Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 93, no. 2396: Articles]: February 14, 1914

Text version:

REAL , ESTATE AND NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 14, 1914 piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiBlii^ .....:;........liaiasjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiB^^^^ I BILLBOARD ORDINANCE NOT RETROACTIVE Backyard Fences Hereafter Erected to Be Limited to Seven Feet in Height, Billboards to Ten Feet—No Signs Will Be Allowed Opposite Public Buildings. iMIIIIllllllilllllllllllB^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ laiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii THE income sometimes derived from vacant lots through renting the fences for billboards will be lessened should Alderman Curran's ordinance pro¬ hibiting billboards more than ten feet high pass the board and obtain the May¬ or's signature. By the terms of the meas¬ ure all ten-foot billboards must have openings at intervals and must be built of fireproof materials. This latter provision will cause much reconstruction, which of course the billboard firms will have to pay for, if they decide to continue the use of the medium. Ordinary fences less than seven feet high are left unregulated, but all ten-foot fences, whether used as billboards or not, must be built fireproof. Any skysign or billboard that injures the value of adjacent real estate, as many unquestionably do, or presents an ob¬ stacle to the use of fire apparatus, is pro¬ hibited under the ordinance. The ordinance, which is not retroac¬ tive, will prohibit billboards from being is not an unheard of annual rental for an owner to exact for the privilege of put¬ ting a double-deck billboard around his lot or a huge electric skysign on top of his building. Billboard Rental Rates. Bill-posting and advertising companies guard with great secrecy from the public the sums they pay in any particular case, in order that the owners of other choice locations may not know too much, but it is a fact that at least one enterprising concern pays as high as twenty thousand dollars' rental in more than one case. Ten thousand dollars is the annual rental paid in a number of instances. There is no average price for billboard space, but in a general way it is known that the best locations are considered to be those where the most people pass. Thus, Riverside Drive is rated higher than upper Fifth avenue, and Broadway in the neighborhood of 42d street highest of all. If you see a vacant lot in a high class neighborhood with double-decker billboards on two sides, the owner is get- but no open-work section (which every fence over seven feet high must have) shall be covered. Limit for Roof Signs. A structure having a tight or closed surface erected upon or above a roof shall not exceed ten feet in height or forty feet in length. Structures not having a tight or closed surface -may be erected to the height of twenty feet above the roof. A further allowance is made if a space of six feet, is left be¬ tween the sign and the roof for the fire¬ men. The spaces in the structure must not be less than three feet wide or more than three feet apart. No "structure" of the sort referred to may be erected on the roof of any tene¬ ment house, hotel or other dwelling, except upon a '\yholly detached piivate dwelling, or except that a hotel shall be permitted to have such a structure upon its roof when the same is used to ident¬ ify or advertise the hotel itself only. No sign, billboard, biilletin or ad¬ vertisement of any description may be BIILBOARUS ON UPPER FIFTH AVENUE. OPPOSITE CENTRAL PARK. hereafter erected within 350 feet of any land within the jurisdiction of the Park^ Department, and by the same law no billboard will be permitted on or near any parkway or drive within the juris¬ diction of the department, or on any street where the board will be opposite any schoolhouse, church or public build¬ ing. And nowhere without the consent of all property owners within two hun¬ dred feet and a permit from the Building Bureau. Income from Billboards. Large sums are in some cases derived from the sale of billboard privileges by real estate owners. High competition among the bill-posting and advertising companies for prominent locations at which to erect billboards or skysigns has served to raise the toll. Not so many years ago tickets to the "show" was all the owner asked, if the bill-poster would keep his walk clear of snow and ice in winter, but no'wadays the billboard ad¬ vertising business has become so con¬ siderable that ten thousand dollars a year ting about one thousand dollars a year from the advertising company, which helps considerably to pay his taxes. But for that he would give some architect a commission to build him a private resi¬ dence on the site, or else an apartment house as an income prodijcer. The billboard companies intend to op¬ pose to the utmost the enactment of the ordinance, and have already consulted ex-Chief Croker in respect to the alleged fire-danger from billboards,. At the pres¬ ent time they have a case in court against the Superintendent of Buildings to see_ if they must compl>; with his order to build fireproof boards in certain cases. Citations from the Ordinance. The ordinance specifies that no fence exceeding seven feet in height shall be built without open sections in its surface sufficient to give a view of the premises. If within the fire-limits, it must be con¬ structed of slats or other open-work, or else constructed entirely of incombus¬ tible material, except that paper posters may be pasted over the "solid surface", maintaihed across any doorway, window or opening in the wall of any building. No structure subject to regulation may be maintained upon the roof of any building bthei" than a fireproof building. No structure Subject to regulation shall at any point exceed seven feet in height above the ground, if erected upon the ground, and no "such structure" shall be erected upon a roof unless capable of sustaining a wind . pressure of forty pounds a square foot. The restrictions .in the ordinance do not apply to walls of masonry, as stone, brick, marble, terra cotta and concrete. Must Keep Inside of Building Lines. No structure for advertising purposes shall be erected outside of the building lines of any street or public-place, except signs required by law or lawfullv erected for public purposes. Exceptions are also made for shop signs, and for signs re¬ lating-directly £ind solely to the premises, for contractors' signs in building opera;^ tions, and for the signs of transit lines. Within sixty days after the adoption of the ordinance every ownet bf a ^tructtire