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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 29, no. 723: January 21, 1882

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EAL Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXIX. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JAJSTUARY 21, 1882. No. 723 Published Weekly hy The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: GIVE YEAR, in adyance.....$6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway. J. T, LINDSEY'Busmess Manager. The regular subscribers to The Real Estate Record who wish the Index for the last six months, should call for it at once as the supply is running out. It has not been sent to all subscribers, as it is of no value to any hut those who keep flies. SUBURBAN PARKS. Various attempts have been made in this country to establish neighborhood parks near large cities. The projectors in every case secured a large quantity of land, within easy railroad communication of a business centre and laid out the grounds with an eye to artistic effects. There were to be no stores, shops or nuisances, no houses to be built that did not cost a minimum amount, suificient to build a very pretty edifice. Fences were not permitted, in short every provision was made to guard against intru¬ sion, and to secure desirable neighbors and elegant homes. Among the most noted of these enterprises are Llewellyn Park, near Orange : Riverside, near Chicago, and Menlo, not far from San Francisco. These parks have not, we believe, been financially suc¬ cessful. The residences did not always har¬ monize, neighbors are apt to be unneigh- borly, and the solitude became in time lone¬ some to the younger members of the house¬ hold. But what has proved a very doubtful ex¬ periment in the United States has, in one case, in England at least, resulted in an amazing success. Bedford Park is within half an hour by the underground road of the busiest part of London ; it is near Chis- wick and within ten minutes ride of the Kew Gardens. Originally it was an estate of over 100 acres, owned by one Jonathan Carr. The domain has since been increased to over 300 acres. Bedford Park is only six years old. In 1875 it was only an idea in the mind of Mr. Carr, This gentleman was struck with aremarK of Victor Hugo, who in one of his works says: " Nothing stifles one like perfect symmetry. Symmetry is ennui and ennui is the very essence of grief and melancholy." Mr. Carr applied this remark to the houses around London, which are all one like the other and laid out in rectangu¬ lar blocks. He consulted with Mr. Norman Shaw, an architect of the aesthetic school, and the result was the construction of a number of houses, each differing from the other and built not on the streets, but on lanes, curved lines and in such a way as to excite pleasure and surprise in whatever direction the eye was turned. Mr. Carr's scheme was as economical as it was striking and convenient. One artistic house ivo'ula c6st k ^Wi fl^iil >St M.6ii.^\ ^% if a dozen or score were prettily grouped the effect would be much better, and the cost a great deal less. So far there are over 300 houses in Bedford Park and the demand for them is far in excess of the supply. The fol¬ lowing is an account of this enterprise taken from Chambers' Journal : One great charm of the idea is that no two of these residences are exactly alike ; and the pic¬ turesque effect produced by the whole is »uch as to make the visitor marvel that the idea is so novel, and that we have so long been content to inhabit the hideous rows of stuccoed houses which have hitherto prevailed. Moreover, no pains have been spared in the laying out of the estate to preserve the silvan beauty of the scene. Not a tree has been needlessly cut down, so that each dwelling, embowered as it is in its own green garden, is shaded with greeneiy which would almost lead the uninitiated to suppose that this chai-ming little colony had been in existence for at least ss many generation.s as it has years. The houses themselves vary in size from" what may be almost callefl a family mansion in minia¬ ture, down to the co.sy little dwelling which brings the idea of " love in a cottage" from the realms of fancy to those of real possibility; whilst in proportion to their size, the rents range from forty to one hundred pounds per annum, so as to suit a varied class of tenants. So much for the houses themselves. The estate, which now con¬ sists of nearly three hundred acres, is laid out on a plan of equal novelty. Some six or seven streets, or rather winding" lanes, are bordered by about 3.50 of these villas—a number which is in¬ creasing steadily—cunningly disposed along the lines of street. The peculiar characteristic of these streets is the utter absence of that stiffness which always seems to attend the chilly, regular and hideous house rows of our other siiburbs. From those straight lines of flat buildings, with their long, cold prospectives and gloomy sameness of right angles, nothing could be further removed than the undulating outlines of the unique little settlement of Bedfoi-d Park. Nor is this all. Art alone is not consid¬ ered. It has co-operative stores where every¬ thing can be purchased at the lowest retail price. There is a club also, frequented by both sexes, with library, billiard and draw¬ ing rooms, lawn tennis courts, both of turf and asphalt, ball room and neat little theatre for amatevu-performances. There is an inn also—a kind of antique hostelry, un¬ der the name of the Tabard. The sanitary arrangements are perfect. We have called attention to this enterprise to suggest that there is room for a dozen or or twenty such in the neighborhood of New York, One or two might be in New Jersey, several in Brooklyn : but the site for quite a number of such enterprises can be found in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth "Wards. The difficulty in the neighborhood parks in in the United States has been their great cost, inconvenience and lack of sociability. It will be noticed that the rent of a cottage in Bedford Park is not much more than one would pay for an ordinary tenement in the city of New York. They average from $200 to $500 per annum and they are so near a railway depot that there is no necessitj-^ for carriages. Although built near together, they have plenty of "outdoors" in the way of gardens and shaded laines. Our experi¬ ence in this city with Paris flats, and private hotels, shows that the average American is gregarious. He hungers to herd with his fellows, and these little colonies begin by furnishing companionship. The success of Larchmont, near New Rochellej is a base in within fourteen miles of the City Hall Park which might be transformed into Bedford Parks to the pecuniary advantage of the projectors and to the benefit of those who occupy the houses. THE BOULEVARD. The sale of Boulevard property last Wed¬ nesday attracted no little attention in real estate circles. The lots were situated on the southwest corner of Eighty-fourth street, were some 16 feet below the grade and 87 feet deep : yet the corner lot brought $9,400 and a centre lot $8,100, three other inside lots $7,250. Before the sale, the impression seemed to be that if an average price of $6,000 could be procured it would be an excellent sale. The last important sale of West Side property was the Riverside Drive lots belonging to the Fumess estate. This was a great di.sapp.ointment to holders of West Side unimproved lots. The Boulevard sale shows that there is a renewed interest in West Side property, and that from this time forth we may expect to see a steady enhancement in values, due to the near ap¬ proach of the time when all the vacant property west of the Central Park wiU be in active demand for building purposes. What is to become of the Boulevard ? Will it be a business or a residence street ? and if so, what kind of residences will it attract? This is a matter which is even now being considered by long-headed property holders. The Boulevard is a continuation of Broad¬ way. Broadway owes its high valuation to its use as a business thoroughfare, as the most attractive location for stores upon the island. On the same day on which these Boulevard lots were sold, a lot on Broadway, 25.4x61. near the southeast comer of Forty- fourth street brought $31,000, while the comor ^lot, not much larger, brought $36,500, and a centre lot 25.4x98 fetched $35,000. These Broadway lots were not bought for residences clearly, except that the design might have been to build large apartment houses. The true Broadway extends from the Battery to the northern part of the State. It is the prir cipal street or avenue in every town on the east side of the Hudson. On it are the most beautiful residences and hotels, as well as business establishments, in Yon¬ kers, TaiTytown, Saratoga, everywhere in fact along its route to'northem New York. It is not believed that north of Fifty-ninth street there will be a sufficient number of inhabitants on the West Side to call for costly retail stores. The leading grocery, provision, drug and dry-goods stores will probably be on Tenth avenue, and the smaller establishments upon Ninth avenue; but there is no probability that there will ever be inducements in the way of popula¬ tion and patronage to warrant the erection of large establishments for business on the Grand Boulevard. Nor does it seem likelv that the ordinary brown stone fronts will ever invade that thoroughfare. They would , aiie#l?^be m^i ai 0&^g ii) that Urd9d and sp.**