The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1897-12-03
GREAT LANDLORDS.
ASToR PROPERTY IN NEW YORK
WORTH NEARLY oo,ooo,ooo

nent of This Vast Property-Tenants
Must Face the Music-Not Very Pro-
szressive and Wait For Others to Lead.
We are all inclined to regard the
great American landlord with disfavor.
He is associated in our minds with the
idea of high rents, demanded the instant
they are due, with unfulilled promises
as to repairs and little improvements
jhat would add so much to our comfort
and with many other small annoyances
that make him the man terrible, the
man unfaithful, the man hostile.
Through the obscurity of these preju-
aices it is doubtful if many of us see
him clearly or judge him fairly. Ac-
sording as we are near moving day or
not and as we secure repairs we are apt
TO regard him as very disagreeable
person, indeed, with few of the higher
human attributes CT else the reverse,
and in the meantime we pay rent and
tolerate him because he continues to ex-
list and the law protects him.
Perhaps the best example of the
American landlord is Astor, or rather
the Astors. The interests of this famous
New York family are so numerous and
SO extensive, SO widely distributed and
SO varied in character, that as landlords
they hold sway over all classes of So
piety, occupying every kind of struc-
t1rn Tho, Zoo +lo A stove, a NO %x-,,;oo1 ~,
that no sentimsnt enters into the man
Agenent of their properties, and after
all. this is true Of the management of
most real estate in this city.
AS landlords the Astors demand the
market rate for rents, and they demand
1t the first Of every month or quarter,
as the case may be. Sooner than make
material concessions in the amount to
be paid on lease the Astors will allow
b house to remain vacant, not one sea-
son Or year only, but two, three or
more years, and if then a good tenant
is not at hand the building will be al
tered, provided the condition of the
neighborhood requires it. 1t is appar-
snt, therefore, that the Astors get the
figures they ask. These are not the high
est paid, for the estates take no risks,
but they are well up to the average.
No one possibly requires more assur-
ance of responsibility in tenants than
the Astors. References as to character
and financial standing must be forth
coming if you would be an Astor tenant,
and they must be more than paper ref
Brences, for they will be investigated
carefully. If you are unknown or can
not show who you are and what you
have got, and that you are fairly GER
tain Of being able to meet the rent for
the term of the lease, do not try to rent
an Aston house. You will be refused
As a matter Of fact, the Astor rent
rolls, if one could secure copies of them,
would be an excellent commercial di-
rectory, far more reliable within the
limited sphere, perhaps, than anything
ever attempted in this city. Ninety-five
per cent of the persons whose names are
IN them pay the rent they agreed to pay
IN the first Of every month. Those on
the rolls who do not disappear when
their leases are up or before if possible
The Astors are not hard landlords, but
they are very businesslike, and the dis
possess proceeding is resorted to when
ever occasion demands.
: Though of Dutch stock the Astors
have no feeling of friendliness for the
liquor traffic. The saloon keeper is not
wanted, even at the high rates he offers,
and neither is any other sort of tenant
who is likely to clash with the police
From time to time, of course, persons
not in favor with the authorities creep
into Astor properties, but when discov-
ared they are ousted as quickly and as
quietly as possible.
So far as improvements go, the estates
are behind many of the other large
landlords and host of the smaller ones.
Up to a very recent period the manage
ment of the family possessions was ex-
seedingly unprogressive, and it is hard
ly up to what might be expected of it
yet. 1t is urged i'll defense of this policy
that various sections of the city in
which Aston holdings are large are at
present undergoing a change and that
alterations appropriate in character will
be made later. That is the trouble with
the Astors. They are always backward
in aiding change. Their conservatism
holds them i'll check, while smaller and
weaker men take the risk, and often
they stand in the way of progress by
presenting immense blocks of property
directly in the line of great improve
ments If changes are effected all around
them, they will alter also, but they are
always the last to do SO.
In the matter of individual repairs,
decorations and the like they are not
liberal, but they have the reputation of
doing what they promise Usually resi-
dences are put in order before the new
tenant goes in, and then the occupant
has got to be very careful. 1t is not ex-
pected by the estates that much money
will be spent upon the house except at
long intervals.
The Astors hold few tenements and
Cats directly, though they own the
ground upon which hundreds of such