Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-04-13
DESK ROOM IN NEW YORK.
What it Costs to do n Snug Little Business
in Broadway.


New York Letter to Troy Times.
If there be anything poetic in a man,
trouble will bring it into exercise. The
most afflicted of all the Scriptural
writer's is the most poetic. Reasoning
in this way, we might imagine the rent
payers of this city to be richly endowed
with the divine afflatus, for certainly
they have trouble enough. Here, for
instance, is Rushton, late of the Astor
House corner, who has hung his sign
there so long that it seemed like the
last rose of summer" now pulls it down,
and sings farewell song of departure.
For thirty-six years Rushton has been
on that corner. When the Astor House
was completed, and when these stores
were dear at 81 500 year, this man had
the temerity to undertake such a rent,
and what was still more remarkable, he
succeeded in paying it. The Astor was,
when finished, rented for a moderate
sum. Coleman e. Stetson paid $4,000
for the hotel, and the eight stores in the
basement brought enough to make the
sum $4,000. The entire building cost
half million, and the old man was
wont to say that real estate investment
Mt six per cent. was better than stocks
at seven. But it did not remain at six
per cent. As business increased rents
advanced also, and in a few years the
basement stores brought $1,000 apiece,
which, although a large sum for a room
only fifteen feet by thirty. was readily
obtained. But still rents advanced, and
as the retailers were driven out, a class
of tenants appeared who could afford to
meet the exorbitant demand. These
were the railway ticket agents, and the
introduction of the desk system en-
abled him to share the enormous rent.
A half dozen of these agents could each
have desk in one apartment, and an
immense amount of business was done
in this line by these associated dealers.
Each year the landlord advanced his
claims. Old John Jacob was hard
enough, but his son William was harder
on his old tenant.
Farewell. old friend we now must part,
A grasping landlord bids me sever
The ties that bound thee to my heart;
But can forget thee? NeverP
Rushton, like all true bards, has the
prophetic gift, which he indicates by the
remark, "the old familiar corner may
fall to decay" Here is slight mistake.
The corner will not decay. A brave
firm has dared even the 50, 500 rent,
and if they fail to meet it, it is just the
spot for a business which requires little
space for great operations. 1t will ac-
commodate twelve desks, each worth
5000 a year. The departing Rushton
may, like Jacob of old, have twelve an
cestors, but, at any rate, n new feature
in rents is this very desk system.
Speaking of this system, 1 am re-
minded of the changes which have oc-
Cured in Taylor's Hotel. In 1851 the
lot, which is 40x160 feet, was sold at
auction, and beng a corner lot on
Broadway, brought $62, 800. Taylor put
up his hotel and restaurant, and made
a great deal of money. The entire cost
of the hotel Including the lot) could
not have been over $125,OOO, but such
was the advance in Broadway prop
erty that in 1868 he sold it to the
Merchants Express Company for $780,
900, and the purchasers could have
taken $4,000 for their bargain. AS this
company is now consolidated with the
American Express, the business is re-
moved, and the building is rented for
offices. The first floor is divided into
desk accommodations, each of which is
by a neat iron railing. These
desks rent at prices ranging from 800
to s., 500 per year, the latter being de-
manded for that nearest the front door.