The sun., 1892-02-03

BuL tno case VIII Dear one more COM
s any sny fsand seS Gs pr
poses. and perhaps ms finely, as, ANY
in {he ne of VALUES snd IN
%y .s ysrn T q%Sy I'm tSsy ysa thG
HOME OFFICE BUILDING. The report alleges
q loss on this properly OF three hundred and
nye dollars. Its. book vaipe is ono mi lion
dred and ninety-iivc. and it enters the Super.
and ity thousand dollars % 10 nsiratS as s9a nsala
how opinions vary as to the value OF real es-
n ans mf NIKE a Swesn n Nw hs
York. AID draw conclusion. Take the the
value placed upon, our home Office building
side the same value Of tho Equitable Life As.
eSTanre Soe9tys home of,c. 69dnE The
nifty thousand dollars: of the Equitable home
office building three million eight hIndred
at which each property was entered In the as
sets Of its respective company december
Sowss hss SSe es 6ndn S liz
New York Life one million nine hundred and
fourteen Thousand dollars: home office Of the
forty thousand dollars. The departments s
estimate Of the value OF our nErnpcrty Is mp
fgy of He Sns OF e
little moro than nifty per cent. Of its book value
As tho gentleman who appraised our home
the value Of the Equitable's home oiiiee build.
Ing. we can hardly draw conclusion from
that bass I, Is; ts figuring from the value ras
thousand dollars. II the book value Of
!, cito these figures O. strongly bringing out
the truth OF my my suggestion conefnrninE n opi9I, q
Equitable Life ASsurance Society. and NJ no one one
would he So ahsurdly unjust to that company
estate Of seyon million Aye hundred thousand
doars or indeed any loss IT ALL from the the
as ' in tho ,I matter OF the Plaza @ Hote s ' ths
loss alleged is. after ali. perhaps n matter
good pnnthortv on Real estate state values Sis sin in
building to-day at a valuation in excess. Of its
cost. There arc many reasons why this esti-
mute would be conservative In the first place.
the real estate was purchased in 1859 and is
knows anything about the history Of real as.
tate values in New York for twenty. years viii!
agree that there has been during that period
heavy advance IN this aud all property simi-
larly situated. The building has not been al
lowed to deteriorate IN any PARTICULAR, and it
one million nine hundred and fourteen thou
sand dollars. was a very conservative figure.
HoIBnooK HALL lnow allied tho Ioscmitel, =
the facts 's srs theses In 1889 wS mado on
tion. and after the man to whom tho loan had
10 considerable SUM. but tho money loaned
him rs well he failed. and wo were Obliged to
alter orecosins was was very te more than the
amount Of the loan. The work Of completing
the structure was then placed in the hands
pen ented his own knowledge by employing an
architect and tho building WAS finished IT
n ~ maid "A on ifa nat
but for two errors. which could not have been
iloreseen and which do not Justly subject the
bad investment of money. In carrying out u
theory Of fire. proof construction. the architect
Of
Saildlnss had to be Tceo"str%eted Tor i"r SUBJ SUBJ
the. architect in cnch ease was in creating
sHeh G1ndton that dry re" spesdy destroy
in addition. the foundations 6! Ilolhrook Hall.
put in by the man who first obtained the loan.
structure had to come down. It was then re-
huilt under the supervision of Mckim. Mead &
White on the most approved lines and there
try to-day. The absolute loss to US. therefore.
was approximately the cost Of the first build
property in our annual statement at the cost or
the present ildinE and ground, Tho figures.
seven hundred twenty-nine thousand and
ance Department refused to accept: four hun
dred and eighty thousand was named instead.
findings. It is proper to add that on our pres
ent basis of rental this. property will yield.
when fully rented. n net income Of six and a
half per cent on tho value placed upon it by
the Insurance Department. and would yield a
little more than four per cent. on our valuation
sisty.six d.IarsA i do not desire I" evade fni
mttee in this matter. Tho claim OF in'alli..
Of hundreds Of millions Of dollursis one lave
never set up.
The PARIS PnopERrY.-This property was
vision OF the Chairman of our Finance Com
m!ttee. who was on tho ground Mt the time.
hs as f3 the OF the
was made with all due care. That the rental
value OF the property has since DEPRECATED is
but II the Superintendent had not only secured
an appraisal Of the value of the property as
Il Tue Of The pqs s9 "a L
chased. he could huye fully satisfied his duty
as an examiner. and at the same time could
original price paid. But no such Investigation
was made. And. as his findings seem to do us
1 sssa bot so
9 It was brought to my notice. during the
OF the French Government on his request rep
vSe Xsd s9ey % It's
difficulty. succeeded IN getting the, Credi,
y France: and sn;cieEy the reputn-
out Europe, to have valuation made Of
our property. This valuation was made
with the greatest care by two of its most com
petent and experienced inspectors, and their
bndSGs were
ferred. however. inasnnch as we could not
procure, in the limited time mt omr disposal.
nm admission from the French Government
that it's figures represented taxa Bile value only.
to reject the figures offered in this way. The
estimate, Of the inspectors exceeds the figures
OF the French Government by ono hun
dred and sixty-three thousand dollars. and
their, estimate OF its prospective value.
made by the city Of pnris. exceeds the figures
hundred and ninpty-threo thousand six hun
dred delars. AS understand it. the variation
in the Superntendent's figures from tho
probable actual value Of thIs; rroperty is
home office building Of the Equitable Life
Assurance Society should be entered IN q
schedule OF its assets at three million eight
hundred Thousand dollars. its value for IIlr-
H..