Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-21
RgTILDTNG HOUSES.


Profitable and Useful Investment.
No one is prouder, as a citizen, in the
magnificent business blocks that have been
erected in the central portions of our city,
Of which the Porter building, the Spring
brook block and the Maxwell House are
fair specimens, than we are. They are
SPLENDID and substantial exhibitions OF ar
chitectural design and elegant finish, and
form no unimportant part III the general
makeup of our beautiful city. Nor does
anv one admire with more appreciative
eve than we the palatial mansions, with
their stately columns and entrances, and
beautiful yards adorned with rare plants,
shrubbery and evergreen and statuary, and
all the adornments that opulence and good
taste can suggest, that front upon our
streets. For these are part and parcel OF
| the pride of the city, and are the results Of
energy. enterprise and success in honorable
pursaits-monuments to the most solid
men O. Nashville and Of Tennessee. We
! like 70 see these extensive business blocks
and elegant residences erected, adorned and
beautifed.
But there is another class of improve
ments. the erection Of which is imperatively
| demanded by the growth Of our city and
rapidly increasing population. We refer to
| small cottage houses, suited to the wants OF
the laborsr and his family and the operative
| of limited means. Such buildings are very
much needed, and their erection would go
| farther to increase the population, and I'M
proye the means Of living on thepart Of use
| flll class Of citizens who need such improve
mont, than any species OF enterprise we could
| suggest. There are beautiful building lots
/ 1 Il .1frT aud in
the suburbs that could be improved and
| dotted over with neat white cottages OF
| from three to five rooms, at comparatively
a trihinp cost. Every one Of these cottages
| would be In immediate demand and eagerly
sought after and occupied by honest work
| inc tenauts. The vacant lots that are the
| receptaCles of the refuse and effete matter
| of those adjacent. would not only be beau
titled and improved but homes would be
provided for hundreds who are at present
unable 20 buy and improve. Let not few
of these be built here and there, but lei
capitalists who own the lots and have the
| means. erect them by the hundred. What
an immense amount Of good could be done
hv such an inyestituIe Of means. In then
erection employment would be given &c
hundreds Of working men. The lots woulI
be improved, the city expanded and Inc
| population increased. while at the same
time the capital invested would prove more
renunerative TO those investing than j
| would in any other way in which 1t could
be applied Take a lot now idle, upoI
which tax is being paid, without any &C
| cruing income. Erect upon 1t cottag'
costing g.. 600. At an annual rent OF $50,
per year, ten per cent interest would b
derived from the investment to say moth
ing of the increased valuation as the cit,
expands and develops. At a renta
Of $500 per annum, an interest
fifteen per cent. would accrue, an
at rental of $500 per annun
an interest Of twenty per cent woul
accrue, and tins on in the same ratio
Thus il is seen that purely upon SELLS
grounds, that is upon no other conaldera
ton than that Of making money
il is to the interest Of capitalists I
dot these vacant city and suburban lot
and sloping hill-sides all over with neat
comfortable and cheap cottages and res
dences adapted to the wants and necess
ties OF the laboring men and their families
| But there are othJr considerations. Ihl
: | capital, now lying idle, beneftting nobody
!, | and the energies Of those who accumulf
, ted this capital, lying dormant, benetittin
nobody, would be applied to the most use
ful and practical and profitable purpose
and devoted 10 the infusion of life, healt
, and vigor into every department Of indu
Try and trade While making the inves
: meut more remuneTative TO themselves an
= their children than if they risked it
stocke and bonds, it would benefit the eli
and hundreds of those who do and vi
make part Of her population, more this
an appropriation in any other possible WI
J. could do.
f Then let our friends who read this,
g they sip their coffee, resolve TO unit
is their purse strings and 90 at once to bull
E. ing houses Let MS hear the saw and han
So mer and cllisel and all the appliances
the carpenter and joiner resonndiI
throughout the city for purposes Of pr
= paring houses at reasonable rates for tho
whose labor forms the prime basis of eve
vi business enterprise.