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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 82, no. 2120: October 31, 1908

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October 31/ 1908 KECOKD AND GUIDE :82i ESTABDSHED ^ MRRPH 21^^ 1S68. Dented to mi. Estate . BulL□I^b Atlorf'TEeiuRE .KouseUoid DEi^cuiATiorf. Bilsit/Ess A1&Themes of GE]M^V IKter,est. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET Published Every Saturday By THE RECOKD AJSD GUIDE CO. President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer. P. W. DODGE Vice-Pres- & Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER Nos. 11 lo 15 East 24tfc Street, New York City " (Telephone, Madison Eo.uare, 4430 to 4433.) "Entered at Ihc Post Offiee at Nev) York, N. Y., ns second-class viatter," Copyrighted, IOOS, by The Record & Guide Co. Vol. LXXXII. OCTOBER 31, 190S. No. 2120 AN eminent French, architect, M. Augustin-Adolphe Rey, has recently made a tour of Manhattan with a rep¬ resentative of the New York Times for the purpose o'f appraising the architectural value of some of the more prom¬ inent buildings. Some of these appraisals are worth con¬ sideration as tbe product of a highly trained architectural vision. In the financial district, for instance, he described the plain hrick facade of No. 1 Wall street as the "worst thing in New York," which in our opiiiioii is an unfair dis¬ crimination against many other Manliattan structures. The Custom House he liked, but thought that the roof should be higher—which is assuredly a just criticism. The build¬ ing of tke Knickerbocker Trust Company he also approved, as well as the new Morgan Art Museum in East Thirty-sixth street- The new Public Library he described as good, but considered the attic story as proportionately very much too high for the rest of the facade. The Vanderbilt houses ap¬ pealed to his idea of propriety in urban architecture, and as to the Plaza Hotel, he considered it acceptable in design, but ghastly in color. The house of ex-Senator Clark he described as heavy and overloaded with ornament—which sounds like a very mild expression of disapproval. The Met¬ ropolitan Museum he" emphatically condemned, while the Schwab house on Riverside Drive he considered wholly inappropriate for an urban residence. The two buildings which he most admired in New York were an apartment house at No. 4 East Sixtieth street, and the Gorham Building on Fifth, avenue. His comment on the second of these edifices is worth quoting in detail: "That is the most beauti¬ ful busmess building in the world!" he exclaimed again and again. "See, it has only three horizontal lines—distinct, strong ones above and below, and one short one made by that little balcony. There is no line more effective in archi¬ tecture than such a short one if used exactly right." It is comforting to think that New York, with all its architectural defects, possesses none the less the "most beautiful business huilding in the world," and it may not be irrelevant to recall that this building is described by those who know as the personal work of the late Stanford White. --------------•-------------- ON TWO SUBJECTS of great local architectural impor¬ tance M. Rey became discursive; and these two mat¬ ters are worth more detailed attention. In bis comments of the skyscrapers of New York, M Rey by no means assumed the attitude of unciualified condemnation which appeals to so many foreign architects. He recognized the desirability of limiting their number because of the inevitability of sub¬ sequent congestion in the streets, and he profoundly objected, of course, to tiie architectural juxtaposition of two towers—- such as those of the Singer and City Investing buildings— one of which kills the other. But he foresaw and approved of the architectural possibilities of this class of building. "New York of the future," he declared, "should be a city of white towers. There should he a law limiting the height of buildings, but allowing the construction of a limited num¬ ber of towers on each block." There can be no doubt that in case the height of buildings is restricted in the manner suggested. New York will become in the course of time one of the most picturesque, impressive and individual archi¬ tectural creations in the world. The insular situation of Manhattan and the enormous population which will use the lower part of Manhattan Island as the place in which to transact business and enjoy amusements, will bring about an enormously high level of real estate values throughout the whole district south of Fifty-ninth street. It is entirely possible that during the next fifty years real estate will be¬ come valuable enough all over this district to justify the erection of skyscrapers in almost any part of it. One has only to remember that the skyscraper is only about twenty years old and how numerous are the buildings over ten sto¬ ries high erected during that period to realize what the result will be of the action of similar forces over a period of fifty years. Even allowing for the fact that population and business will not increase as rapidly in the future as they have in the past. New York will be likely at the end of that time to possess somewhere between 12,000,000 and^ 15,000,000 inhabitants, and to need accommodations in Man¬ hattan for the transaction of five or six times as much business as that which now takes place. The pressure on available space will be so tremendous that skyscrapers will become commercially profitable throughout all the business districts, and Manhattan will, as M. Rey declares, become literally a City of Huge Towers—similar to a mediaeval city in general contour, but immensely more impressive because of the scale of its architectural mass and projections. In this matter also, the demands of safety and of health coin¬ cide with those of business and of architectural effect. A City of Towers would combine the greatest aesthetic advantages with the most economical use of space, while at the same time, if the towers were erected under proper restrictions, nobody's health or safety would suffer because of their erection. /~V NE MORE illustration of M. Rey's architectural jiidg- ^-^ ment is worth notice. He was vehement in his de¬ nunciation of the propriety of the architectural design of the new Pennsylvania station. "What—a railroad station!" he exclaimed as the automobile showed up in front of the great white colonnade. "Why, then, is it huilt like a Roman temple and what is the use of all those columns on a railroad station! If there is one thing to which the newest ideas in architecture should be applied, it is a great railroad station. The railroad belongs essentially to modern times, and yet you apply to your greatest railroad terminal bric-a-brac bor¬ rowed from bad ancient architecture. The Pennsylvania station is a great mistake-—a splendid white stupdity! As a library it would be good. For its real purpose it is a colossal mistake." Undoubtedly there is a great deal to be said in condemnation of converting a modern railroad sta¬ tion into a huge pseudo-classic temple. The progress of architectural design does not lie in that direction. But in one respect M. Rey does the architects of the station a palpable injustice- Admitting the lack of architectural real¬ ism in the design, it remains none the less true that the actual design is of a very unusual merit. It is, of course, too early to judge just what the ultimate effect will be, but it be¬ gins to look as if McKim, Mead & White had designed one of the most sober and dignified pieces of pseudo-classic architecture in this country. Much as one may object to this sort of thing, it almost justifies itself when ll..;.^ so very well done. The firm certainly possessed among modern American architects a unique gift for the design of huge colonnaded structures, and while we may wish they will not bave any successors, that is partly because they are not likely to have any equals. N the last issue of the Record and Guide, a "Subscriber" objected to a real estate note published the week before which had predicted the probability of some liquidation in the Pennsylvania district and a consequent decline of prices. Our correspondent states that he is thoroughly familiar with local conditions and that there is no danger of any liquida¬ tion sufficient in amount to cause a decline in prices. Specu¬ lators who have bought thereabouts have done so with the expectation of being obliged to hold the property until after the station is opened. Many of them are, doubtless, not getting enough income out of their properties to pay carry¬ ing expenses, but in that case they fully counted upon such a preliminary loss and would hardly have made themselves liable thereto, unless they could hold on until the time of probable reimbursement arrived. When the station is opened the demand for property in the vicinity of the station for imperative business purposes will be such as to justify prices higher than those which now prevail. It remains to be seen whether the foregoing'interpretation of the specula¬ tive condition and prospects of this section will prove to be correct; but in the meantime a very remarkable state of