New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-30


bought in 1851 for $4,000 being about $50 per
square foot. Later however. the Mutual paid
the Government for this same property under
the impetus Of downtown improvements the
sum Of S55o0O0 THE present value Of this
property" said an officer Of the company IS
about five times it's original cost to the present
owners. upward of S3,IOO.OW." The site OF !
the new Commercial Gable Company's building |
which is now beirg erected in Broad-st.. ana
lying directly south Of the Stock Exchange, cost
from 500 to $50 per square foot at an average
price Matthew Wilkes paid in April, ISL for
5Os square feet situated the southwest cor
ner Of Wall and Broad SITS. the sum Of SlbS.ho,
or at the rate of $3.50 40 per square foot. This
special piece needed 10 round out plot TOT
building purposes. and the smallness or IL was
a rather curious instance Of the economic notion
TO realty holding that pervaded the old New
Amsterdam settlement. The incident Is given
merely to show to what exalted ideas men may
obtain under the stress of a neighbor. and the
price is the highest that has even been paid IN
th- history of New-York real estate transac-
tions.
The American Surety Company in November
1893 purchased the site which its gigantic
building now rests. embracing 11ffi square
| feet for the sum Of S261 81 per square foot
| The site is only short distance from the Stock
| Exchange being situated at Broadway and
| Pine-st Another example is afforded by
| the Hanover National Bank. which paid SIS
| per square foot for the southwest corner Of Pine
and Nassau sts and the Hugh Lamb syndicate
| paid Sli7 per square foot for the southwest
| corner of Nassau and Liberty within the
| last two years
Henry Ward Beecher once described New
| York at a public dinner as a mighty colossus
whose head rested on the waterfront at the
| Battery. whose chest at Central Park. and
| whose legs extended northward so far that the
| toes would soon be ndistinguishable because
| there was the danger Of their being lost in the
| woods Of the Adirondacks. Mr.. Beecters figure
If speech might have been "A little exaggerated
but the real estate dealer has been following the
lines of that spreading figure until he seems to
he almost bewildered by the possibility Of the
realization 81 the semi-propheti" Illustration
| geographically New-York is so long and mar
row that it is difficult to give a correct idea of
It's real merits To-day two-thirds Of the city
actually lies above the Harlem River The island
itself is a mere fragment Of the Typographical
distribution Of the city proper. and there are
great advantages that will ultimately accrue to
the northern wards. in what has always been
known as thu Annexed District. result OF
the openirg Of the Harlem ship Canal. Notable
among the improvements on the mainland shore
~ the Harlem River arr the splendid sites that
have been buli, W for pierheads and factory
ground by the Aston estate through the reclama-
ton OF the marsh land lying just south OF the
Macombs Dam Bridge and the one-hundred-
and-fftv-ffth-st viaduct It is proposed. ac-
cordine 10 the statement Of forward real estate
man 10 rent water-fronts along what Is eventu-
allv 10 be the Harlem River Canal. and the
property will be devoted 70 storage warehouses
as we'll as Wharfage FOR vessels facilities Tor
iron founders. lumber dealers. brick makers
and the heads Of Other industries in that neigh
| borhood l. X believed that in the course 81 I'VE
wears the Harlem River will be narrowed con-
sderably from its pres mi width. that its banks
| will be studded with manufactures. and that the
| commercial values Of privileges along that
waterfront viii largely increase. This terri
| torv which promises much for the future.
carries its promise because of the a. yet unfui-
| filled declaration that tn Harlem ship Canal
| shall eventually become a factor in the Hudson
| River trade from the north. where the great
| fleets Of canalboats enter and are towed 10 New
| York There IS likewise another circumstance Of
| improvement that has long been contended for by
| a limited contingent in the trans-Harlem as
! trct II is the project 10 cut cana! connecting
rho Fast River and the Harlem, River by way Of
| %
been gone through with the scheme Is as yet Il
thing in the air although it is likely that during
The present session Of Congress bill will he
offered calling for an appropriations for the I'M
rrovement 1t contains many possibilities which
real estate men are watching with studious at
,antion one thn. is as certain death ami
,axes and that is thai some method of receiving
| the overflow from the congested ground on Man
| haitian Island will have 10 he arranged for
pretty soon.
BY CHAPTER 6l3 Of the Laws Of 1S1;. Manhat-
| tan Island was enlarged by the addition Of the
towns u kingsbrdge West Farms and Morris
| ania WestC hester County, which were annexed as
| The Twenty third and Twenty-fourth Wards, 10
take effect January !. 1894. The census Of 1850.
| including tn territory embraced within these
annexed wards. made thu population Of New
York CITY I 2O629? The Federal census Of 1890
placed the population at l.Jlj,3Ol. while the p0-
lice census If 1870 gave the city l.s5looo popu
! lation. By these comparisons it will he notice
able that the population. year by year is rap
| idly Increasing Or. Tracy Register Of Health.
| estimated the population Of New-York City on
| Noyen1ber l. 1886 at .9I4 90 This last esti-
| mate includes 1000 population of that part OF
| Westchester County annexed since the census
| Of 1890 The figures are accurate enough 70
| show that Manhattan Island will soon contain
| 1000 O0U Of people. one Of the chief reasons for
| this growth is to be found largely In the intro
| duction Of better facilities for transit between
| the upper portions Of the city and downtown
| offices and places Of business. The elevated
railway system has proved "A great boon to the
| thousands Of men VINO formerly were carried out
10 the suburbs Of the city by the old surface
| tramways that were for years the only means OF
| transit and the old resident still recalls with a
half smile the abortive effort Of one Of the tram
| way companies to balk the elevated improve
| ment by the construction and Introduction or
! double-deck street car 1t was expected ny the
aid ~ this clumsy institution successfully 10 en-
| ioin the new corporation from covering the
| streets but TO- and behold. when the two-decker
| was run out for the first time ii passed beneath