Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 60, no. 1547: November 6, 1897

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Novemljer 6,1897. RcGord and Guîae '^^TEDpREkf.EsTArE.SinLDiiúĩ A^ipi^rniCTUitfitousĩafusDeocitpDiÍ ^' BirSQ/E3SAlÛ)THC£(ES0fGE]tøí^,ll/ia^T« SIX DOLLARS PER YEAR3 IN ADV ANCE. lines u we gaví their e/ given I'E serve ! oî Btri -re hs' Cpgi.Q^jjnlcatloDs should be addresseil to ha 2: C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veaey Street. d.bsoli and i Telephone, Publ/ishcd every Saturday, COJÍTLAllDT 1370. Iiim>SEY, Susiness Manager. "it é-ntered aí tfie Posi-Offlce at New York. Y. Y., as second-c-lass ■nmller." Vol. LX. NOVEMBEK 6, 1897. No. 1,547 WARNING We are ■iufornieã that soine wncmitho'riseãperso'ii or persotis un- ftítoicîi to theKecord aiid G-ukle have cndea'oored to coUect aecownts ãue to thispaper. Our custoiners are warnediiot to pa-y aivy inoney to,otfier thívii O'iir autĩiorised agents aiid upon presentation of a properly certifiedstateinent. RECOIÎl) AND GUIDĨÚ. ÅLTHOUGH a good niaDy people seem to believe ttie re- suits of the elections of this weelĩ caused tbe brealt of prices OQ tbe Stoek Bxchauge, it is hard to discover auy foundîî,- tion foi' their belief. The political reaction in this city was not brought about by any fLnanelal or cun'eucy coasiderations, and elsewhere the souud money position is raither improved thau otber-wise by the eleetlons. The breali in prices was inevitable, beeause the reaetion from the high íigures of September had not run its course. Foolish tallĩ: may have hastened the drop, but ít would have come anyway. It is not to be espected that any organized attempt to put up prices will be made so soon after the big advance, especially at this season of the year, and iu the face of the foreign politieal situation, with whieh the coming Gongress will no doubt attempt to deal in the way characteris- tic of that institution of late years. President McKiuley is not likely, judging from his conúuct while in offlce, to do anything that wiil interfere with the work his administration set out to do, namely, reWve the business prosperity of the couutry; evei-y- thing that he has hitherto done is opposed to auy such sugges- tion. But there is no knowing how his hand may be forced 'oy Congress, aud uutil the temper of that body can be gauged, no uew movemeut to put up prices will be attempted. There may be no ground for fear of Congi-ess, but the business eommunity has beeu made cautious by ite conduet in the past, and will not move until it is assured of the ■wlsdom of its intentious. Should all go well meantime, there will most probably be a new bull movement soon after the openiug of the new year, when the January 'disbursements have had time to circulate. The ab- sence of direct efforts to sustain and raise priees always leaves the market open to the attacks of the professional bear forces, whose efEorts are assisted by wbatever liquidation becomes nec- essary from time to time. This is the situation of the moment, and its inevitable consequeuees must become apparent. The violenee of yesterday's" decline, however, suggeets the possibil- ity of a temporai-y rally. EUĨtOPEAN business conditious are little, if auy, changed from last week; money remalus compai-atively high and in good demand. The ett'ects of the strike on British trade have not yet come to the surface except as they help to improve the industrial position of other eountries—Germany, for instance, wliich is taking evei-y advautage possible from them. Reports that relate to some time baek display an unprece- dented prosperity. For instance, the report of the Postmaster- General for the year endiug March 31st last is a most interest- ing doeument. Not only had tbe mail and telegraph depai-t. ments during the year a largely increased business, but the sav- ings department deposits inereased to an amount uoparalleled in its history, the total beiug roughly $540,000,000, or $55,000,OOC) more than at the close of the previous fiscal year. That thcé . post offlce savings bank reaches the elass' for wbich it ■was Aq- tended, thrifty workei-s, is sbown by the smallness of the^ver- age deposits. We find from the report that 90.8% in cáumber and 36.1% in amount were balanees of $250 anAf utider; balances esceeding $1,000 were only 4% in number s.-'M 7.3% in amount. Strange to say, while in Ireland the deprl^itors were 1 in 20 O.C population, as compared with 1 in 15 ĩn ^jlngland and Wales an.d 1 in 15 in Scotland, tbe average indiv^ual balance was about $100 in Ireland as against $75 in Bngl j^nd and $60 in Scotland. A I-iverpooI review of tbe cottou >jtraãe estimates that on the continent of Europe a mÍIUon np^y spindles have been put up, resulting in overproduction ín Prance and Gennauy and a falling offi iu the bu.siness of Lancashire. Tbe worid's re- quirements of cotton for 1897-8 are estîmated at 10,740,000 bales of 500 Ibs. each, of whieh 9,410,000 bales of 484.87 Ibs. will have to be supplíed by the United States. The agreement of the flve nations of the Latin Uuion—France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerĩand and Greece—to inerease their silver eoiuage by a franc per head of population, wiU add about 75,000,000 francs of silver to their combined currency. Germany has already a commiSsion at work prepariug data for making new commercial ti-eaties in the coming year. Harvest losses iu Austi-ia and Hungary aud flood damages in the former country are already teilíng upon the receipts of the raiiways aud transportation companies. The Brazilian budget shows an increase of 40% in tbe personneĩ of the government departmeuts and 37.5% in the money require- ments; depreciation of the eurrency aecounts for a eonsiderable part of the inerease in expeuditures. Late advices predict.a good harvest in Argentina. There is a decided picking up of business in Australia aud New Zealand, whieh is improving the position of the securities of these countries on tbe London Ex- chauge. THE NEW DELMONICO'S. T T is quite absurd to be withheld from public diseussioa of ■^ Delmouieo's, or its housing, througb feai- of seeming to ad- vertise a business. Tinie, Delmouico's is a private business, but it is also a public institutiou. It comes near being a national institution. The eivilizing influeuce of its founders aud their suceessors upou tbe city aud upon the couuti-y has been so marked that it is, in a way, a mattcí- of publie coucera tbat the chief dining academy, the "uptown Delmonico's," sbould be wortbily boused, in respect not merely of convenience, but of elegance. Tbe architectural enelosures and expressions of Deímonieo's have been varîous. It is not particularly eheering to have to say that the okĩest was the best. Tbat was the buildiug at the corner of Beaver and Pearl, wbicb dated back to the begĩnning of Delmouico's, and perbaps before, to just after tbe great fire of 1S35. It had an air of old-world gentility and ease Ti'hieb was veiy particularly appropriate to its oceupancy. Tbe arcbltectural fixtures of the upto^wn Delmonico's have been more varîed. Nobody could imagine, to look at the corner of Fiftb avenue aud Fourteenth street now, tbat ít could have ever been tbe sceoe of anythiug architeetural but a noisy rlot. In fact, however, tbe " Grinnell residence," wbích beeame 'iie first uptown Delmonico's, was one of tbose ample, siraple, deceut mansious with whieh Bond street and Washingtor' Square were once bordered, and of whieh relĩcs are íJ'""''* '^ seen there. It was a perfectly iuoffiensive, if nof;.*"^-'' ^'-'l^'î*^* > expression of wbat came to be the genius of"'''^^ "^^' So mucb cannot be said of the hnW^'^ ^^'^'^ Delmonico's alit after the nest fíight, aud wher^VabÍdes, awaiting tbe com- pletion of the new house at F( street, which is the subject of tl/se remarks. Tbe present Del- mouico's was always a a-ude/nd ugîy building. Oue regreis to remark tbat tbe external/âitions made to it to fit it for the tenancy conveited mere c"^ity and ugliness into appalhng vul- garity. These additj^ns took the form of preteutious and preposterous iufiatio^s of sheet metal. Add that the intenor fit- tings were, and sre-equally crude, pretentious and iuartistic- and it wiU appeai- how unfortunate was the institution in its arcbiteetural advisers of twenty-odd years ago, and what a eou- tradiction of its spirit was its outward f oi-m. Almost anytbing in the way of an arehiteetural enclosure aud expression of a famous refectoiy would bave beeu beftter than tbis But in fact, it ought to be said with emphasis, that m its latest habitat Delmonieo's has been foitunate in its archite^2t, positively and not merely by comparison. Tbe buildiog has its íA-uIts, bas one very grievous and absurd fault. But upon the -wbole, tbe stranger who has beard, as what sti-anger bas not, of tbe place, and who comes upou its latest abode will find it en- tirely eongruous witb a preconceived notion of wbat ought to be the aspect of a restaurant wbich is also an institution. The new bullding looks as if it might be Delmouico's. The archi- tect's opportuuity was very good. His essential problem was to disDOse of tbe public and private dining rooms and assembly rooms of the kitebens aud offlces of a fasbionable restajirant upon a corner plot about 125 on tbe street by 65 on Fiftb ave. nue To tbis was added au additional and uot strietly congru- ous'requirement in the provision of two stories of subordînate rooms, apparently for lodgers. The architect has not been able to make tbis additiou appear otherwise tban meongruous and as we sball see, the treatment of it is the chief drawback to tbe pínMnlete triumpb of his design. Tnlhe oarrower, or avenue front, there is literally no subd,- vision, that is to say, the wall is all in one plane f rom end to end.