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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 76, no. 1956: September 9, 1905

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September g, 1905 RECORD AND GUIDE r 393 'Mil. ._^ ^ ESTAEUSHED-^ilWPH2lii^l868. DnM F REATEsTATE-BuiLDIffe A^RCKlTEeTUI^E.HoUSEHOlDDEOCI^JTIDltl Busn/Ess jufo Themes ofGEiiEf^l Ii^TWF*J« PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Published eVery Saturdag ComnmnlcBtlons ehould ce oddreBBed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. New York Talephoue, Cortlandt 3157 "Entered al the Post Office at New York. N. Y., as second-clasa matter." Copyrieht by the Eeal Estate Record and Bnildera' Gnlde Coinpaiiy. Vol. LXXVL SEPTTEJMB'EIR 9, 1805. No. 1956. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. (Advertising Section.) Page Page Cement ................ xxv Law ................... ^Oi Clay Products ........... xxiv Machinery ............. v Contraclors and Builders.. vi Wetal Work ............. xix Fireproofing ............ ii Stcne .................. ^^111 Granite ................ xiv Quick Job Directory...... xxvi Heating ............... xx Real Estate ............ x Iron and Steel .......... xvili Wood Products.......... xxii MR. JAMBS HILL'S statement that he is a conservative bull, provided there is no over-speculation, is a fair estimate of the prevailing situation in Wall street. The ob¬ vious comment is, however, that there does not, at present, seem to be any danger of over-speculation. There are cer¬ tain powerful banking and other interests behind the present market, which are apparently determined that whenever specu¬ lation shows a tendency to become excessive it must be dis¬ couraged with a strong hand. The consequence is that sev¬ eral times in the course of the last year the same story has repeated itself. The market will go up continuously for sev¬ eral mouths, until the speculative structure becomes a little top-heavy. Then on one excuse or another a re-action always takes place and a certain fraction of the previous gain ia lost. In this way the condition of the market la kept sound, and the possibility of any repetition of the experience of 1903 is avoided. Just at present the excuse for the re-action is the danger of tight money; and it ia undoubtedly a sufficiently ' good excuse. It is entirely possible that in spite of large railway and industrial earnings, and excellent crops, the scarcity of loanable funds will keep the market down during the next few months; and it is more than possible that the banking interests prefer that it should be kept down during that period. But should no change in the general situation talie place in the meantime, it will in that case be gathering momentum for a further rise late in 1905, or early in 1906. There will be large issues of new securities during the com¬ ing winter, and it will he desirable to float them on a bullish market. REAL ESTATE trading already shows a broadening ten¬ dency. Several comparatively large transactions have been announced during the past week; and in addition a fair volume of the ordinary speculative operations in flats and apartments have been recorded. Private dwellings con¬ tinue to sell prosperously, and it looks as If they would sell still better somewhat later. Many-people living in New York have made a great deal of money during the past year; and this circumstance always has a noticeable eHect upon the de¬ mand for residences. This demand will be increased by the steady conversion of dwellings on the side streets along the line of Fifth avenue into business buildings. A great deai of this kind of conversion will take place during the coming year. It will be encouraged by the excellent character of the local business situation. The hotels and the retail stores have both enjoyed a very prosperous summer, and they are likely to enjoy a prosperous winter. The retail trade of New York more and more profits from the fact that so many well- to-do Americans, living elsewhere, malte their purchases in the metropolis; and it is after a year of remunerative busi¬ ness that this fact counts. There are not likely to be any aOd/iVfy "J, removals of big stores into the Fifth avenue dis- progress ther^ Ailing of the side streets with small shops will All through the .nj^gd rate. The new wholesale district will houses and apartments- i^flyg^^gg_ ^^ -^ .^ p.^i^able ieeted, and all requ.re brick. ■ ..„ ^^^^ ^.^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ty-eighth street will constitute one of the largest fields of building activity during the coming season. Already the an¬ nouncement is made that a fifteen-story building is to be erected on the site of the Hotel Kensington, on the corner of Fifteenth street and Fifth avenue; and this is one of the few corners still available for improvement on the avenue sou-th of Twenty-third street. The new loft buildings will soon have to he erected north of Twenty-third, and the ques¬ tion is where can they go, because Broadway and Fifth ave¬ nue are, for the most part, already pre-empted and there is not so very much room on the side streets. They will have to go farther east, or farther west, rather than farther north. 'T* HE Record and Guide is always surprised at the lack of * interest which is displayed by the citizens of New York in the vital problem of important street improvements. The efforts which a few societies and individuals have made to interest public opinion in a comprehensive scheme of street improvement aud embellishment seems to produce very little result. One municipal campaign succeeds another, and neither Tammany nor its opponent deems the matter of sufficient im¬ portance to make Its bulk large in its program of municipal public works. The report of the City Improvement Commis¬ sion, which was made last winter, provoked very little inter¬ est. At a time when, schemes of this kind are arousing en¬ thusiasm in cities all over the country, and when many of these cities are taking serious steps to realize these schemes. New York remains comparatively indifferent. Yet with New York, it is not a matter merely of making the city a morf attractive place of residence and of temporary sojourn; it i a matter which vitally affects the city's economic future. The street system of Manhattan is inadequate at the present tim to the demands which are made upon it. Vehicular and sur face trafflc of all kinds is subject to intolerable delays, pw ing to bad planning, some thoroughfares are cro\ others to which a portion of the traffic might ea, verted, are practically deserted. Large parts of the made partly unavailable for business, because ol culties of communication. In the meantime, every lay is making the curing of these evils more diffieul ge, . west side, '.er 2, at his expensive. Real estate, which the city will neei home ex- up in price. Slcy-scrapers are being built at importa,f |;i-,e West points. It seems impossible to put through a stregngs which ment which is as obviously necessary as the widenrside Drive street. In addition, several legal obstacles exist to-i^h st, and tive action on the premises; and when action is d essary, it will take years to remove these obstacles, years from now, when the subway system has bee and when the population of the city will have idcr-g^yQj.j^ijiy 6,000,000, or more, people will suddenly realize that\tht(jf jno. prosperity of the city has been imperilled by tfhe ihronze which has been shown about this fundamental task of pre said ing for freedom of movement through the streets of f ^^-^ , .. ition • s to- THE statement by President Orr, of 'the Rapid Tr. was Commission, that contracts for the flrst extension ^^'^J the Subway system will probably be let with six mo^" ;' is good news. It is over four years smce the necessit;gjjjj_ such extensions was fully recognized, and no matter how with tbe excuses are for this long delay, public opinion, paseems larly among property-owners, is impatiently demant actual beginning of the work. It is no exaggeratioi that new subways are more necessary to-day than ^^ Fifth subway was in 1899, During the last six years an e'^^^^'^l'j,' increase has taken place in the population of New Ycj^ Roths- and an equally important redistribution; and it so happ on the this redistribution has so far taken place, somewhat itouildlng, ently of the existiug subway. Of course, the great buildirwith the ment in the Bronx would have been impossible witb.'^^^ ^'^^ improved means of transit offered by the tunnel, but ^^^^^_ as Manhattan is concerned the great increase in po,j.j^ ^q^^. has taken place on the East Side; that is, in a districtmun es- unaffected by the underground railroad. At the presef an li¬ the tenement house district of the upper Bast Side ai!. f*:,^^,^ lem is the area of greatest building activity, and it is,- of 18th s for a same time the area in which population is pressin| ^^ |.,^g heavily on the space available for habitartion. This i Eight- which already supplies much more than half of the ineie four- the elevated roads, needs early relief more than an--th. The part of the city; and it is very much to be hoped t^'''^^\ ^^ contracts for the Lexington and Third Avenue subw^ ^ngin- be the first ones which will be let. It should be po build a Lexington Avenue extension to the present from Forty-second street north within two or thre