Daily Republican., 1880-03-01


III A period Of great activity in building
In Wilmington has beyond doubt sci
: in, which before many weeks Of this
= month 90 by, promises to develop into
!, something like boom. Many build
!. ings went up last year, but the opera
: tions the coming Spring and Summer
! will far exceed what was done then.
! 30 general is the demand for houses,
and so many people rush to either rent
or purchase, and are unable to be con-
, vaniently accommodated that the ef-
forts of capitalists to meet that need
will be very extensive.
The revival Of business here has
brought to town many country people
who wish to take up their residences
in the city. Real estate agents have
been unable TO furnish all inquirers
with houses, and even with an advance
in rents in from ten to twenty per
: cent. no difficulty has been met with in
securing good tenants for all the houses
in which respectable families would
come to reside. Whether business
continues brisk or becomes stagnant 1t
is not likely that the building opera
ations will be greatly effected, and it
is generally thought that there will be
ample work to keep all the carpenters
and mechanics in town busy. Already
the contractors are apprehending
scarcity Of carpenters and bricklayers,
and no able bodied man has difficulty
in procuring employment.
A remarkable advance in the cost OF
building material has taken place, and
it is caused by the enormous demand
for such things, and the scarcity Of
labor employed in their production.
Glass has advanced about seventy-fvs
per cent. iron over hundred per cent,
and lumber at least twenty five, while
bricks are much higher and the price
stiffsning each day. This, however,
will not peroeptibly decrease the
amount of building, but 1t will of course
proportionately increase the price Of
property.
The REPUBLICAN, interviewed num-
Der Of contractors and others interest
cd in building on Saturday, and in
nearly every case 1t was stated that
several hundred dwellings of modest
dimensions would go up during the
next three months in the sections of
town that are now not thickly settled.
1t was at the same time remarked by |
several that the number of houses
built would be regulated by the real
estate market.
On this point Mr.. Joseph L. Carpen.
ter said to the reporter "Those who
now contemplate building, or the ma
jority OF them at least, will put up the
houses more for speculation than in
vestment, and the amount of building
will be governed by the demand from
purchasers. If the dwellings put up
within tho next two months fnd ready
sale yop may expect the city to
grow considerably before the closing OF
the ye.r." Mr.. Carpenter will inaugu-
rate his building operations this year
by erecting twelve houses. How many
more he will put up he does not now
know.
A sure indication of the wonderful
increase in building is the record ofl
permits granted by the City Surveyor
Conwell, during February. They are
thirty-three in number, while during
the month of February, 1879, only four
permits were issued, and but one was {
for house, the others being for fixing
fence lines, etc. By consulting this it
may be seen that Mr.. Robert McCaul-
ley will erect row of twelve houses, at
Eleventh and Poplar streets. These
houses have already been commenced.
Mr.. Gideon b. Guyer has taken out i
permits for five houses on Poplar street, I
between Ninth and Tenth, and for one !
on Eleventh street near Poplar; while 8
Councilman Peter B. Heusted, has se- 4
cured permission to buili three OH the |
southside of Reed street, west of Mon. 8
roe, and Mr.. Willard T. Poole, two on a
Fifth street near Adams. r
In the neighborhood where Mr.. Guy 8
er and Mr.. McCaulley are intending to l.
build, about seventy houses went up /
last year, and the number will much i
exceed one hundred this year, The r
ten houses which Mr.McCaulley put up p
last summer on Poplar street near r
Eleventh, have all been sold with the y
exception Of one or two. The land on v
which twenty two houses in this SEQ q
lion are to go up was lately purchased a
)f the Christiana improvement compa- O
ny. II is reported that fifteen houses II
will be built at Ninth and Spruce g.
streets, and other parties than those O
contemplating building them are nego- s,
iating for building lots in the same 10 O
,ality. N
The Jes5up & Moore Company, &C.
'ording to current report, are about
% erect ninety new houses near the .
pulp works. Another report says that v
hey will do nothing of the kind, but "
hat 1t is quite likely that other par ="
les will. Parties are contemplating Id
he issuing of contracts for the building p
VI twenty houses in the northern part oi
If the city. IT
Messrs. McMenamin & McCloskey g.
lave sold their row OF six houses lately IL
Quilt on Seventh street, between Lom- rt
bard and Pine for $4,000 each, and OF
hey are about to erect another row in IL
Eighth street upon line with those sc
ust disposed Of.
The building record for the past
month, already alluded to, is as fol- -,
ows: P'
G. +. Rudolph, one house on the III III
orth side OF Fourth street, west of ", W.
larket street. W.
Pusey, Scott & Co., addition to mo. II, o.
'cco mandatory at Third and Madi- A.
III streets. As
Gotlieb Reise, one house on Fifth 10 10
ear Dupont street. i,o,
G. b. Guyer, one house on Eleventh II"
rect near Pnnlar