The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-11-09
VOL. XXVII---NO. II.

nnclVllly turns tail upon tue IcH.lihhs htue
tenths Of that dignifed thoroughfare. The
municipality, however, in raising the struc
ture, and givingtt its present altitude, is ac-
Quilted Of any unmannerly design. The
short. sighted eyes Of the town councillors OF
these times were not in the habit of looking
further than their noses and, accordingly,
seeing only the little village which lay within
their view, did not look far enough into tn'
lurity TO catch glance Mt the great city
within ours.
Besides the City Hall, there is no other
completed government building IN Broad.
way. There is, however, in progress OF
construction, court. house OF marble, which,
| if ever finished, will be al imposing affair,
though it should have presented its front,
instead Of one of its ends, as it does, to the
great street.
Private enterprise has fortunately more
than made up for all the short comings OF
! the municipal government, md beanliied
Broadway with long rows OF imposing strrc
lures. There are churches, theatres, banks,
hotels, warehouses, and shops, OF every va
riety of style and mat erial, all of which have
been built at the cost OF private individuals
This cost, moreover, has been something
enormous, beyond, it is believed, that OF
any buildings for similar purposes IN Lon
don, Paris, or any other part OF the world.
With the large and rapid increase OF the
population of New York, which in 1880
counted only two hundred and fifty thousand
| inhabitants. and now counts a million, and
with the great increase of its commerce and
| trade, the Importance of Broadway, com
merce and trade, the Importance of Broad
| way, which is the chief thoroughiare OF the
| city, has proportonately augmented. The
| prices of choice building sites have reached
| height which would have appeared mar.
velous to our New York fathers, and will
| be hardly believed by our London and Par.
| sian contemporaries.
Lots on Broadway bought, scarcely two
hundred years ago, from the native Indian,
for Il handful of wampum, or string OF
beads from hard. headed nutchmcu and
| prudent Engishmcu, in colonial times, for u
| score or two Of pounds; and from sharp
| Yankees, in our own days, for lew thou
sand doIars,--arc now worth half II million
or more. The proprietor of the New York
Herald paid for a lot about fifty feet in width,
| aud hundred in length the sum of $50,
| 900, of which amount $3.50, 900 were paid to
| Barnum, the celebrated Snowman, for the
lease lie held, and raised upon it structure
of white marble, which is said to have cost
at least S3O0,00O. The piece OF ground
next TO the Herald building, one hundred
feet in length and fifty six feet i'll width, WAS
purchased by New York Insurance Com
| pauy FOR $500, 900, and upon it they arc cou
structiug an edfcc which will cost $500, 600.
A thin slice Of land, only four fec! in width
and "a hundred feet in length, lately brought
the large sum Of $4,000. Tho leaee-marh
! it, the lease only--of another Broadway lot
was but a few days since sold for S2o0,000
although within the last teu years the same
| lease had exchanged hands at the compare
| lively Insignificant price OF S25,0o0. mer
chant built warehouse which, with the
ground, cost him St0D, 900; its value is now
! estimated at $500 600 a bookseller bought,
| some tcu years ago, the Society Library
building in Broadway for s,l50,0oo, and a
few mouths siuco sold The lot, after the
! building was burned down, for 100000 -
| The purchasers are raisug upon it 3 struc.
turc which is 10 cost willion.
| Rcuts have, of course, become proper
tiouately high, and fifty Or even sixty thou.
sand dollars is no UNCOMMON price for u
years hire Tor Broadway store, Tue wr'
| ter knows two young orphan girls who in
hcrltcd three Broadway stores, from which
| they derive yearly income of Que hundred
| thousand dollars.
Many of the shops and warehouses, or
stores, as they are called in the United
| States, are as slightly rs such structures can
be made. Some Of them are built of II
marble of as pure white as that of Car
rara, bewu from the quarries OF Westchester,
| within u convenient distance OF the city,
Where the ground is Of SO high value, it
has been necessary. Of course, to economic
space. The lots accordingly are very mar,
row, and the buildings, for the most part,
are of little width, but exceedingly deep
and lofty. Many Of them start some two
or three stories down below the ground, and
rise five, six, seven, and even eight stories
above. These subterranean compartments,
by careful construction, the skiltnl use Of
cement, and the ingenious contr:vancc Of
the sidewalks of iron and glass which root
them, are rendered as dry, light, and habit
able as the stories above ground. In fact,
much Of the most Important business of
| Broadway is carried on lar below the foot.
steps of the pedestrian and the rnmbing
wheels of cart and carriage, for these under
ground apartments often extend under the
whole street.
A fastidious taste might object to the ar.
chitectural style Of many of the Broadway
structures, which are often unnecessarily
loaded with ornament, and deficient in light.
ness and grace of proportion. For oonven-
fence and adaptation to its special purpose,
however, the modern Broadway store is un.
equalled. 1t is generally in the form of n
long parallelogram, with its stories ranging
regularly one aboye the other, and commu.
nicating by staircases at the sides. 1t is or
dinarily perfectly lighted by long windows
in front, but principally by skylights in the
ROOF. tits provided with every possible con.
venience in the way Of safety vaults, water
contrivanccs, iron ahntters, AND all the ne
oessaries for safety and use. The airitr... o.
cans have certainly n genius for what may be
called domestic architecture, the internal
construction Of shops, houses, and steam.
boats. If they have still something to learn
from the Old World, in the aesthetics of
building, they in turn have much to teach in
the practical.
1t is evident, from the long zigzag line of
the Broadway roofs, in which no two build.
ings can be seen TO rise to the same height
that there was no arbitrary project, acting in
obedience to imperial will, to houssmannizc
the republican thoroughlarc. The freedom
of the individual has, in Broadway, fully
indicated his right to do as he pleascs with
bis own. The street originally acquired
naturally this irregular character in the
course of its gradual succession of transtor-
nations from country to fashionable street,
and finally to business thoroug ifarc; 60
that, in the progress of development, there
was often seen rustic cottages and gardens
in neishborly proximity with formal and
imposing Lown-h houses and busy shops. The
younger Mathews, OH visiting New York
! after Ion. absence, was asked by proud
citizen, eager to provoke compliment, what