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NOVEMBER 23, 1912
THE INTENSIVE USE OF CITY LAND
Strikingly Emphasized in the Half-Mile Stretch of Fifth Avenue
Between 34th and 42d Streets—Culmination of Rise in Values.
THE development of Fifth avenue
into a high-grade retail centre has
been emphasized in many ways during
the past ten years. Trade, in one form
or another, has now claimed the avenue
from Washington Square for its entire
length, with the exception of the two
mile stretch north of the Plaza, famil¬
iarly referred to as Millionaires' Row.
As was pointed out in a recent issue
of the Record and Guide, the area be¬
tween Forty-second and Fifty-ninth
streets has, during the past five years,
witnessed notable business expansion;
one that not only threatens the security
of such magnificent residences as those
of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt and Mrs.
Collis P. Huntington, but has made it
clear that the abandonment of these
mansions to business use is now only a
question of a comparatively short tirae.
ago foreseen. But even to those who
are familiar with the history of real es¬
tate price movements in this vicinity and
the causes which have contributed to
them, the remarkable changes which
have taken place on middle Fifth ave¬
nue in less than a decade and the sen¬
sational price records established here
are still matters of first-rate interest.
The history of this section is more or
less the history of that unique rectangu¬
lar territory bounded by Thirty-fourth
street, Forty-second street, Madison and
Sixth avenues, the southeasterly section
of it being still familiarly referred to as
Murray Hill. The tide of high values
began to rise about ten years ago. But
it is interesting to recall how low this
tide was even as late as 1900 and how
experts in values, and men who took
serious thought of the future in mat-
pended in a great measure on the fate
of four important properties on Fifth
avenue. These were the Stewart man¬
sion, at the northwest corner of Thirty-
fourth street; the old Sherry Building,
at the southwest corner of Thirty-sev¬
enth street; the Corbin house, at the
northeast corner of Thirty-eighth street
and the Lawrence Kip property, at the
southwest corner of Fortieth street.
In less than five years from the ex¬
pression of this opinion all but one of
these dwellings had made way for busi¬
ness houses and the arrival of Altman's
and Tiffany's on Fifth avenue very
shortly after the pamphlet was written
was a remarkable fulfillment of another
opinion expressed in. the Johnson bro¬
chure: "Should some such business as
that of Tiffany's, or some first class
dry goods house occupy any of these
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FIFTH AVENUE. XORTH FROM 34TH STREET.
THE LORD & TAYLOR CORNER, ."i.STH TO SOTH STREET.
However, the most remarkable em¬
phasis has recently been laid on what
might be termed the intensive use of
city land in the area immediately below
this; that is, in the half mile stretch of
Fifth avenue, included between Thirty-
fourth and Forty-second streets.
Lord & Taylor's selection of a site at
Fifth avenue and Thirty-eighth street
revealed no new tendency in the shift¬
ing of the trade centre. It was merely
another step in the massing at this point
of our great trade emporiums that sup¬
ply the needs of New York's wealthiest
class of shoppers. It is this very inten¬
sive use of land, this concentration of
houses dealing in the highest priced
merchandise, and its effect on fee and
rental values, that presents the most in¬
teresting phase of the situation on Fifth
avenue, between Thirty-fourth and For¬
ty-second streets.
The ultimate expulsion of the high-
grade residence colony from Fifth ave¬
nue, north of Madison Square, was long
ters of this kind, underestimated the
force of the rising tide. Just a few in¬
stances will suffice to illustrate this and
to emphasize, incidentally, how the
higher values created on Fifth avenue
are being reflected in the adjacent terri¬
tory—on Murray Hill on the east and
in Herald Square and Times Square sec¬
tions on the west.
A Prophecy of 1900.
It seems almost incredible that even
as late as a dozen years ago the future
of Murray Hill was still a matter of
speculation, and hardly less difficult of
belief that its fate was considered to
hang on the disposal of a few proper¬
ties at strategic points in the section' of
Fifth avenue under discussion. Yet it
was no longer than 1900 that this sub¬
ject called forth a pamphlet published
by E. W. Johnson under the title of
"The Future of Murray Hill." In it he
pointed out that the district's future de-
properties, it would at once and finally
establish the character of this neighbor¬
hood."
A Decade of Rising Prices.
It was about 1901 that this section of
Fifth avenue began to give lively indi¬
cations of the boom which subsequently
developed. The Altman purchase at
Fifth avenue and Thirty-fifth street was
not announced until late in 1904. But a
great deal of the Altman site had been
quietly secured long before that. The
average would probably show a very
low square foot price.
Here, however, are a few concrete in¬
stances that show the steady rise in val¬
ues during the first half of the 1900-1910
period:
In 1901 the Corbin house at the north¬
east corner of Thirty-eighth street, on a
plot 44.6x125, was bought by the late
Charles T. Barney for $400,000. or at
the rate of $72 a square foot. Mr. Bar¬
ney resold it the following year to the