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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 88, no. 2261: July 15, 1911

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m^^^ ^J^ Vol. LXXXVIII JULY 15, 1911 No. 2261 EVOLUTION OF A FASHIONABLE SHOPPING STREET. Fifth Avenue's Rise From a Country Road to One of the World's Foremost Retail Trade Centers Is a Matter k Hardly More Than a Generation—High-Priced Sites. THE evolution'o£ Fifth avenue from a counlry road to one of the world's foremost retail shopping thoroughfares, is a matter of hardly more than a genera¬ tion. Originally devoted exclusively to res¬ idences, the avenue has to-day not a single block from 1-ith to 50th street that is not given over almost wholly to mer¬ cantile uses, while heyond 50th .street, as far north as 5S)th street, few blocks are entirely unoccupied by trade. Wlien the avenue was planned in ISOi the only north and south Ihoroughfare then existing between Bloomingdale road (now Broadway), and the Eastern Post road, was the Middle Road, wliich ran from a point which is now Fourtli avenue and 29th street, northwesterly through has been due mainly to the rapid building up of Broadway and 23d street. Within a few years some apartment houses have been "built south of lith street and re¬ cently a large business building has been projected on the site of one of the old mansions there, but modern improve- menis are rarely encountered and there is almost no demand for property. The average price for single inside lots is ifOO,- 000, and a fair price for corners would be $125,000. Close to 14th street, prop¬ erty would probably run about 10% above these prices. Between 14l.h and 23d street the ave¬ nue has been almost entirely rebuilt. Un¬ like the section immediately north of 23d street, this part passed in its reconstruc- obtained for their garments by virtue of their "made on Fifth Avenue" tags. So numerous have the workers become that" the idle throngs at the noon hour, loiter¬ ing on the street, have become a serious obstacle to free travel and the problem of relieving this congestion has been taken up by the merchants' associations and the city authorities. Cooperation between the (-mployers, the police and the workers themselves is somewhat bettering the con¬ ditions. The solution of this ciuestion presents a very interesting pha:se of the congestion problem which New Tork, in its rapid growth, is so often called upon to face. The self-same cause which has driven the millionaire residents to the other end of (1) LOOKING SOUTH FROM 3iST ST., 1S5S. (2) CORNER OF 23D ST., 1853. (3) CORNER OF 23D ST., 1911. (4) LOOKING NORTH FROM 24TH ST., 1911. IVIurray Hill to Lowes lane, now 42d street. The lane joined the Bloomingdale road with the Post road and ran directly through the old Burr farm. Under the street plan 0," 1S07 the Middle Road was abolished and a nortli and south avenue was laid out from Lowes lane to Wash¬ ington Square. Fifth avenue sites had but little value, except just nortli of Washington Square, until about the middle of the century. It was only when Cen¬ tral Park was planned that the residen¬ tial possibilities of the avenue rose above the commonplace. The transformation of a rough tract of land into a city kept park, assured for residences on its bor¬ ders permanent light and air and a good outlook. BELOW 14th STREET. The avenue, between Washington Square and 14th street was the first to be built up with residences and it has been the last to change. Its land values have increased less than those of any other section, south of 96th street. This tion directly from a private house neigh¬ borhood to a wholesale mercantile center, the stage of small retail shops whicli usually intervenes' being largely missing in this district. The first of the really modern loft buildings were erected here and the piano manufacturers made this their headquarters for many years. This part of the avenue had its boom in \alues some years ago, and since then trading has been very quiet due mainly lo the decided change in tenancy, which has recently taken place. "MADE ON FIFTH AVENUE." One does not ordinarily think of Fifth avenue as a manufacturing street, but such it has become in tnis part, in recent years. Many East Side clothing makers, who have been legislated out of their old haunts by new sanitary laws, have lo¬ cated in the big loft buildings and have turned them into factories. The higher rents which they have been obliged to pay have been more than offset by the better working quarters and the higher prices the street now seriously affects the very people that drove them there. Mean¬ while, the effect has been to check any rise in values, and property has failed to show an increase in the last three years.- As this class of tenantry has apparently come to stay, and as wholesale merchants, especially in the silk and woolen trades, have moved to Fourth avenue, this prop¬ erty is not looked upon with favor by the operators, and therefore no enhance¬ ment of values is to be expected. Single lots are worth about $0,000 a front foot, and corner lots about $175,000 a piece. Few parcels are to be had and no buyer would be interested in any-but large space. NORTH OF MADISON SQUARE. The changes in the street have been spectacular in the extreme. Once the avenue from 26th to 34th street was lined with handsome brownstone mansions and less pretentious red brlcli dwellings, all having an air of wealth and eminent re¬ spectability. To-day, the only landmark remaining intact is the church at the