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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 87, no. 2245: March 25, 1911

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March 25, 1911. RECORD AND GUIDE 529 ^ ESTABUSHED^fc\ARCK£l'-i^I868. DeVoteD to F^EsTATE.BuiLDqfe %a^rrEeTUi^E,Ho\JsnfoiiiDecch^timJ. BtJsit^Ess AfiD Themes of Ge]^rsL IHte^est^ PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET Published EVcry Saturday By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO. President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer. F. W, DODGE Vice-Pres. Sc Genl. Mgr,, H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T, MILLER Nos. 11 to 15 East 34th Street, New Tork City (Telephone. Madison Square, 4430 to 4433.) "Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter." Copyrighteii, 1911, by The Eeeord & Guide Co. Vol, LXXXVI. MARCH 25, 1911. No. 22 4 5 THE IMPORTANCE OF FIFTY-SEVENTH STREET. THERE are good reasons for believing that oTtli street may become eventually the most important crosstown street devoted to business ptirposes in tbe Borougb of Man¬ hattan. In certain respects it is better situated for the transaction ot retail business under future conditions of tbe distribution of population tlian is 42d, 34th, or 23d street. In the flrst place, it is or will be much more directly con¬ nected with Queens than is any street to the south with Brooklyn. The population of Queens is increasing by leaps and bounds. Before mauy years are over there will be hun¬ dreds of thousands of people resident in that borough who will be able to reach the neighborhood of 57th street in Manhattan in ten or fifteen minutes. Another condition of etiual future importance is the fact that 57th street Is the first wide crosstown street south of Central Park. This ad¬ vantage will be of small effect as long as the center of busi¬ ness remains farther south, but as business pushes up along Madison, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues, the beneflts of a location in Fifty-seventh street will gradually be appreciated. It will be extremely convenient for the dense population liv¬ ing to the west, east and north of the Park to do their shop¬ ping ou the flrst wide street to the south of the Park. Re¬ tail shops of any size will not push north of Fifty-ninth street for an indefinite period, because the Park would interfere. It will spread out south of the line of Fifty-ninth street, and in the long run the western eud of the retail district should be most advantageously situated, particularly considering its accessibility from Queens. The crosstow^n street which would have had the best chance of becoming a prosperous busi¬ ness highway is, of course, Fifty-ninth street, but the nar¬ rowness of that street, while it will not prevent business development, will very much restrict aud hinder it. The property owners cm Fifty-ninth street killed it as a com¬ petitor of Fifty-seventh street when during ex-Mayor Low's administration they blocked the plans for widening it. Until it is widened, narrowness and the consequeait congestion of traffic will prevent it from becoming a flrst-class retail street. Tn the course of time. Fifty-seventh street, also, will proba' bly have a crosstown surface railroad, aud in case the Publif Service Commission is wise, an express station,on one of the new subways will be situated in the same vicinity. All this will consume a great many years. Twenty years may well elapse before Fifty-seventh street obtains all the business to which it is entitled by its situation, but its destiny is plaimly marked, A builder is foolish to erect a fire-proof residential building of any kind on the street. It is ear-marked for business—even though the process of transition is likely, for many reasons, to be very slow. OVER FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS was the sum loaned out on real estate in the four principal boroughs of New York City last year. Of this vast total $365,Sij7,20S was placed on Manhattan-Bronx prop¬ erty, $107,070,325 on Brooklyn property, and $36,900,000 on Queens real estate. The total is $509,800,000. Of the $365,867,000 loaned in Manhattan-Bronx, $178,000,000 was from banks, title and insurance companies. These figures were compiled from the Record and Guide Reports. Enor¬ mous as the totals are, they are smaller than the totals for the previous year, being $8,000,000 less in the case of Man- hattan-Broiix, So far this year the mortgage loans are $1,640,000 ahead of last year's record. The vast sum of five hundred million dollars which New York City puts out every year on real estate mortgages exceeds the entire national debt of many countries. It exceeds the valuation of all the real estate in many of the States. BUILDING MATERIAL SHOWS. THE plan of holding au exhibition of building materials, methods and devices in Madison Square Garden is an ex¬ tremely good one, and it is very much to be hoped that the success of the experiment will justify its repetition. From every point of view its effect will be both to strengthen those firms who stand for new and improved materials, methods and devices, and to popularize their products. No people in the world have so much reason to be interested Jn good building as the American people. They are paying for an unprecedented amouut of new construction, and almost every Americau citizen who makes a little money becomes interest¬ ed in building, either as an investor or as a house-owner. At the same time, it is diflicult to popularize the best prevail¬ ing methods, materials and devices. Architectural and build¬ ing publications perform valuable service in this respect, but in many instances ocular demonstration is necessary in order to convince people of the advantages of certain improved methods or devices. Every manufacturer or builder who has a really good idea to offer to the public should and will seize upon the opportunity offered of placing his wares or ser¬ vices before the public. Thus the exhibition from its very nature will become an effective educational influence in favor of higher standards and improved methods. An ex¬ hibitor will have to prove his claim to public patronage in competition with other exhibitors, and i! his claims are weak he will soon have an unpleasant demonstration of the fact. Special efforts should be made to induce the builders and owners of small suburban houses throughout the whole of the metropolitan district to attend the exhibition and to tha't end it should be well advertised and this class of patronage should be attracted by a large number of peculiarly interest¬ ing special exhibits. Finally, it is very much to be hoped that the co-operation of good architects also can be secured. The interest of the good architect and the manufacturer of im¬ proved building materials or devices are identical. It is that good architect—the man whose reputation gives him a real influence with his clients—who is the largest purchaser of good materials and the largest user of sound methods, and anything which strengthens the position of the one also strengthens the position of the other. In the case of the architectural exhibit, the management should make special efforts to secure models as well as plans, sketches and photographs. An uninformed mau can understand and read the value of a model very much quicker than he can a sketch or a plan. KEEP up the interest of young men in real estate. Once every youug man's high ambition was to be a prop¬ erty owner. But now there are other pleasures and invest¬ ments which also appeal to him, and they are making every conscious effort to attract him. The building interests par¬ ticularly should not let their claims go by default. TWO PUBLIC NECESSITIES. LOCAL patriotism, though it may not manifest itself so constantly .in New York City as in some small places, has been found upou occasion to be profound. Un¬ der proper direction and auspices herculean works have been accomplished for the general good by informal co-operation. The vast Interstate Park and the two "New Theatres" are very recent instances. The leading men of New York have their own way of doing things, but their undertakings are always handsomely rounded out. At the present time there are two great things necessary to have done. One is to insure the perpetuity of Madison Square Garden as a place for large public exhibitions. New York City could not get along without such an arena. The purposes to which the Garden has been devoted in the last few years have been most admirable. National expositions of higb character are being held there, one after another in rapid succession. In the future these great "shows" wlU become of still higher im¬ portance, taking on more and more an educational value. To the Horse Shows in recent years have been added Automobile, Motor Boat, Real Estate aud Building Material exhibitions as regular features, and all of an elevating nature. Such expositions must be permitted to