Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 74, no. 1905: September 17, 1904

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September 17, 1904. RECORD AND GUIDE 569^ DB/opD 10 REA.L Estate.BuiLdijIg AR.cKrTEcmmE.HouseHoid DEQ(Bfjmi(, Busiitss Alio Themes OF GEitoifl Ij^ter^st. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS Published eVerg •Saturday Communications should be addressed, to C. W. SWEET, 14 = 16 Vesey Street, New Yorll J. T. LINDSET, Business Miinager Telephone, Cortlandt 3X57 "Entered at ihe Post Office at New York. N. Y.. os second-class mallei-." Vol. LXXIV. September 17, 1904. No. I'JUS THE stock market lias shov«-n unmistakable signs during the past week of having been worked up into an over¬ wrought condition. The transactions were very large; the changes in prices considerable and dependent chiefly upon ' speculative conditions, and there was every evidence of manipu¬ lation on a large scale. It has looked very much as if the speculators who have been responsible for the advance have heen getting rid of their stocks as fast as they could, and that as soon as the operation was compleLed tbe stock market would he deprived of the support, which has been chiefly responsible for the recent rise in prices. On the other hand there has been evidence, also, of a more general interest in stocK exchange speculation than has heen "apparent for some time. On tbe whole, however, we cannot believe that the existing market can run its course much further witlioiit bringing about a sharp .reaction. Bankers have every reason to discourage a top-heavy speculative movement, which would simply prepare the way for another collapse. It was all verv well to run prices up to a point which was justified by the earning power of railroad and industrial corporations; but there is no excuse for running them up any further. Business prospects are better it is true; but they are not so much better as to warrant the belief tbat the railroads or the industrials will earn any more money than they bave been doing. On the contrary tbe general conditions are of a kind to act as a drag rpon business activity and pros¬ pects. Commodities, which enter into general consumption, like wheat and cotton, are high, and wages are high also. The for¬ eign trade of tne country is not likely to be profitable or large. Bankers cannot depend upon the same large foreign credits, and this will have its reaction upon the domestic money market. In short it is time for conservatism, for slow aud wise read¬ justments; and a revival of unwholesome speciilaUon in securi¬ ties can only be attended by eventual disaster. ALMOST every successive week shows a seasonable increase of real estate business. During tbe past six days, for in¬ stance, the total numher of sales reported of Manhattan and Bronx property came to over 110, against a total of about 80 for the preceding week, and a total of only 61 for the corresponding week last year. These sales contain no news of any particular importance, because all such news will naturally be eitber with¬ held as long as the lockout lasts. But they do indicate a nor¬ mal and growing" demand for real property in the city. The number of dwellings sold each week is increasing, the majority of them being situated on the West Side, and this is, perhaps, the most encouraging sign of all. It is encouraging because the demaud for private dwellings is the best test of tbe popular Interest in the real estate market and of the popular power of purchasing real estate. Furthermore, a good demand for pri¬ vate dwelliugs throughout the coming winter and spring will encourage builders to begin the erection of such buildings on Washington Heights, which will be a good thing for everybody connected wltn the real estate and building material markets. Private dwellings erected and sold in large numbers means more money for brokers, builders and material dealers, than do flats. The general conditions certainly favor a revived interest in real estate. The low prices for standard stocks and bonds which prevailed until recently diminished the general demand for real estate in several different ways. In the flrst place, it tempted people who had any money to invest to buy the cheap and exGellent securities which wer'3 available. Then it prevented a,dpider of securities who might want to buy a house from sell¬ ing,'Jiecause he would not he able to obtain a price correspond- ■ Ing to the investment value of bis stocks. Now, however, stocks are-much less tempting to buy than they were, and they are mucb'^^^">re tempting to sell—a fact .which should have a . good sf^'\ 5ub-i-| ^j^g demand for real estate by individual in- TJf OW long it does taire to erect an important public building ■^ -^ in New York City! The new Library and the Custom House have already been under construction for more than flve years, and are still several years away from completion. As to the new Court House, it takes as long for the city or the county to decide what it wants to do as it would for a private cor¬ poration to construct a building of the same cost. The com¬ mission constituted by the Legislature for the purpose ot select¬ ing a site for the Court House and superintending the construc¬ tion, have been unable to agree even upon the site, and are going to tbo Legislature for a change in the terms of the enabling act. The law under which they were constituted forbade them to go north of Franklin Street to flnd a site for the new Court House, and they wish to have this limit removed. They want to bo able to select a site on Union or Washinston Squares; and ap¬ parently they would have no object in seeking to abolish the re¬ striction in the present law unless they knew that they could agree upon a site further uptown. Consequently it looks as if they had practically decided in favor of a location on one of .the two squares mentioned above. It remains to be seen whether the influence of the big legal firms whose ofiices must necessarily remain in the flnancial district, will be sufficient to defeat this project; .but certain it is that if the site on Chambers Street is not large enough, it would be better to seek a good site further uptown than to be content with a poor one in tbe district be¬ tween Center Street and Broadway. The sites uptown would unquestionably have every architectural advantage; and they would have the additional advantage of increasing the beauty and interest of parts of the city which are in danger of being passed by in the march of improvement. In a city like New York where there is such intense concentration of activity in certain small areas, coupled with comparative dullness else¬ where, it is good municipal policy to distribute the public ■buildings, which add to tbe attractiveness to the business of the sections in which they are situated, and so increase the number of really interesting and lively districts. Lawyers, who were able to move, could get better ofBces for less reni uptown than they can downtown, while the vacancy they would leave in the vicinity of the existing Court House, would soon be fllled up. Of course the Chamibers Street site must eventually be improved with a public building; but it is better adapted to the needs of a municipal office building than to those of a county court house. vesto : denials, 'v T N spite of the fact that there is much to criticize in the way ^ that Mayor McClellan's administration has insisted upon drawing new plans for the Manhattan Bridge, the Municipal Art Commission has adopted the wiser course in approving the wire cable and plans and designs drawn by the present Bridge De¬ partment and Messrs. CarrSre & Hastings. It should have been enough for the Commission that the new designs were as they are architecturally acceptable. The plans and designs prepared by Messrs. Lindenthal & Hornbostel were preferable; and it is too bad that they were rejected; but the present Administration wanted wire cables, aud it was bound to get them. Moreover, in¬ asmuch as its successor is likely to be of the same opinion, the refusal of the Art Commission to accept the new plans and de¬ signs would have meant that the Bridge would be indefinitely delayed in its construction; and such a delay would have been the worst of all evils that could happen in relation to it. The Manhattan Bridge will be au extremely useful structure, which is necessary to the growth of Brooklyn and which should be erected as soon as possible. The Municipal Art Commission, in, case it had accepted the advice of the Municipal Art Society and appointed an engineering commission to pass upon the adequacy of the engineering pl