Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 12, no. 279: July 19, 1873

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XIL NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1873. No. 279 Publistied Weekly by THE HEAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION. TERMS. One year, in advance......................SG 00 Ail communications should be addrcBsed to C TV". ©TVEET, Whiting Building, 345 and 347 Buoadavat. PLENTY TO PAY, BUT NOTHING IN EETUKN. It is unfoi'tunate Hint tlie Reform city gov¬ ernment does not understand hoAV lo manage municipal affairs in a manner satisfactory to property owners and tax payers. This is not the fault of one, but of all the departments, Avhich, instead of working together as a whole, endeaY»r to obstruct one another. Thus one department lays on the taxes heavier than ever before, while another refuses to pay for I the necessary work of improving the city— I regulating its streets and building its sewers. I At this moment all the workup town is stopped, % simply becausff Mr. Green declines to pay for it, and because the Aldermen are wrangling over political appointments instead of attend¬ ing to the actual Avants of the city. In the Nineteenth Ward, for instance, the taxes this year are heavier than the entire amount of rent collected there iu the same space of time, while no effort is being made to regulate the grading of streets, the curbing and guttering, and all that sort of Avork Avhich makes prop¬ erty more A'aluable, owing to its improvement. Were it not lor this dead lock, Ave had almost said anarchy, in our municipal departments, the people Avotild not grumble so much at their being taxed more heavily than usual. As it is, tliey have to pay very heavily, and have nothing to shoAV for it at all. In private life such transactions are called swindles; why should not the party of the first part keep its contract, aud give the tax payer an equivalent for his money ? And it would if it only had the foresight that if the work up tOAvn were to progi-ess steadily and without interruption, there would shortly be such an increase in the " revenues as would amply repay for all previous outlays. --------------------, .^(y, .--------------------, EEFOEM IN FINANCE. Mr. Van Schaick may or may not be a suc¬ cessful Wall Street financier, but in the posi¬ tion he now occupies before the community he certainly cuts a very strange figure. As the head—Ave will not say the brains—of the Aldermanic clique that opposes the mayor's nominations, he apparently finds ample time ' to turn his back upon Wall Street and all of its allurements, and devote himself to affau's at the City Hall, with what benefit to his con¬ stituents can best be appreciated when a glance at the Police Courts reveals the presence there of the same men, who for years under Tam¬ many rule have made common cause with the roughs and rowdies of New York. Still, all this can be tolerated for a time, as the voice of the j)eople will soon be heard in regard to this matter when Myndert Van Schaick and all his clique will have to take the back track aud keep their place. But, as Mr. Van Schaick hails from Wall Street, and some of his col¬ leagues appear to place great confidence in his fiuancial knoAvledge, it is Avell to at once hold up his latest new scheme to create a loan of $150,000,000 at five per cent, interest, Uie prin¬ cipal to be payable in one hundred years. Does Mr. Van Schaick remember the difficulty Mr. BoutAvell experiences in placing even $100,000,000 with all the advantages of leading financial agents here and abroad ? Does he forget that the utmost Comptroller Green could get for city stock lately was 103, while United States 6's of 1881 are. selling at 120; and this bid of 103 was only for a pal¬ try $3,000,000 which the Comptroller called for at the time. Even the credit of the State of Massachusetts is far better in the money mar¬ kets of the world than that of the city of New York to-day; and this credit will grow still worse if blockheads insist on putting forward schemes, such as even an average Wall Street banker would not listen to for a single mo¬ ment. Van Schaick himself may be great in Wall Street, but at the City Hall and its com¬ mittee rooms he is growing smaller by degrees. V ——— THE CENTENNIAL BUILDING. Thirty-seven designs for the Centennial Anniversary building arc now on exhibiton in Philadelphia, from which the committee on plans and architecture will select ten to be admitted to a second competition. One of the plans submitted by Brugaldi, Marshall & Welsh, architects of this city, has certainly, for beauty and grandeur of conception, noth¬ ing to surpass it among the thirty-seven sub¬ mitted. It proposes a nave 2,150 feet long, with a centre transept 1,275 feet in length, and two transepts east and west, each GOO feet long. The width of the nave aud transepts to be 275 feet in each case. An octagonal domC) 400 feet in diameter and 300 feet high, is pro¬ jected for the centre of the building, and to be surmounted Avith a cupola 120 feet high and of 150 feet in diameter. At the shorter transepts with the nave are smaller domes, 225 feet high, and 125 feet in diameter; tlie ends of the nave and three transepts to be terminated with large circular or rose windows decorated with and designed for the exhibi¬ tion of stained glass. Externally the ends of the nave and ti-an- septs are designed to present eight facades, united by tlie Avails of the aisles, 70 feet high, and roof of the nave and transepts. These facades are to be enriched by statues of emi¬ nent men and historical bas-reliefs. On all sides of the building it is proposed to form grand terraces, one of which shall form an arcade for a raihvay station. The whole building is intended to be erected on solid stone foundations of sufficient height to secure accommodation for storerooms, workshops, raihvay tracks, water supply, ventilation, and drainage. The superstructure will be mainly composed of iron and glass, covering 25 acres of fioor space, including a gallery 75 feet wide, and running entirely around the build¬ ing 30 feet above the floor level. The floor to be constructed of narrow pine on iron beams, or of artificial stone. The approaches to this gallery are 32 staircases, each 18 feet wide, thus preventing croAvding or confusion. A second gallery is to be formed around the octagon dome, at the intersection of the nave and centre transept, 60 feet from the floor. This gallery is to be reached by the staircases and eight large elevators, and from it four bridges, each 25 feet wide, connect Avith a cen¬ tre platform 150 feet in diameter. This central platform is included within the limits of an octagon tower which, supported on arches springing from the foundation, is carried up through the centre of the dome to a height of 420 feet from the floor level, and is surmounted by a colossal globe, over which an|eagle spreads its wings. Four large elevators within the towers start from the level of the platform mentioned and run to the top of flie dome, and passing beyond to the top of the cupola and to the centre of the globe. There are three promenades arranged on the outside above the roof of the main building, to which access is to be had from the elevators through the tower. The first promenade around the dome will be at an altitude of 300 feet, affording extensive views. The second promenade encircles the cupola at a height of 350 feet, and the third and last around the interior of the globe, about 450 feet from the ground. The globe is to be 50 feet in diame¬ ter, surmounting the cupola or tower, and the eagle at its top will be 500 feet from the floor of the building, or 600 feet from the sea level. WESTEEN LANDS. The sale of twenty thousand acres of Kan¬ sas lands recently reported was effected, we understand, in the city of New York, where the business of the Pacific Roads is more and more concentrating. The offices of these roads, especially on the. arrival of European steamers, present a very busy appearance— that of the Kansas Pacific Railway,