New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-10


much larger in area than the lower stories, and can
20 divided INTO greater number of rooms. Then
'ho uehand Tor upper floors thus divided into small
looiS or suites of rooms is greater than for ground
noorS' winch are seldom subdivided but rented to
panAing OF insurance companies. There are many
nunured ,imes as many lawyers, brokers, etc, who
want suites and single rooms ND aloft as there are
largo companies who want an entire ground floor.
Hence demand-and the advantage in area gained
as the walls grow thin above--nakes the top floors
almost as valuable as the lower ones
Lahdlords and tenants unite in DECLARING the
increasing popularity of upper floors for all classes
not depending on transient custom. They are Light
easy OF access; above the din of the noisy street
cool, with fresh and uncOntaminated breezes from
river and bay; and nobody ascends to them eroept
on business. The last is not the least of the great
conVeniences, say brokers, lawyers and their
clerks In proof of the popularity of the upper
foors one may find such bankers and brokers As :
NJ Mills on the third floor of a Broadway building
and such active and busy lawyers as Vanderpoel,
Green and Cunning on the sixth floor of Fort Sher-
man."
by the way, tins year has witnessed sudden turn
OF the tide of lawyers which had been steadily set
nng norhward toward the Court House: and now
the tendency Is toward the south and Wall-st This
Is particularly true of the class OF lawyers who sell
do appear IN court and then only in cases of great
magnitude. Those most known in the courts still
HE them TO their immediate vicinity But Wall-st
is the fountain-head of litigation. from which
spring all the great disputes which enrich lawyers
with fat rctainers and referees and receivers with
fatter fees, and The specializing litigants who are in
the secrets of the case with enormous gains which
ever way the verdict or decision goes
VIEWS OF AN AGENT
Is the demand downtown solely for Offices p a
real estate agent was asked.
"Oh. solely. There hasn't tradesman come into
the region in years. except possibly fashionable
tailor or halter who has started a branch store
there. You know that within the last two years all
financial and mining California has migrated to
New-lCrk We have brought from san Francisco
every one OF the big ones. and the little ones have
naturally followed; and now the centre of the rail
way, financial and mining Western Continent is
very close TO Trinity Church or the Stock Ex-
change. The demand comes from the railway com.
panies OF the whole country to each of whom
New-lork Office or agency is necessary; from the
thousand and one mining compares, fictitious or
otherwise, who must have an Office even if they
have no mine; the mnng-stock brokers; the banks
seeking better quarters than they formerly occu-
ped the stock brokers. of course and the LAWYERS
who live off the litgations engendered in stock
speculation and railway reorganization or railway
wrecling az the may be. No trade in the
ordinary sense of the word the sale and delivery of
so much merchandise by truck or portcr--is ever
done in the region of the tall buildings around this
peculiar hub of the financial world. You occasion
ally see n pair of stout young clerks. followed
closely by an armed detective. Juggling a heavy tin
box through the streets but this fancy sort of gilt
edged portcragc is simply transfer of a few million
OF bonds from one house 10 another, or from some
safe deposit company to the vaults Of the stock
Exchange. The coupes of brokers blockade Wall-st.
and lower Broadway. not trucks and portcrs carts"
" Is there not danger that the numerous buildings
now going up will over supply the demand for
offices !r
No. Look at the Directory posted at the
doors of any of the great Office buildings and You
viii find the great majority of rooms therein are let
slngly ii is only once in a while that You see one
firm name painted opposite more than one number
on the Directory. showing that some big firm has
taken a whole suite of rooms. Then 90 TO any one
OF these single rooms, selected random. and the
chances are that the original lessee has covered his
rent by letting out desk room to others in no way
otherwise connected with him. will venture" said
this agent, Judging solely from my past experience
that the Kelly. Vanderbilt. Mills Tribune addition
and Murray buildings viii be let throughout before
completion; ana that the interior arrangement of
the rooms-that is the subdivision of the floors into
onice,-will be dictated by the leases agreed upon
beforehand rather than be arranged according to
the architects views
Effect or ELEVATED ROADS.
1t il generally agreed that the elevated railways
have had most TO do with building up the lower
part of the city i'm Ibis peculiar way as the hive of
railway, insurance. banking and legal busy bees
The Metropolitans southern terminus is there:
and at no other point, except possibly Park Row
and Cortlandt-St, does the road closely enough
approach Broadway, the great artery to this fast
heating heart of business. The East Side roads
have a convenient stat.on-the only ouc-at Uano-
ver-squae; and from this and from the Recior-st
station of the Metropolitan road there daily de
sccnd Sundays excepted the great magnates Of
finance ami speculation in this country. These
roads all that is necessary just now to accommo-
date the traffic" of the street" and the tall
buildings The only freight they have to carry.is
human. Some dav underground roads may be nee
esSary 10 accommodate the trade and traffic of the
Swamp" in leather, the river districts with their
various imports, the sugar" the grocery" the
dry goods the "produce' sections or quarters
but the present roads will amply suffice 10 carry to
aud from the region Of speculation " the busy
throng which restlessy haunts it,
While speaking of the effect of the elevated rail
ways on building in lower New-Yorb il is perhaps |
proper TO add two other points of interest. These
roads equally influence budng in the upper part |
of the city, but the construction of residences OILY
and those chiefly in the form of great apartment |
houses for the very class of people who nhabt by
day the o,ice-bnildings downtown. And this great
activity In building both uptown and down town
is most observable the stations of these ele- |
waited roads. Not only is it confined to these dis
tricts of the city but the building boom exists
only in Newlorl< and in portions of Brooklyn. |
Jersey City and Hobollcn indeed have not felt the
" boom" nor indeed any part of New-Jersey. This |
would seem TO point to the conclusion that the ele-
waited roads have partly stopped the migration 10
Jersey. In Brooklyn there are many improvements |
hut, la