SUPPLEMENT  TO  THE





Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXIV.





NEW YORK, SATUKDAY, DECEMBEIl 27, iSTVi.





.No. 015





THE RECORD POR 1880. i     J[|[ ^[gj  gjj)[^





Ths Rk.\l Est.vte Record and Bcildeks' Gcide
-f;icars with the New Y'ear upon ics twentj--flfth vol¬
ume a fact which alone justirie.s the estimation in
which it is held by investors, capitalists, builders and
■dealers generally.

Without desiring at all to boast of the safe guide
The REt.-oarj has been to investors in realty during
the depre.ssiou now happily passed, we are safe to
say, and challenge contradiction on the subject, that
cf ail the pubHcatioiis in New Y'ork City, The Re.^.l
Est ITS R-ccaao has been the only journal that com¬
prehended the financial situation, and ivarned its
reader.-; against coniin.;? disasters in 1870 and 1S73, and
-again encouraged thera to rencved enterprise when
the dark clou Is began to disperse.

Having received ample support anJ praise for our
^vork fro:u those whose praise is worth having, Tns
Hk;ijki) enters upon the new year w-ith a full deter-
juination to pursue t!ie same untramnieled course it
has followed in the past, speaking the truth on all
matters affecting realty and the growth of our city
and suburbs. Tha year ISSO wil! probably see the
inauguration of active building operalions on the too
long neglected West Side, and also along the upper
portions, particularly the Twenly-third and Twenty-
fourth Wards. How to build and where to build are
<|uestions not onlv affecting owners bul also archi
tects, builders and, in fa«t. mechanics generally.
To all of the.e The Record will be a necessary
adjunct to their labors, as ils columns wil! carefully
reflect all that is going on to-.vard building up that
section.

No business man, however, who cares a', all to be up
to the spirit and enterprise of the times iu which he
lives, should be without it. as it furnishes regularly
every Saturday the following information:
First—Ml the Chattel Mortgages filed iu New Y'ork,
Kings, Dutchess and Schoharie counties and
New Jersey.

•Second-Ail the  Judgments docketed in New Y'ork

and New Jersey.
Tidrd—.All the   Real   Estate Mortgages recorded in

New Y'ork and New .Jersey.
F.iurth-All the Real Estate Conveyances in the same

places.
Fi;"th—-Ml tho Foreclo.sure Suits against real estate iu

New York and Brooklyn.

:Si.ttli—.\ cmiplete list of all the property lobe sold
from week to week under legal proceedings.

Seventh—A complete review- of the real e.state and
building material market.

Eight—General editorial anicles on all matters ailect
ing property in New Y'ork and the suburbs.

Ninth—A complete record of all the Satisfied Judg¬
ments.

Tenih—A list of all property aff-eted by assessments,
and a notification of the time the assessment is
handed in to the Collector.

Eleventh—The proceedings of ihe Common Council
affecting real estate.

Twelfth—A eomplete record of all iie'w buildiugs pro¬
jected in New Y'ork City or'Brooklyn, togethoi
with the name of the owner, architect and
builder.





Mr. Edward Ciark-s Views
on Modern Bnildiiigs.





Paper Read before the Wes t
Side Association.





Improvement     of     the     Eleventh
Avenue.





The West Side As.'^ociation held its usual
weekly meeting on Saturday evening. December
-20th, at its rooms, No. 04 West 'rhirt\--fourth
street. Mr. Dwight H. Olmstead, the President, in
the chair. A large number of members were in
attendance aud much interest was manifested iu
the proceedings.

The President oj)ened the meeting by stating
that it became necessarj- uow for the property
owners along the line of the Eleventh avenue,
from Seventy-second street to Oue Hundred and
Sixth street, to determiue whether that avenue
should be improved in the ordinary manner or
by special treatment, plans for whieh were exhib¬
ited to the meeting. These plans provide for court
yards, sidewalks and roadways of various widths,
ornamented w-ith grassplots and trees. After
considerable discussion, in which a special treat¬
ment of the avenue was favored, tlte whole mat¬
ter was referred to a committee, who w-ere
directed to consider and report upou it at a future
meeting.

The subject of buildiugs then coming -jp, Mr.
Edward Clark, one of the largest and most
enterprising owners on the West Side, read the
following naper which was listened to with great
attention :

TUE  tlTY  ov  THE  KUTLKE.

(Paper read before the West Side Association by
Mr. Edward Clark.)
If the original founders of the citj- of New
York could have grasped the idea that in the
coui-se of years, and within a perio 1 not great
when compared with the usual duration of great
cities, the whole island would be surrounded bj-
wharves and warehouses to accommodate the
world's commerce, an I its entire available area
densely covered w ith buildings to meet the varied
wants of a vast population, it is quite certain that
the plans for public and private improvement
would have been very different from those which
have actual!}- prevailed. To suit the convenience
of the future city, the most important business of
a pnblic nature ought to be concentrated some¬
where near the geographical centre of the island
Draw a liue from the Nortlj to the East River,
through Forty-second streetand the intersection
of that with the line of Broadway, would iadi-
ate, not precisely, but somewhat nearly, the
lace   where  the" Courts,   the   Exchange,   the





Custom House, the General Post Office, the large
nuaucial institutions, aud all other busine.ss inti¬
mately connected with these, ought to be perma¬
nently located. The present existing arrange¬
ments are about as inconvenient as could have
been devised. There is a daily congestion of the
currents of humanity for several hours on the
southerlj- point of the island which is painful to
experience or contemplate, :uid a corresponding
depletion towards eveniug. The elevated rail¬
ways, to a certain degree alleviate this evil, but
never can cure it. The struggle of opposing in¬
terests is alwaj-s going on, and cannot be ex¬
pected to cease imtil the citj- is finally completed.
Persons who are not yet old can remember when
the little triangle called Hanover square, south of
lhe present Custom House was considered the
choice .seat of the greatest trade in the citj-, and
manj- can recall the time when it would have
been thought absurd to trj- to establish a whole¬
sale business any where west of Broadwaj-. Things
look differently now, and there is ho "reason to
suppose great changes will cease to be made.
Wall street still gallantly holds its own, but who
can tell when or how- soon the money changers
and their satellites will be compelled to seek other
temple,-.

lu our citj- of the future it seems to luc, no
single lot on the surface ot the island can prfiper-
ly or profitablj- be spared for a small or inferior
building. It is the dutj-, and ought to be con¬
sidered a great privilege of the property owners,
of the preFent time, to exercise a judicious fore¬
sight as to the manner in which their lots shall be
improved, and to see to it that buildings erected
hereof-:er shall be permanent in their character.
Looking out from mj- office window across
Union Square I see two verj- prominent edifices
for business purposes—thej- "are the third series
of buildings erected on the same sites w-ithin a
few- J-ears—and the most conspicuous and costlj"
private residence in the citj- stands on the spot
where a large and handsome brow-n stone house
was demollslied to give it room. The tearing-
down process has been already carried on to an
enormous extent, and there are yet very large
districts compactly built over, where the buildiugs
must be razed to the ground to give place to
better. Probablj- this niushroom-style of building
was inevitable during the former period of
ignorance and uncectaintj'. But hereafter there
will be no excuse for such improvident and
wasteful building. Considering what has been
done, it is not difficult to forecast the future, and
the building which is done now can be and ought
be such as will be appropriate to the citj- a
hundred j-ears hence.

It is fbitunate for those interested in this
Association that building west of Central Park
and above Fiftj-ninth street has been so
much retarded. There is but little except the
shanties that requires to be torn down.

I believe some divei-se opinions have been
expressed in regard to the character of the
buildings which ought to be erected on the space
between the westerly side of the Central Park
and the Hudson River. Some have thought the
most profitable course would be to erect small and
cheap houses for jiersons of moderate means.
These gem leiiien entertain a sincere belief that
the wealth andvjl^iagmlicence of Nevv York has
I x'lausted. or #511 e.xhaust itself upon Fifth and
Madison avenues. But I presume most of the
members of this association have a firm belief
that the alti-active combination of the Central,
Rivei-side and Morningside parks, and the
admirable conformation of the land between
them, will give this district a sure and disting-
ui-ihed pre-eminence. Our newspaper para-
graphists are verj- fond of speaking of the
meichant princes of New York, and perhaps our
WfuUhj- citizens are uot averse to being thus
designated. No doubt it is true that there are
many persons in New York whose incomes are
princely iu amount, but princes ought to live in
palaces, and where are they '. To use the idt-a
and language of Gen. Viele, "few persons have
thought of constructing anythhig more than
three quarters of a house." Gentlemen who have
visited Genoa  and  Venice   will remember  the