal in importance to either of the twogabled masses which terminate tbe facade. If it were narrower and the space thus saved given to the curtains between the centre and the ends, the front would gain in repose whereas now it is crowded with the three large masses divided by insufficient intervale. The Seventy-second street front is a capital composition. The gabled mass at the centre, contain¬ ing the principal entrance, is clearly the dominant feature of the facade, the masses at the ends not coming in any way into competition with it, but securing a completely harmonious whole. The oriels on either side effectively relieve tbe expause of wall. The iron roofa of these oriels are not as successful as some of the detail, but the treatment of them was especially difficult. The projections are everywhere slight, but they are sufficient to account for the interesting and picturesque variety in the treatmentof the roofs, and they are made the utmost of by being quoined in stone, with which the gables are also coped, and thus the projecting masses distinctively outlined. Among the minor excellencies of design is the care which has been taken to keep an ample pier not only at the corner of the whole pile, but at the fiank of each important feature, by grouping the openings towards the centre, a disposition which greatly enhances the sense of solidity. The planning of the Dakota is very interesting, but our present business ia with the architecture, and the only opportunity for a treatment of the interior which can properly be described as archi¬ tectural was in the design of the restaurant which occupies the southeastern corner on the ground floor. This consists of two large rooms on the Seventy-second street front, including the corner room, and a smaller aquare room on the Eighth avenue front. Thia last is wainscoted and ceiled in mahogany, while the other two are united in treatment, the materials being oak, stained "antique," and bronze. The former material is used in a high wainscot and in tbe ceiling, the latter in ths fleld of the wall. The high wainscot is panelled with a moulded base and a richly carved frieze, admirably designed and perfectly executed. The ceiling, which is coffered, ia a particularly happy piece of design, -being solid and constructional in effect while stopping distinctly abort of the heaviness wbich a constructional treatment of a timber ceiling is apt to impart. The wall is of plaster, moulded in a diaper pattern and at present uniformly bronzed. The effect of color is sober and rich, but a trifle monotonous, but this can easily be relieved by a few touches of color if the room is found to require it when finished, Tlie features of the apartment are two heavy and rich chimney pieces in sandstone, and a large sideboard in carved oak, all rational, scholarly and skillful in design, A feature worth noting is the lining of the fire-places, which is in cast-iron, a gro¬ tesque and successful reminiscence and combination of Italian Renaissance and Japanese treatment. The faithfulness, indeed, with which the denign haa everywhere been carried into detail, aud everything thought about, is extremely satisfactory, as well aa the liberality with which the architect's designs have been executed. The only noticeable piece of fru¬ gality is the substitution of red brick in the baaement walls on the north side for the far more effective rough-faced stone which is used elsewhere. This, however, is scarcely worth mention, in the evidence which the Dakota everywhere gives in abundance both that the owners have been fortunate in their architect, and that Mr. Hardenbergh has been fortunate in his clients. :4 Our Prophetic Department. Operator—There seems to be no doubt about the com crop now. Sir Oracle ; but what is the matter with the stock market ? It does not respond to the great crop, as the public were led to expect it would. How do you account for the w^aliening of prices in view of the abundant crops, the large export movement, and the proba¬ bility that the roada will have all they can do when the crops are fairly in motion ? Sir Oracle—It is, as you know, the unexpected which always happens in Wall atreet, A great many operators had made up their minds to sell when the corn crop was assured, supposing the mar¬ ket would then advance. They were mistaken, however. The great operators do not buy at high prices. They generally are buyers when the public are selling and vice versa. After all, the market has acted naturally. We will not feel the effect of the great corn crop until January. In the meantime the railroad earnings will show a falling off, as compared with last year's receipts. The general trade of the country is in a bad way ; the liquidation is not complete outside of the stock market. In time our great corn crop will give the railways all the freight they can carry, but the crop is scarcely available before December. Operator—But does not Wail street discount the future? Does it ever wait for the event before it puts stocks up or down ? Sir O.—Yea, the street does discount the future ; but it is the immediate future. The great operators speculate on the market of next week, or the week after, but they run no risks for what may occur six months ahead. The railroads are shipping more wheat than they did thia time last year, but they bave aomewhat less