Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 88, no. 2280: November 25, 1911

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Vol. LXXXVIII NOVEMBER 25, 1911 No. 2280 A DISTINCTIVE RESIDENCE NEIGHBORHOOD Grameicy Park Has Retained Its Atmosphere of Exclusiveness and Its Restriction Has Successfully Withstood the Assaults of Trade. CONTRASTS between the old and the nevv are constantly met with in New York, but nowhere are the past and pres¬ ent so sharply defined as in Gramercy Park and the adjacent territory. Since the time this city began to :be prominent as a resi¬ dential and commercial center, single in¬ dividuals or groups of residents have en¬ deavored to set a'Side various portions of the city for purely residential purposes, and have hedged these sections about with apparently hnpregnable restrictions. One by one these localities have changed their character, and the strength of trade en¬ croachments has been sufRcient to destroy the carefully imposed restrictions, until to-day one finds but very few spots in the entire city where ti'ade lias gained no foothold. Gramercy Park and the streets which face it form a most notable excep¬ tion to the general rule, and provide at least one spot where trade has never entered, and in all likelihood never will, at least for very many years. It is true that business lias almost entirely engulfed the surrounding territory, and that on In lS.j2, Oscar S, Stebbins purchased the entire front facing the easterly side of the park and ibuilt dwellings on the site, which were either leased or sold. Gradu¬ ally tile entire park frontage was built up, and the residential character of the square extended to the adjacent territory. Irving place, which reached from 14th street to the parlv, was almost solidly built up with dwellings. The two blocks of Lexington avenue, from 21st to 23d streets, were similarly improved, and the side streets, .east to Third avenue and west to Fourih avenue, were improved with dwellings occupied largely by sub¬ stantial residents of good social standing. This district came more or less to be a center not only for fashionable society, but also for those engaged in artistic pur¬ suits. Painters, musicians and writers settled here" in large numbers and gave a local color to the district dift'erent from that to be found in any other portion of the city this far downtown, with the pos¬ sible exception of the Washington sciuare locality. Even after trade had claimed common consent of all the owners, and as the newer buildings represent a'n outlay of a large capita! and are sure to endure for many years, the chance of the restrictions being removed is very remote. The general cliaracter of Gramercy Park is such as to attract clubs of a high order, and as club houses with living rooms are also classed as places of resi¬ dence, the restriction has not been oper¬ ative against them- Several of the larger residences have been leased or sold to organizations, and such associations as the Players, the National Arts Club and the Columbia and Princeton Clubs are to he found on the square to-day. Great luercascs in LantI Values. Property values on the parlc have in¬ creased enormously since the days of its first establishment. The price paid for the easterly block front, with a frontage of nearly 1S4 feet, was $44,000 in 18o2. At present the average value of inside lots is about -'tIOo.OOO, and the corners are wortli much more. One might think that the CLUB HOUSE ROW ON GRAMERCY PAKK- THE OLDEST APARTMENT AND ONE OF THE NE'WEST, the Park buildings of a different nature have been erected, but the four sides of the iS'Ciuare are still used for residential purposes in tlie broad sense of the word, and it seems entirely improbable that this condition will ibe changed for generations to come. The restriction imposed on this locality differs in character from those found elsewhere, and its nature is such that the replacing of private dwellings with apartment houses, which has oc¬ curred quite frequently in the last few years, instead of weakening the restri-c- tion, has but served to increase its strength- The brains and foresight of a single man were sufficient to accomplish this result. In ISoI, Samuel B. Ruggles, an eminent lawj'er, financier and .scholar, acquired by purchase the entire tract, whicii was known at that time as the Gramercy Farm. His desire was to make of this the most exclusive residential portion of the city, and in order to add to its at¬ tractiveness he set aside Gramercy Square to be used as a private park for the bene¬ fit of the sixty surrounding lots, the fu¬ ture owners of which were to be bound, under the terms of their deeds, to keep the park in repair at an annua! cost not to exceed $600, The park was surround¬ ed by a fence, and each property owner was entitled to admittance, but the gen¬ eral public was excluded from its use ex¬ cept on the invitation of a property owner. The lots themselves -were perpetually re¬ stricted against use for other than resi¬ dential purposes. the greater part of the side streets con-, tinguous to the park and the remaining dwellings had lost tlieir private character and been turned into boarding houses, they were populated largely by people of this class, and the genteel atmosphere of education and good breeding persisted to such a marked degree that many pre¬ ferred to remain there and enjoy the so¬ ciety rather than move to better quarters in newer parts of tbe cily. N» Reistriellou Against A|iartnieuts. The restriction in Gramercy Park, un¬ like those in many other places, was aimed only against business and did not covenant againss^t many-family houses. As early as 18,)^ the property on the southeasterly corner oC Gramercy Park East and 2nth street was used as a family hotel, and was successively known as Sanderson's Famib' Hotel and the Gram¬ ercy Park House. In 1SS3 the site was rebuilt with an apartment house, which was one of the first to be constructed and managed along co-operative lines, A few years later another apartment house was erected on the south side of the park, and within the last few years several others have been added, nearly all of them be¬ ing of tbe co-operative order. The oc¬ cupants of these houses have all the park privileges of the land owners, and in many cases being part owners of the property are as much intei^ested in ex¬ cluding business as are the holders of private dwellings. The restriction against business could only be removed by the restriction against business would very naturally operate to check increases in value, 'but this, apparently, has not been the case, as the demand for apartment and club house sites has (been sufficient to oftset the lack of trade. The more recent apartment hou'ses to be built on the park have been of an ex¬ tremely high order and cater onlv to a flrst-class tenancy. The Gramercy Park Club House, adjoining the old Gramercy Holel, is one of the most striking struc¬ tures of its kind, and the 'building just completed on the site of the former Poor mansion is another example of excellent apartment house construction. Suites of various sizes may be obtained in these houses, and the rentals average about thirty dollars a room. There has been in the past a strong demand for good apart¬ ments in this part of town, and there is no reason to think that this will not con¬ tinue. In time, other Park dwellings will be abandoned by their owners and their places taken by apartment houses, ibut the general tone of the locality is likely to exist for very many years to come. The list of those who inhabit the square and those who have lived there in the past, reads like a page Irom the Social Register, and many of the city's most prominent business men have had their homes there at various times- Among noted New Yorkers who have >had their residences on the square at one time or another are Horace Greeley, Stuyvesant Fish, Samuel J. Tilden, James W. Pin¬ chot, John Bigelow, Cyrus W. Fiekl and