Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 77, no. 1998: June 30, 1906

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1234 11 RECORD AND GUIDE June 30, 1906 another, because Allegheny, lying across the Allegheny River from Pittsburg, is connected witb tbe latter by several bridges. The consolidation will make Pittsburg one of the wealthiest cities in the Union, and in connection with this matter it may be mentioned that a large amount of Pittsburg capital has been invested in Long Island, N. Y., realty. The Wheatly Hills Land Company, of which M. W. Byrne, United States District Attorney of New York, is one of the directors, has paid $600,000 for the Albemarle Stock Farm and the M. C. Meagher tract of three hundred acres—properties which are situated in a fast develop¬ ing part of Long Island and bave a frontage of five thousand feet on tbe Long Island Railroad and adjoins the holdings of W. K. Vanderbilt, Clarence Mackay and Jobn S. Phipps. In the autumn tbe whole property is to be plotted and otherwise im- 'proved. When capitalists of otber cities invest in what may be called undeveloped territory in the vicinity of New York, it cer¬ tainly is strong evidence of their belief in its appreciation of value in tbe near future. Mr. Stanford White. THE death of Mr. Stanford White calls attention in the most painful and disagreeable way to the work which bas been accomplished during the last twenty-five years by him and the otber members of his firm. Few people who are not architects, or who are not specially interested in architecture, realize bow much Mr. White and his associates have contributed to the existing appearance of New York City, and still fewer realize how far-reaching and beneficial the effect of their work has been. It is to be hoped and expected that the remaining members of tbe firm, aided by the able assistants whom they have recently associated,with themselves, will continue to carry on the work for many years to come; but, in any event, the death of Mr. White cannot be passed by without some attempt to describe what the firm of McKim, Mead & White have accomplished for the architecture of New York, as well as in general for American architecture. It is the intelligent and appreciative New Yorker who should be particularly grateful to thein, because it is in New York that most of their work has been achieved, and because the buildings erected from their designs in this city have helped amazingly to give New York an architecture expressive of its metropolitan position among other American cities. It has been an architecture, which possessed distinction, style and effectiveness, and no otber American architectural firm, either in New York or elsewhere, has succeeded in reaching a similar result to anything like so complete an extent. One bas only to repeat the list of the conspicuous buildings which have been erected from their designs in-New York City in order to appreciate how much they have contributed in mere bulk to the' attractive appearance of the city. Let us take, for instance. Fifth avenue alone, which is becoming more and more the typical and most conspicuous New York thoroughfare. A pedestrian starting at Washington Square would have behind him the Judson Memorial Church and the Washington Memo¬ rial Arch—two Of their earliest New York edifices. In the neighborhood of Sixteenth street he would pass the "Judge" Buildiug, to which four stories have recently been added with¬ out entirely obscuring the merit of the original design. As he reaches Madison Square he would see in the tower of Madison Square Garden, one of their earliest buildings; and in the Parkhurst church one of their latest- A few blocks farther north he would come upon the bank building of the Knicker¬ bocker Trust Company, which has already provoked so much imitation; the Gorham Building, and the Tiffany Building—an edifice wbicb has aroused more popular interest than any simi¬ lar building ever erected in New York City- Just north of Forty-Second street he would come upon a nest of McKim, Mead & White's work. In the first place, there is the Sherry Bui-lding, and on the_side streets, immediately adjoining, the Century Club house and that of the Harvard Club, with its splendid dining hall. Still farther north be would reach the residences recently erected for Delancey Kane and W. K, Van¬ derbilt, Jr,, and' at Fifty-fifth street bis eyes would be gratified by the University Club bouse, which ranks very high in the scale of their work; and a little beyond tbe buildings of the Metropolitan and Harmonic Glubs. This in itself is a tolerably long list of important buildings, but many more would have to be added before the catalogue of the firm's work, even in New York, would be anything like complete. The building erected by the Goelet estate at Twentieth street and Broadway, wbicb has' suffered" from the same' sort of alterations as the old "Juilge" Building, is among their very best business structures. The "Herald" Building had its day of popularity; the new Morgan Library, in Thirty-sixth street, is among their most carefully studied designs; the Woman's Athletic Club, on Madi¬ son avenue, bas certain novel characteristics; and many good judges consider the Library of Columbia College, on Morning¬ side Heights, to be the most monumental and effective of alf their buildings. This list does not pretend to be exhausted. There are in particular many private dwellings, such as those of tbe late W. C, Whitney, Henry W. Poor, Charles T. Barney, H. B. Hollins, which are worthy of special comment, particu¬ larly for tbeir interiors. But what a loss it would be to New York City in case the buildings mentioned above had been designed by inferior hands. The work of McKim, Mead & White has always possessed the peculiarity of being both popular and meritorious. Archi¬ tecture is an art which is so little understood in this country tbat many really successful buildings go unnoticed except by a few persons who possess some technical knowledge; but the work of McKim, Mead & White has suffered less from this cause than the work of any other architectural firm. And there were excellent reasons why they were able to combine an unusually bigb standard of achievement with an unusually large amount of popular appreciation. Their success in this respect was not owing to tbe fact that tbey courted popularity, because McKim, Mead Sc Wbite have been unique in the extent to which they insisted upon having their own way. It was rather due to tbeir facility of representing while at the same time improving the prevalent architectural taste of the last twenty-five years. Architecture does not mean to Americans buildings which are perfect in mass, proportion and detail; it means tbe sort of buildings to which they have been accus¬ tomed in their European travels—buildings which possess an historical atmosphere and associations. This was the one prevailing American architectural tradition—the desire to have certain familiar historical memories and associations aroused by our important buildings. And just as McKim, Mead & White were the first American architects to turn it to good account, so they remain the architectural firm which has con¬ tinued to use it persistently and effectively. Many of their designs are deliberate adaptations from specific European buildings, but tbeir borrowing has been done witb good sense and with right feeling. They bave not borrowed indis¬ criminately or unintelligently. The architecture of the Renais* sanee has been tbe source of most of tbeir designs, and they showed the excellent judgment in limiting to this extent the area within which they looked for suggestions. For many reasons the Renaissance is both the most available and the most promising period from which modern American archi¬ tecture can take its start; and McKim. Mead & White were the first architects to stand consistently for this idea. It has deter- mined the general tendency of their work and bas had much to do with its great success, but it must be immediately added tbat if tbeir imitation of the Renaissance had been lifeless it would also have been far less influential. What they have sought to borrow was not certain forms, but certain effects. They have exhibited a genuine sympathy witb the spirit of the architecture of tbe Renaissance and a genuine understanding of its characteristic merits and opportunities, Tbey bave brought what is both freshness of feeling and intellectual insight into the revival of old forms, just as did the architects of the Renais¬ sance themselves; and that is the chief reason why their work has been so meritorious as well as so influential. They have given an original and an effective rendering of the most avail¬ able architectural tradition which we Americans could borrow, and they have consequently deserved their success. At the present time they have reached the position of being tbe repre¬ sentative American firm of architects, and tbe work which tbey have begun will be carried on not only by the remaining mem¬ bers of tbe firm, but by tbe many excellent designers who have either accepted tbeir lead or have graduated from their office- Shall Brooklyn be Held Back for Jersey? (Letter from Calvin Tomkins to the Bridge Commissioner, accoi'ipanying a report on passenger transportation be¬ tween lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.) Dear Sir—The conclusions of this report are based on the following assumptions: That it is unwise to connect the two bridges either by an ele¬ vated or by a subway loop. ■ That the correct principle of passenger transportation between Brooklyn and Manbaltan is to conduct the traffic of each bridge transversely across Manhattan, thus affording convenient access to every norlh and south line of transit in that borough. That before authorizing a double deck structure in Park Row and the Bowery, the Bridge Commissioner and the Board of Estimate ascertain and publish tbe terms and duration of the