Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-11-20

lease onIy-of another Broadway lot
was but few days since sold for $780,
900, although within the last ten years
the same lease had exchanged hands
at the comparatively Insignificant price
of $25, 900. A merchant built ware
house which, with the ground, cost
him S400, 900; Its value is now estimat-
ed at SS00,000. A bookseller bought
some ten years ago, the Society Libra
~ building in Broadway for $50, 900,
and a few months since sold the lot,
after the building was burned down,
for $3.50, 600 The purchasers are rising
upon it a structure which IS to cost 8
million.
Rents have, of course, become pro
portionately high, and fifty or even
sixty thousand dollars is no uncommon
price for years hire Of a Broadway
store. The writer knows two young
orphan girls who inherited three Broad
way stores, from which they derive q
yearly income of one hundred thous-
and dollars.
Many of the shops and warehouses,
or stores, as they are called in the Uni
ted States, are as slightly as structures
can be made. Some of them are built
of marble of as pure a white as thai
of Carrara, hewn from the quarries of
Westchester, within convenient dis
tance of the city. Where the ground
is of so high a value it has been neces
sary, of course, to economic space
The lots accordingly are very narrow,
and the buildings, for the most part
are of little width, but exceedingly
deep and lofty. Many Of them star
some two or three stories down below
the ground, and rise FIVE, six, sever
and even eight stories above. These
subterranean compartments, by careful
construction, the skillful use of cemen
and the ingenious contrivsnce of th'
sidewalks of iron and glass which roo
them, are rendered as dry, light anC
hsbitable as the stories above ground
In fact, much of the most importan
business of Broadway IS carried on ia
below the footsteps of the pedestrian
and the rumbling wheels of cart ant
carriage, for these underground apart
ments often extend under the who'll
street.
A fastidious taste might object to tn
architecture style of many of tn
Broadway structures, which are oftei
unnecessarily loaded with ornament:
and deficient in lightness and grace {
proportion. For convenience and adaI
tation TO its special purpose, however
the modern Broadway store is unequal
led. 1t is generally in the form Of
long paralelogram, with-its stories rams
ing regularly one above the other, ant
communicating by staircases at tn,
side. 1t is ordinarily perfectly lighted
by long windows in front, but princi
pally by skylights in the roof. 1t
provided with every possible conve
nience in the way of safety vaults, wa
ter contrivenees, iron shutters, and a
the necessaries for safety and use. Th
Americans have certainly genius 70
what may be called domestic architeC
ture, the internal construction of shop
houses and steamboats,. If they haV
still something to learn from the Oh
World, in the aesthetic, of building
they in turn have much 10 teach /
the practical.
| Charles Dickens, when he was
New York, lived at the Chsrlesto
House (which has long since, blythe
by, given way to a great business e
tablishmentl, and never tired. it is sale
of Cooking out upon the lively Broad
way before him, and was much SUI
prised, as he said, and edited at be
holding, for the first time in his lif'
Irishmen with whole coats to thei
backs. Thsekery, too, who had moth
ing TO do when in New York but {
repeat his lectures, and had full tim
to indulge in that life of indulgen
care for which he confessed liking
declared, great traveller as he was, tina
he had never found q street so mucl
to his taste as Broadway, in which b
did not fail daily to sun himself. Broad
way, too, was always great favorit
with Irving, and especially with Hs
leck, who has, in his Fanny" give
a permanent setting to some of its ar
cient landmarks.