The evening world., 1888-08-29
NAMES OF NEW YORK FLATS.
Family Pride ana Romantic Hsthetioisn
Seem &c Dictate Their Choice.

-"s
Seem to Dictate Their Choice.
The nomenclature Of fats in New York
City affords On interesting field for the study
Of motives. "A rose by any other name
would smell as sweet" but the fact stands
that If the rose were called the skunk-blossom
1t would not seem half SO desirable an object
to thousands.
Why Smytho for good old prosaic Smith ?
Why. too. the aristocratic yearning for
double LOADED names, such as j. Remington
Brown, A. Withersby Jones, B. Popinjay
Titmarsh z Even q deadlier phase of name,
fever has stricken those who hyphenated
family names. as the Smith Browns. the
Padelford- Buckeyes, and other twin-like
unions of two where where one would fill the
bill.
There is a great deal in q name to the
minds of most people. and this IS proved by
looking at the names of the flats and big
Office buildings of the town. The two mo-
tiyes which seem to be the dominant ones
that have determined the baptism OF these
structures are family pride and romantic
9stbeticism.
When o rich man builds q big building he
likes it to be a monument to his own name:
Thus nearly all the Office buildings are called
by family names. We have the Astor, the
Bennett, the Boreel, the Aldrich, the Drexel,
the Howard, the Lawrence, the Duncan, the
Mills, the Morse. the Mortimer. the Parmly.
the Post, the Schermerhorn, the Smith (of
course ,, the Stewart, the Vanderbilt, the
Welles, and q dozen other smaller ones.
There are a few exceptions to this rule, such
as Temple Court, Eugene Kelly's building,
the Orient, and one or two more.
There are about our hundred big flats, or
apartment-houses, in the city. About one
eighth of these bear the family name OF the
owner. The greater part of the rest are
called by some English. name, whether a
family name or that of a place. A few have
such v~aulting appellations as the Hoffman,
Arms, the Marlborough Arms, about the
apex of Anglican nomenclature. Inc SAINTS
are drawn on, too, and you have st. Angus
tine. st. Catharine, st. George, St. Germalne.
| st. James, three st. Johns. st. Monica, two
st. Nicholases and st. Thomas.
The other extreme 10 the Marlborough
| Arms grandiose stlltedness is the bare severity
of no other name than the street number of
the house, as, for instance, so Madison
avenue, and III Madison avenue.
Among the romantic names may be men
Bell, the Cedarhurst, the Chlcora. the Crys-
tai, the Elenora, the Elisa, the Four Seasons,
the Evelyn, the Galaxy, the Helene, the
jeanette, the Kenilworth, the Lorena, the
Madeline. the Marguerite, the Oakhurst. the
Orion. the Perfection. the Wave-Crest and so
on. Most of them. it will be seen, are names
of women, and it may be that in many in
stances the structure has been called after
some member of the owners family.
A few, here and there, have American or
Indian names. Thus, we find the Dakota,
the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Boston, the
Broadway, three or four Columbus, the
Empire City, the Hudson, the Idaho, the
Irvington, the Maine, the Maryland, the
Massasoit, the NIAGARA, the New Hampshire,
the Palisade. the Rhode Island, the River.
side, the Riveryiew, the Saratoga, the Seneca,
the Tacoma, the Virginia, the Washington
three of them) and the Wyoming.
The Navarro flats, built by n Spaniard, in a
Moorish style of architecture, most appro-
priately bear Spanish names, such as the
Barcelona, the Gordova, the Tolosa, the Ora
NADIA, and so on. Not all the ~erectors OF
these towering flats have selected the names
by which they are known with propriety.
The more the pity, because a majestic house
should bear q fitting name.