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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 89, no. 2302]: April 27, 1912

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m^^s ^n^Jh APRIL 27, 1912 QUEENS, THE BOROUGH OF SMALL HOMES. Some 25,000 Dwellings Have Been Erected and 1,500 Acres Have Been Built Over in Ten Years—Marvelous Growth of Industry, Too. QUEENS is essentially the borough of small homes. Land has been I'ela- tively cheap when compared with values in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, largely because of its isolation in the past from the great business section of the city, for the lack of tunnels, bridges and other methods of transit. This has made it the refuge of escape for the man of moderate means who wishes to bring up his family in the privacy of a one or two family dwelling. That the demand for such homes has been readily sup¬ plied by the borough is evidenced by the fact that the percentage of increase of population in Queens has been greater than in any of tho other boroughs, ex¬ cept the Bronx, where tenements and flats prevail. The enormous addition of over 1.30,000, or 87 per cent, to the population of the borough in the last ten years means ihat not fewer than 25,000 dwellings have been built and that over 1,500 acres have been covered with buildings. That the growth of the borough wiil be even greater in the future is shown by the tables prepared by Dr. Joseph Cacca¬ vajo, indicating that the increase of pop¬ ulation from the preseni time to 1920 wiil be twice as great in Queens as in any other borough; the present popul:>- tion of 3.-5 people per acre in Queens, 42 per acre in Brooklyn and 18-5 per acre in Manhattan, being increased in 1920 by 217 per cent in Queens, 53 per cent in Brooklyn, and only 7 per cent in Man¬ hattan. Moreover, the phenomenal growth in population and development is going on in spite of improper transportation fa¬ cilities, lack of sewers and other munici¬ pal improvements. Since consolidation tbe citizens of Queens have submitted patiently to an enormous increase in taxation, the as¬ sessed valuation of the borough bavins increased from .^lOS.OOO.OOO in 1902 to $407,000,000 in 1911. the increase in 1911 alone bemg over .^lOOOOO.OOO. What they do object to, however, and what they will no longer submit to, is the spending of their tax money for munici¬ pal improvements in the otiier boroughs. If all of this money, deductins:. of course. its proper share of the general expenses of the municipal government, was de¬ voted, as it properly should be, to local improvements, the borough of Queens, relieved fi-om its present handicap, would rapidly outstrip its sister bor¬ oughs both in population and develop¬ ment. W'th an area greater than Brook¬ lyn. Manhattan and the Bronx combined, possessing distinct advantages in access¬ ibility, climatic conditions and in beau¬ ty of scenery, it is destined in the near fL'iure to assume its proper place as the leading borough of the Greater City. Needs nf the Borimeh. The needs of Queens taken in the or¬ der of their importance are: Better tran¬ sit facilities, sewers, highway improve¬ ments and a municipal water supply. The transit s'tuation has been so thor¬ oughly discussed of late that I will mere¬ ly refer you to the very admirable arti¬ cle on that sub.iect in another part of ■this paper. In passing, however, I want to express my conviction that the diffi¬ culties of this problem are now in a fair way of solution and that tbis greatest of handicaps to the borough's progress wiil soon be removed. To appreciate the handicap which Queens has labored under with regard to sewers, it is only necessary to say that the rapidly growing sections adja¬ cent to the Brooklyn, the "Woodhaven, Union Course. Forest Parkway, Rich¬ mond Hill, Ozone Park, Chester Park and Morris Park districts, in which there are not less than 8,000 buildings, have not yet the beneflt of a sewerage svstem. It is gratifying, however, to note that at last the subject is being taken up in an intelligent, systematic manner. that progress is being made on the necessary maps, and that the outlook is brighter than it has been at any time in the past. ■=:'; *] The deplorable condition of the roads of t*ie borough is well known to all who By FRANK E. HURLEY. have occasion to make use of them and we can hope for nothing better until we succeed in convincing the Board of Esti¬ mate and Apportionment of our needs in this respect and of the unjust discrim¬ ination which has been practiced against us in the past. But in this departmeni, too, the signs of betterment are very en¬ couraging. The present Highway Com¬ missioner, a man of irreproachable char¬ acter and unquestioned ability, has taken up the work with enthusiasm and intelii- gence, and already a marked improve¬ ment in the disposition of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment toward this department is noticeable. One of tlie improvenients which lias recently been made is the renaming of ■the streets and avenues. There are moi-e than 3,000 streets in the borough of Queens, and many of them have similar names, so a new system of street nam¬ ing has been adopted. The streets will be for the most part numbered. The necessity for this reform will be recog¬ nized when it is known that at present there are twenty-two Washington streets and nineteen Lincoln streets. FRANK E. HURLEY, Manager of the Jamaica branch of the Title Guarantee and Trust Co. With reference to the water supply, while up to the present time it cannot be said that the borough has suffered in this respect, it is nevertheless true that no systematic provision has been made for the future. In fact, with the excep¬ tion -of the First and Third Wards, the water throughout the borough is supplied by private companies. Everyone who has given the matter any thought realizes the folly of such a system, and it is, therefore, to be hoped that public opinion will speedily be aroused to the necessity of providing a proper municipal water system for the entire borough. Niilural AdTnntages. Despite these drawbacks, the natural advantages of Queens are so great that it is rapidly outstripping the other bor¬ oughs in population and development. It is noteworthy that Queens was the only borough where the cost of new buildings was gi-eater in 1911 than in 1910, the in¬ crease in Queens being more than -fG.OOO,- 000. And why should we be surprised at this? Starting right from the throbbing life of the great city. Its broad expanse of 81,000 acres stretches out into the beauties and the productiveness of an ideally located garden spot. To the lover of the soil, to the man or woman who cherishes the trees, the grass, and the pure air, a new life is opened. You may take a train at the Pennsylvania Station" in Manliattan, and in eight minutes ar¬ rive in Long Island City, and from that tim* on your ride will be through a beautiful country. You will pass by Newtown, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens,' Richmond HiU and other towns and vil¬ lages, and country villas charmingly art¬ istic and beautiful. From the noise and dust of the crowded city you wil quickly pass throagh green fields and lovely gardens. You can reach either Jamaica or Flushing in sixteen minutes and Port Washington or Far Rockaway within half an hour, and within this territory millions of people can be comfortably quartered. I Elv rea sea Land Values, In this great country the increase in land values during the past ten years has been remarkable, and so, too, has the in¬ crease in buildings. During the year 1911 over 5,000 buildings were erected, and it is safe to say that this increase must be still more rapid during the next flve years in order to care for the increase of popu¬ lation which will be crowded out from the borough of Manhattan. The wage earners and the big factories are being rapidly forced out, and Queens Borough, with its great area and its improved transporta¬ tion facilities, is ready to receive them. There are about 50,009 factories in New York City, with an annual output of more than .? 10,000.000,000, about one-tenth of the industrial output of the United States. These factories are already rap¬ idly moving into Queens Borough, most of them locating in Long Island City. This exodus ia .'Speedily transforming Long Island City frora a barren waste to a. teeming hive of industry. And with the building of the factories goes on apace the bulding of liomes for the factory workers. Fortunately, unsurpassed facilities for both are to be found in Queens. And not only for factory workers are homes to be found here, but also for men in every walk of life, homes for the sala¬ ried man and the man in moderate cir¬ cumstances, as well as the flne estates and dwellings for the wealihy. And for all of these are to be found unsurpassed attrac¬ tions; fcr the average man, his little gar¬ den patch, wherein his natural desire for farming can be satisfled; for pleasure- seekers, the joys of flshing, shooting, boat¬ ing, golf and all the other outdoor games, together with tlie delightful summer re¬ sorts On ocean and sound. With all its natural advantages, the buiiding up of this land of promise is de¬ pendent upon the ease with which money can be borrowed upon mortgages, and were this task of supplying funds to the home builders left to individual investors, the development of the borough would have been neither rapid nor systematic- Fortunately, the wonderful possibilities of the borough, now apparent to all, at¬ tracted many years ago the largest title guaranteo company in the city. So great was its confldence that this conipany has loaned during the past six years moi-e than §25,000,000 on mortgages in Queens Eorough. Types of Houses. By means of this enormous mortgage fund, this company has exercised an im¬ portant influence on the character of the buildings, conflning its loans in each sec¬ tion to buildings most suitable for that particular locality. In this way, houses suitable to the different localities are be¬ ing built and both the owner and the lender have found the following classes of buildings to be the most satisfactory. In Ridgewood and vicinity, two and three faniily attached brick houses, selling for $6,000 to $7,500 each: also six-family attached tenements selling for $10,500 to $12,000. At Long Island City some apartment houses are being built near the Bridge Plaaa, and in the sections within easy walking distance of the new Pennsylva¬ nia yards, several rows of six-family brick houses, similar to the ones which flnd such ready sale at Ridgewood are be'ng built and offered for sale at about S12,- 000. At Corona and Elmhurst two-family frame dwellings sell for $5,500 to $G.500 and there is a. great variety of cottages to be had at prices ranging from $4,-500 up. At Flushing the one-family frame house is most popular and here there is a wide range of prices to select from and a great