Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 78, no. 2020: December 1, 1906

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December i, igo6 RECORD AND GUIDE 899 ^...... ESTABUSHED"^ J^CHSiyN 1368. DeAtiI) id REA.L ElSTAJE.BuiLDlflG ^HcKlTEeTin^E.KoUSQlOLD DEGORATlotJ, Bifsn/Ess Af4) Themes of GeiJer^V IKterjsi . PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Published eVery Saturday Communications ahould bo addresaod to C. W, SWEET Downtown Oilice: 14-16 Vesey Street, New York Teleiihoiie, Cortlandt 31,57 Uptown Olfice: 1 1-13 East 24lh Street, New York, Telephone, 4430 Mndlson Sijuaro "Entered at the Tost Offl-e. al Nrir Tor'.'. X. Y., n.i second-class mattei:" Vol. LXXVIIl DECEMBER 1, 1906. No. 2020 INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. AdvertlBing Section. Pag© Page Cement ..................xxiii Law .........................xl Consulting Engineera .........x Lumber..................xxvil Clay Products..............xxll Machinerr ..................Iv Contractora and Builders ......v Metal Work...............xvlil Electrical Interests ..........vlit Quick Job Directory ........xxvil Fireproofing ..................It Real Estate ................xiii Granite ...................xxlv Roofers & Rooflng Mater'Is.,,xxvi Heating...................xvll Slone .....................xxiv Iron and Steel ................xx Wood Products ...........xxviii THERE has been little or no change in the character of action of the stock market this week as compared with last week. The fundamentals continue overwhelmingly bnllish, hut there is no speculation and insignificant activity. Prices continue to sway to and fro within a small radius, un¬ satisfactory alike to hull and bear. Money still dominates the situation by the uncertainty and the fear of what it may do or what may be done with it next, A somewhat favorable feature is the Bank of England statement, issued on Thurs¬ day, which shows a large increase of reserve and bullion. The proportion of the Bank's reserve to liability is now up¬ wards of forty-four per cent., as compared with forty per cent. last week, though the rate of discount remains un¬ changed at 6 per cent. It is estimated that the dividend and interest payments to be disbursed by the principal railroad industrial and mining companies In the country during De¬ cember wil] be over seventy-eight million dollars, as com¬ pared with fifty-five millions in the corresponding month of last year, or an increase of twenty-three millions. Mining companies especially show a large increase, the total of divi¬ dends and payments being $7,700,000 against $2,300,000 in the corresponding month of last year. Among heavy indus¬ trial payments are dividends of nearly ten millions to stock¬ holders by the Standard Oil Co. and four millions by the American Tobacco Co. Railroad dividends are two millions, and luterest payments four millions larger. The State of New York, judging by the computation of the Census Bureau, Is in no danger of going Into liquidation. Its wealth, com¬ prising farms and other real estate, factories, railroads, etc., is 515,000,000,000, which, per capita, wouid give to every man, woman and child $2,000, as compared with the national average of $1,S20. The Empire State is thus certainly living up to its designation. THANKSGIVING in the reai estate market was on the whole both interesting and normal, interesting in that almost every section of the borough was represented in the trading, and normal in the number of transactions. An un¬ usual number of old buildings in the twenties were bought with the intention of altering them for business purposes, the Fifth avenue section contributed its quota to the business of the week, and Thirty-fourth street continued active, thorgh the centre of trading has moved to the west side of Broad¬ way, where there is some evidence of a skilful campaign of concentration. It would be strange indeed if the activity which has distinguished this street, but which has been most¬ ly confined to the east side of Broadway, should not extend to the west side, as circumstances are combining to make West Thirty-fourth street one of the most popular shopping centers of the city. Not only will tlie Pennsylvania shopping crowds come that way, hut the shopping traffic from the West ■Shore Railroad, the Ontario & Western, and the growing .north Bergen towns, all pour via the Forty-second street fer- jies and the connecting surface lines, into West Thirty- fourth street. In a word, the first point at which most of the trade from the Jersey shore and the Hudson River Val¬ ley will strike Broadway will be at West Thirty-fourth street. Staten Island property was noticeably prominent in the business of the week, and it is now only a question of cheaper transportation ere the world will hear of a Staten Island boom. In building operations the intense cold of the midweek signalized the natural end of the out-door building season, and from henceforth masonry and work de¬ pendent upon it wili be carried on only by special dispensa¬ tion of the weather. Thanksgiving week finds the building material market in a condition very favorable to contractors, so far, as most supplies are concerned. A matter of high im¬ portance in building trades is the consolidation of six of the largest companies manufacturing Portland cement, inasmuch as the new corporation will be well-nigh able to control the business. The eighty-eight plants in existence are owned by seventy-eight companies, fifteen of which produce over two- thirds of the whole American Portland cement output, and seven of these produced over half. While there can be no monopoly of raw material, It can be pointed out with this illustration before the country that the concentration of in¬ terests in the Industry will probably become more marked from year to year. ■p IVB gigantic office buildings are now in course of con- -'■ struction in the district to the west of Broadway and south of Vesey street—the Coal and Iron Building in West street; the building of the United States Express Co.; the Broadway-Cortlandt Building, in Cortlandt street, and the two new ofiiee buildings over the trolley terminal in Church street. This list, moreover, does not include the new struc¬ tures which are being erected on the west side of Broadway, in the same district, or a minor improvement, such as the new offices of the Evening Post on Vesey street. This is a tremendous amount of new construction for a district which, only a few years ago, was being almost completely neglected. It is noticeable also that the new buildings are both more than usually high and more than usually big. None of them is less than twenty stories high, and several run consider¬ ably over that very respectable number of stories. Then, too, they have been planned with more than usual care for the purpose of offering convenient accommodations and good light to their tenants. The floor space of every one of them is larger than that of any but the largest buildings which have been erected to the east of Broadway, and this fact adapts them particularly to the needs of big corporations. The building of the express company faces on Trinity Church, and obtains on that side unusually good light. The buildiug in West street has, of course, as much light as there is, and it Is not surrounded by any other tall structures. The Broad' way-Cortlandt Building is erected on comparatively narrow streets; but its light Is protected by these streets on two sides, and by the ownership of the Broadway corner on part of a third side; while the light of its upper stories will be perfectly guarded, because tbese stories will be placed in a tower. These towers are the best device as yet invented to obtain good light, and an economical plan for the upper floors of a lofty office building, Tbe success of these various struc¬ tures will be watched with the utmost Interest, for they all of them represent the application of the best contemporary real estate and building knowledge to the problem of the economy of the sky-scraper. ■pROTESTS against the Increase of municipal salaries are ■I- frequent, but the present standard of compensation for expert services of any kind is very much higher in private than in public employment, A judge, an engineer, a certified accountant, a skilful bookkeeper, an auditor or a superin¬ tendent, can get more from a private employer than in any public office. The highest standard of efficiency is not to be attained either in corporations or municipalities, any more than In private lines of business, by the payment of small salaries, and usually it is fovind that those cities which make the most liberal provision for their employees are the best served, whereas those which make small or inadequate pro¬ vision do not attract capable employees. Buffalo, for in¬ stance, with a population of 350,000, expends in salaries 53,500,000 a year, while New Orleans, with almost the same population, expends in salaries only ?1,800,000, and Buffalo gets the best return. Denver, Detroit, and Cleveland make liberal allowances for those in their municipal employ. Mem¬ phis, Tenn., expends in a year for salaries less than $600,000; Paterson, ,N. J., less than $700,000; while Lowell, Mass., a smaller «lty than either, expends $900,000. The volume of