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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 65, no. 1668: March 3, 1900

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JIffarch 3, RECORD AND GIIJDE; '35 J tell. ESIABUSHH)^ iHPiRPH Sm'*'1668. 'bt^ufi 10 f^L Estate,BuiLoijfc j^jtprfrTEffnn^MoJsafMDDraai^iDit Bt/snfess Alto Themes of GejIer/A llfto^*!.: PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. - . FubUshed every Saturday. Tblbpuons, Coetlahdt 1370, Oonununlcatloiie should be addreased to. C. W. SWEET. 14-16 Veaey Btieet. / T. UNDSEY, Business Manager. "B-ttered at thi FMt-0ffl>6 at Ifeio Tork, K. T., aa gecond-elaes matter,". Vol. LXV. MARCH 3. 1900. No. 1668. Ti'to Iniex to Volvtme LXIV of the Record and Guide, cyosriag the period betiveeii July Ist aad December Slst, lb99, il ■ na:v reditf for delivery. Frioe, $1. This Index in iti eitlirjsJ fjrm, is nam reoogaized as indispensable to ■eosrj oas eiiya,j3.l or interested in real estate and building opera¬ tions. It covers all transactions—deeds, mortgages, leases, auction .sales, bailiing plans filed, etc. Orders for the Index should be sent atonos to the ojhee of publication, 14 aad 16 Vesey Street. IT Is said that the confidence ot the investor has been shocked and destroyed by the partial revelation of tbe inner work:- ings that have wreclced Third Avenue railroad. By this time the mind of the investor ought to be hardened to such things, fieeing how much experience he has had in that line. The same thing waa said when Atchison was forced into the courts through the misconduct of its officials, but it is well to bear in mind that the present representative of the Atchison security that sold at 15 as a result of that fact, is now at 65. The Third Avenue business is now being as overdone as the Atchison cal¬ amity waa in 1863, The professional element, who nappen to be in control of the market for the moment, have always prefer- -ence for the short side, and are, with the assistance of the daily papers, making the most and worst of every unfavorable fea¬ ture, and little or nothing of the favorable ones. The increase of loans aud consequent decrease in the surplus reserves of the t)anks, which find a natural explanation in the purchases of government bonds in anticipation of the enactment of the cur¬ rency bill; the congressional report on trade combinations, and the prolongation of the struggle in the sugar trade, are all used to obscure the benefits that will result from tue currency bill as soon as it becomes a law, and the completely satisfactory ■condition of general business as revealed by the traffic returns of the railroads, and the maintenance of high prices for com¬ modities. As a result of the turn of affairs in South Africa, London has been this week a considerable buyer in our market, and has materially helped to sustain the general railroad list. When the new currency law takes effect it cannot fail to create activity in the security markets. The provision for refunding the debt alone would be sufficient to do that, as the quotations lor the new 2s., when issued, already show. The facilities it will afford for the increased issue of bills by the banks, and its recognition of silver as the basis for the currency of low de- noipinations, are each calculated to have a stimulating effect in many directions. However, while the public keep out of specu¬ lation and the traders continue to hold their present gloomy views, quotations must suffer for the time being, no matter how fcrillir.nt may be the prospect for the future. It is also a fact that with the prospect what it is stocks cannot fail to be a good Iniy on the breaks produced by an unjustifiable pessimism. ^" HE suggestion that Madison Square Garden be taken for ^ the new uptown post office has aroused opposition, on the ground that the city needs such a building for holding large gatherings, great shows, etc. It is true, if the garden is turned to other uses than those which it has hitherto found unprofita¬ ble. New York will probably be the only great city in the civil¬ ized world that does not possess a building suitable for large gatherings or spectacles; but it is also highly probable that, if this should become the case, the necessity for such a building would soon become apparent, aud private enterprise would quickly supply it, though in a location where it could be made to pay. That Madison Square Garden has not been a success has been due primarily to the fact that the first cost for land and building was too great for the business to which it was to "be devoted. Had the enterprise been established in an accessi¬ ble position farther north, it would have reaped a satisfactory pecuniary reward. This proposition holds good to-day. Id order to save the garden from the improbable fate of a post office, it has been suggested that the city purchase it and go into the "show" business, but this suggestion is received with a smile or a frown, according to whether the recipient holds one of the two views, the cynical and the sombre only, that are apparently held in this community on the matter of municipal ownership In general. The Week Reviewed. WHY NOT A BUILDING FOR THE BOARDING HOUSE AS WELL AS THE HOTEL. BUSINESS. •* p' HE brokerage reports disclose little, if any, effort on the *■ part of the real estate market to shake off the lethargy which settled down upon It about the middle of last month. The dealing this week was concerned chiefly with sites for elevator "apartments and private houses. Half a dozen of the dwellings sold were of the better class, including a couple on the old Columbia College site by such builders as Charies Buek and John T. & James A. Farley; and as a body occupy the leading position in a commonplace budget. The buyer of No. S6 and 58 West 47th street proved to be Walter Reid. Jr., who haa leased from the plans for twenty years a 10-story apartment hotel, which he purposes to erect on the site. The lessee is tho proprietress of a boarding house. This lease suggests the ques¬ tion—Is there any essential difference between an apartment hotel and a boarding houae? The distinction appears to lie chiefly in the matter of private baths, and in the term of the rent; and even this distinction is not always clearly marked, for there are apartment hotels which let some rooms singly with baths in common. But, conceding that there is a differ¬ ence, the fact remains that a large part of the tenantry in Man¬ hattan consists of boarders, and that for this class no special type of housing exists. It would seem reasonable to suppose that builders might profitably erect, in established boarding house neighborhoods, a limited number of buildings designed for single adults and childless couples in moderately easy cir¬ cumstances. Certainly a specially designed boarding house ol this kind would be a more promising venture than a flat draw¬ ing its tenatory from families similarly circumstanced. The lassitude of the real estate market is reflected in the Sales¬ room. The sales at auction since the first of January aggre¬ gate only some ?G,800,000, as against the corresponding aggre¬ gate last year of $10,900,000, round numbers. The only event of importance has been the Contoit sale; a large proportion of current offerings consists of new 5-story flats foreclosed, nota¬ bly in Brons, as a result of hardened credit in building mater¬ ials. In these circumstances the partition sale by Philip A. Smyth, next Tuesday, of part of the Lippman Toplitz estate will prove interesting. The offerings comprise investment and spec¬ ulative holdings, selected with reference to supposed market conditions. Judging from the brokerage reports, the vacant lots, all of which are ripe for improvement, most of them with elevator apartments, will probably sell at top figures; the re¬ ception which the improved real estate shall receive will serve to show whether there is any investment capital at ail in the market, for the offerings are of a nature to induce competition. So also are several improved parcels scheduled by Bryan L. Kennelly for Wednesday, and a number—all below 40th street— booked by Richard V. Harnett & Co., for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Next week, therefore, will be the most import¬ ant week in the auction room since the beginning of the year. Tbe past week, in a partition sale by D. Phoenix Ingraham. tho infiuence of the rapid transit contract was apparently present In the high price paid by Mahoney Bros., builders, for No. 2 4th avenue, a 4-story store and loft building on a deep lot. Tho premises, which brought ?41,020, is located near the Astor place station of the underground road, and, as it brings a rental of 13,000, will carry itself until the near future shall decide what form of reimprovement will be most profitable. ---------*--------- SOMEHOW or other the American is likely to spoil his best work by overlooking a little detail that becomes great In consequences. For instance, on rainy days such as we have experienced lately, the citizens have to take, a shower bath in stepping into and from our street cars and ferries, when a very little thought and ingenuity, and expense, it may be added, would save him from this additional soaking. Why must the roofs of cars and decks of ferries be drained over the entrances, instead of at another part? Wiiat would be said of an archi¬ tect who provided a sloping drain over tho doorways of hia buildings?