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1036
RECORD AND GUIDE
May 17, 1913
ALTERATIONS TO OLD DWELLINGS
An Evidence That the Neighborhood Is in a Transitional State—
How the Income of a Madison Avenue Property 'Was Increased.
AS a general rule tlie alteration of a
building, when its character or use
is changed from that of its original pur¬
pose, indicates the initial step of the
transition stage of a neighborhood.
This transition is going on almost
continuously in New York City and is
the direct effect of our rapid and splen¬
did growth. Sometimes the changes
come so quickly that there is no time
for the alteration stage, and good sub¬
stantial buildings, adequate for many
years more of use in their original form,
must give way to the march of progress
and be torn down to 'be replaced by
new ones built on more modern lines
and better fitted for their new require-
m.ents,
"Owners and builders, and their real
estate advisers, usually give the ques¬
tion of an alteration or a new building
where some change is advisable, deep
consideration," remarked Charles Grif¬
fith Moses, vice-president of the J.
Romaine Brown Company, "It is only
where the final character of a neighbor¬
hood is not definitely determined, or
where a temporary change can supply
adequately the new demands, that an
alteration is decided on, rather than
demolition and replacement,
"In the financial and office building
districts many comparatively modern
and substantial buildings have been
razed in the last few years, and the
sites reimproved by the erection of new
buildings to be used for the same pur¬
poses as were those destroyed. The
first impression had of this condition is
one of waste, but on more careful con¬
sideration, the sound economics of the
situation became quite apparent,
"The high land values, the advanta.ges
of larger building units and the desira¬
bility of special buildings for banking
houses or large corporations frequently
make it profitable to destroy substan¬
tial buildings in order to clear the way
for a more up-to-date improvement,
"The present tendency, where an alter-
Herbert M. Baer, Architect.
A RECENT ALTERATION ON MADISON AVENUE.
Two old dwellings were made over into stores, olHces aad apartments.
BEFORE THE ALTERATION,
ation is deemed more advisable than re¬
building, is toward such radical changes
in the original structure as will leave
little but the shell, and while such
changes are classed as alterations, they
are in effect substantially new build¬
ings.
Alterations Benefit
Everybody.
"It seems to me
that any judicious
change in the form
or character of a
building, be it altera¬
tion or a new struc¬
ture, is of unques¬
tioned benefit to all
concerned. It is cer¬
tainly a glowing
tribute to Manhattan
land values to
realize that they can
and do advance so
rapidly and that they
absorb the value of
a substantial and
more or less appro¬
priate building within
twenty or twenty-
five years of its com¬
pletion,"
The attached il¬
lustrations show a
good example of
wbat can be done
in the way of re¬
modeling old private
residences in order
to largely increase
their revenue yield,
without tearing down
the old buildings
and putting up a
new structure.
These two houses, situated on Madi¬
son avenue, now known as "Madison
Chambers," were leased for a long term
of years by the Madison Chambers
Company from Dr, Joseph .A, Blake, a
surgeon, who had occupied the prem¬
ises for his offices and residence, Her¬
bert M, Baer, architect, 665 Fifth ave¬
nue, was commissioned to remodel the
buildings at the smallest cost to show
the greatest return. The alterations, in
brief, consist of the following:
Tearing out the basement and parlor
floor of the old houses and installing
on the ground floor three stores with
janitor's quarters in the rear, and on
the second floor four doctors' offices,
making use of the elaborately equipped
offices of Dr. Blake in the rear part of
the house. .A high-speed Otis elevator
was installed, making accessible the
upper floors, which are laid out into two
and three-room apartments with kitch¬
enette and bath; the top floor having
studio rooms with skylights. On the
roof, a penthouse consisting of largt
artists' studios with two bedrooms, bath
and kitchenette was built, leaving part
of the roof for roof garden purposes.
The total cost of the alterations was
$25,000, The work was executed by the
Grant Contracting Company in just
four months' time, and the income yield
was increased from a possible $7,000 or
$8,000 a year gross to $25,000 a year
gross.
Distribution of OfBce Buildings.
While the geographical limits within
which office buildings are being con¬
structed have not been materially ex¬
tended in recent years, there continues
to be a decided movement in the north¬
ern direction. More office buildings are
being annually erected in midtown than
formerly. On the average, they natural¬
ly rule very much less in bulk than the
skyscrapers of the financial district, but
they are far more numerous. Besides
the buildings designed for offices exclu¬
sively, there are many of the class in¬
termediate between the open loft and
the thoroughly subdivided office build¬
ing which are either in course of con¬
struction now or have been completed
recently.
A long period of years has intervened
since the pioneer office building of the
modern type was erected in the various
uptown sections where offices have since
multiplied, as around Madison Square,
Greeley Square, Times Square, the
Grand Central Station, in the lateral
streets near the Pennsylvania Station,
and, of course, along Broadway and
the new Fifth avenue. In most of these
sections there are old office buildings
descended from a period anterior to the
appearance of the skyscraper. The pres¬
ent movement, wonderful as it is to be¬
hold, consists, then, mainly in the mul¬
tiplication of steel skeleton office build¬
ings within geographical limits long
ago established.
City's Financial Activities.
Comptroller Prendergast has issued
a pamphlet giving a summary of the
city's financial activities during the first
three months of the present year, paral¬
leled with the figures for the first quar¬
terly period in 1912, The purpose of this
quarterly report is to present concisely
the vast financial transactions of the
City of New York, which equal in
amount the combined fiscal action of the
ten next largest cities in the United
States, The general plan of the report
is such as to make clear the general
purposes of the city's expenditures and
outlays, and the main sources from
which it derives its revenues.