Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-04-24
A PROMINENT MANSIONS FATE.
The GOeIct House to be Replaced by "a
Great Bachelor Flat.


Within few days the bare. gloomy,
Old-fashiOned mansion on the northeast
corner of Broadway and Nineteenth streets
will disappear, and i'm its stead viii rise
massive bachelor apartment house. The
new building is to have a frontage Of fifty
five feet on Broadway, running back one
hundred feet on Nineteenth street. 1t will
be eight stories high, and the facades are
to be of brick and Belleville stone. The
first floor will be arranged for stores, but
the upper floors will be cut up in suites, a1-
fOrding accommodation for whole colony
of bachelors. The estimated cost of the
proposed building is placed at $780, 600,
though it may probably run far above that
figure before the elaborate interior finish
is completed. The house which is to be
Fazed has been one OF the landmarks OF
the metropolis for the past forty years, and
it was made the more conspicuous by the
singular habits and surroundings of its
owner, old ''Incle Peter Goelet, who
died there in 1873.
Uncle Peter lived in the house in sOli-
tary comfort for many long years, and
gathered about him curious assemblage
of fowls and beasts. The pcacOcks, the
phcasants, the doves and the poultry
strutted and pccked about in the yard i'm
the presence of the thousands of passers-
by each day. and Il solitary COW stood be-
hind the high iron fence and daily gazed
at the hurly-burly procession of Broad
way.
out from the front door of the mansion
each morning came the tall, spare form of
the queer old bachelor; his grim face re-
laXed a little as he looked at his animal
friends, for of these he was passIonatcly
fond, and then with bent shoulders and
sharp visage he hurried about all day,
looking after rents and leases and mort
cages, while i'll the basement Office OF
the house he each evening spent some
time posting his books, standing erect at
high desk, and keeping his accounts in
fashion which included every painstakinS
fancy. He had but one hobby, and, as an
amateur locksmith, lie had fOrges and
lathes and Vises, and turned out curious
and useless devices. Love laughs at
locksmlths. it is said, but it is certain
that this particular locksmith proved the
rule by its reverse, and laughed at love
He was not niser by any means, bus
had been so drilled down to his business
affairs that he could do nothing but col
lect the returns from his property and re-
invest.
Uncle Peter grew in the later years Of
his life to be pessimist of kthe strongest
tVpe. He refused 10 see any cheerful
prospect ahead, even at the time when the
rise in real estate was adding million TO
his wealth each year. lie played Jubal
Cain in his basement at night, and talked
bear prO@nOsticatiOns to every business
man he could meet during the day. 1t
was said Of him that in ten minutes con-
yersatiOn he could make a rich man feel
poor and 4 poor man feel hungry. Yet he
was good citizen. fulfilled every contract
to the letter, and expected everybody else
to do the same. lie eschewed politics,
and nobody but the rent payers were wei
come to the old mansion, where stork on
one leg stood guard.