Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 73, no. 1873: February 6, 1904

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Ft-bruarv 6, 1904. RECORD AND GUIDE 269 ESTABUSHED "^ MABPUSl"^ 1868, iklAllD TO Rpj. ESTAIE. BUILDIJ^G ft|!&I^ITECTUri^ ,t{oUSElJOlIl BUSil^ESS AI^ThEUES of GElJEIt^ iKTEffi^Ti faiCE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS Vublishod eVers Satardap Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New YorH 5. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager Telephone, Cortlandt 815? '"SiUered at the F^st Office, at N, Vol UXXIII I I'orA, N'. Y., as secotifl-class matter." FERRUARV 1904. No. 1S73 THE movemeiit in the prices ol securities continues to be controlled chiefly by prol'essioual and techuical influences. The failure of the bull pool last week to obtain any following in its effects to advance prices, resulted in a general recession of quotations, and proved that no large speculation on the side of higher values was possible at the present time. On the other hand, the course of prices during the week now ended, shows equally well that below a certain point the market is always supported so that any active bear speculation proves also to be impracticable. It is noticeable in this connection that just as steel preferred led the decline last week, so it was used this ■week by the interests supporting the market to prevent that decline from being carried too far. It looks as if these in¬ terests bought stocks on every decline, and quietly sold them again on every rally so that any considerable movement in either direction was checked. There can be no doubt, also, that if this is the policy of important banking and financial interests, the policy is well conceived. Any considerable advance would be necessarily unwholesome under existing conditions, while any marked decline is not only unjustified, but would unsettle public confidence to a deplorable extent. Unless conditions are pro¬ foundly modified in the meantime, there is no reason to suppose that the description will not appiy to the stock market until after the election next fall, although if there is any tendency either in one direction or the other, it should be in the direction of an advance in prices. fT HE most encouraging inference to be drawn from the real * estate sales reported during the past week, is that the market shows a decidedly broadening tendency and that this broadening tendency is concerned chiefly with private dwellings. There are evidences that the over-production of expensive resi¬ dences, which threatened at one time to cause some trouble, will not have any serious effects. Little by little builders are sell¬ ing off their houses; and as few new ones are being built, it is probable from present indications that the demand wil! be good enough this spring to reduce to a normal amotmt the offerings hanging over the market, A fact which does not confirm this prediction, but which is of peculiar interest, is that Mr. Haggin has decided after all not to build on the site of the old Progi-ess Club at Sixty-third Street and Fifth Avenue. The property is now being offered at a considerable advance over the figures for which it was purchased a couple of years ago; and since it is the very best site of the liind available on Fifth Avenue, it will be interesting to see how soon the property Is sold and who will be its purchaser. Apparently since there is no large club still unprovided with a good location, the only possible buyer will be a man as rich as Mr. Haggin himself. It will also be interesting to observe what the effect will be of the effort which Columbia College is making to sell the block bounded by Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Streets and Fifth and Sixth Avenues, to the owners of the houses. It can scarcely fail to transfer the Fifth Avenue frontage into a business block and to encourage a good deal of reconstruction on the side streets; but under existing conditions these changes will take place slowly. The extent, however, to which the market for dwellings all over the city is improving, is shown by the cir¬ cumstances that whereas as a rule there has been a decrease of about 100 per cent, almost every week, recently, in the sales of this kind of property compared to the corresponding week last year, this decrease very nearly disappears in the figures for the past week. In this instance only four houses of this ciiass have been reported as sold since our last issue, less than the number sold during the corresponding period of 1903. For the rest there is the usual increase in the total number of trans¬ actions; but it should be noticed that this is rather less con¬ spicuous than usual in the flats. On the other hand, it is even more conspicuous as regards the vacant lots. THERE are many rumors that Governor Odell proposes to make an effort to restore the apparently waning popu¬ larity of his party in this State by proposing a measure of home rule—one comprehensive enough to include not only local excise regulation, but also the regulation of local service companies of all kinds. If the rumor proves tc be true, it will do credit to the Governor's good sense; and he has so consistently stood for home'rule in everything except excise matters, that doubt¬ less he is willing—even if he fails, in carrying through his purpose. Of course no home rule proposal can be discussed until its details are known, but there is one aspect of the mat¬ ter which, in the light of the public reports, is worth some attention. It is proposed, so the newspapers say, to confer these additional powers on the Boards of Supervisors of the several localities. The board in this city corresponding to the Board of Supervisors in the other counties is the Board of Aldermen; so that apparently the intention is to confer these additional powers on that body. It is much to be hoped, how¬ ever, that such is not the case. The Board of Aldermen is not the body upon which should be bestowed such a grave increase of responsibility. It has always proved itself to be either in¬ efficient and corrupt in its relations with public utility com¬ panies of all kinds, and for that reason large powers were taken away from it after the scandal in connection with the Broadway street railway franchise. Under the revised charter an attempt was made to rehabilitate the Board by enlarging its functions once more, but its behavior in case of the Pennsylvania tunnel franchise and the Portchester road, shows that it is as incapable as ever of acting in such matters from disinterested public spirited motives. It is not to the Board of Alder¬ men that the additional powers should be gi-anted, but to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which is the real govern¬ ing board of the city, and in which the public have full confidence. AT its meeting on Monday last, the Board of Education re¬ elected the present Superintendent of School Buildings, Mr. Charles B. J. Snyder, for another term of six years. Ordi¬ narily such an election would mean but little to the building trades, but in the ease of Mr. Snyder it has a very distinct significance. Before his administration began, the offlce was aptly described by the title, Superintendent of School Buildings —now rather inadequate, as "School Architect." or something of that sort would be much more accurate. Formerly, indeed, the Superintendent was scarcely more than what would now be called a chief inspector. As far as design was concerned, or¬ dinary packing-boxes were the only style admitted, of which the curious may see an example in Public School 77, at Eighty- sixth Street and First Avenue, the last production of his prede¬ cessor, and as unsuitable internally as it is hideous externally. A public school was then a distinct detriment to the value of surrounding property, a blot and a nuisance in a neighborhood. What a different character has been imparted by Mr. Snyder's skillful designs may be seen in any one of the new schools which are continually being opened, a good example of which is Public School 1G5, in One Hundred and Ninenteenth Street, be¬ tween Second and Third Avenues. In the outlying districts, where land is not closely built up, a new school now forms a nucleus around which buildings spring up as if by magic, A not¬ able instance of this is at One Hundred and Seventy-third Street and Third Avenue, and another at the Jerome Avenue School, both in the Bronx. In each of these cases apartment houses and stores have quickly surrounded a school building, which was planted in the midst of fields. Nowadays, like the railroad, the school must precede, rather than follow, the growth of popula¬ tion. We congratulate the Board of Education upon its good fortune in securing and retaining the services of so capable an architect. IT is a distinct relief to hear, as has been announced this week, that all points of disagreement between the Housesmlths' Union and Local Union No. 2 of the International Association of Structural Iron Workers have been settled, and that four local unions will be formed in this neighborhood, each of which will receive a charter from the Internationa! Association. The news is not as important as it would have been several months ago, for under existing circumstances the fangs of Local Union No. 2 have been very effectually drawn. Circumstances, however, have a way of changing, and the time might have come when a disaffected minority of iron-workers could have caused a great deal of trouble. President Buchanan stated recently to a repre¬ sentative of the Record and Guide that until some agreement was reached, the local union would feel justified in waging a guerilla warfare which, even if innocuous at present, might be serious at another time. Consequently it is distinctly reas-