The record-union., 1898-03-06
UPPER FIFTH AVENUE.
"A MILE AND A. HALF OF MIL
90 AIREHOMEs.
An. Array Of Palaces That Chal-
& ss. lenges sthe Cities of the
Globe.

lenges sthe Cities of the
Globe.
Il Fifth avenues future-or, at least tbs
future of that part of Fifth avenue op-
posite Central Park-was a favoritt
subject for discussion in the reports
Which wise men made TO obstinate
boards of Aldermen and foolish State
Legislatures when nearly half century
ago they We're planning and laying ou1
the great pleasure ground.
In replying to the grumbling taxpayer
who so often stands in his own light
they said that the initial outlay of few
million dollars for acquiring the LAND
would be met several times over by in
creased property valuations in the
neighborhood They said that Fifth
avenue opposite the Park would be ia
ken up with expensive and beautiful res
licences and that the land would treble
and quadruple in value.
AT this time Union Square-or Union
Park, as it was then called-was the
most northerly breathing space in the
city. The acres now known as Central
Park were far out in the country, and
Vic ASN liicll w no tOuiQ sec III TIC lutQi
d vast city growing up to and around
and above it We're simply laughed at.
But the prophets were right in this
instance. Fifth avenue has realized
their expectations; much of il has gone
far beyond their most extravagant
dreams, and if all of them could come
! back and see how poor was even their
hopeful view in comparison with the
facts they would be more astounded
than We're their critics, who ridiculed
their project for a great Park in the
country with imposing avenues on either
side.
Fifth avenue, from Sixtieth to Nine
tieth streets, is to-day one of the most
striking streets in the world. 1t is a
solid mile and a half of millionaires'
residences, practically without a break,
except where a vacant spot awaits the
coming of still another Croesus to i'm
prove it.
| These palaces one passes at every step
are first Of all representative of money
money in such vast sums that one can
not appreciate it all. They are the homes
of democratic princes who have either
made their own great fortunes or con-
served those left to them by enterpris-
| ing fathers or grandfathers. Naturally
most of this money is distinctly of New
York, but millions of it represents the
sagacity of men from Chicago, from
Montana and from California, who
found the scenes of their successes
grown too small for them.
Besides mere money, this mile and a
half of splendid homes stands for social
prestige and the blue bloods of America.
1t has been a magnet that has drawn to
itself, after sleep ofsyears, both wealth
and fashion in an extraordinary meas
ure.
/ AS a whole the effect is harmonious,
though no two residences in the line are
alike and many of them are totally dis
similar.
LONG NEGLECTED.
| Perhaps thegmost. striking fact about
this Inillionah s nik sand half is that
! it remained for'so long time neglected
Two things apparently should have as
sured its success years ago. One was
that the avenue was continuation of
a thoroughfare that for years had been
known all over the world as that upon
which the residences of the fashionable
and the wealthy of New York were sit
uated, and. the other vas that it. fnonted
on a very beautiful Park almost at the
center of population.
| Central Park was provided for by Act
of Legislature in 1858, and actually laid
out, and it's Improvement began in 1851
/ Thirty vars after there We're only few
| few mansions in the avenue above Six
tieth and below Ninetieth street, and it
was not until almost, ten years later that
! he ca iad rd
with vigor.
/ In looking back 1t is interesting to
note that the fathers Of Central Park
had long fight to bring the pleasure
ground down to Fifty ninth street. That
was in the country it is true, but the
| taxpayers objected to paying S1,700
700 for a twenty-five foot lot in Cen
trail Park only forty years ago,
After Central Park had been laid out
and improved the war occurred and
everything was at a standstill, Fifth
avenue property included. The years
that it took to Tecuperate We're also
barren of results, and it was not until
the beginning of one of the most ex-
traordinary eras Of speculation that the
United States has ever seen that capt.
tdl tooh up TlltH-dNcHue real eStdte,
because it was in that avenue and also
opposite Central Park.
PROFITS QUICKLY MADE.
That madness of the '10s, whose cli-
max was Black Friday, is one of the
most interesting and at the same time
one of the darkest pages in real estate
history. Before it began men bought
lots in Fifth avenue and sold them
over night. reaping profits of thousands
Of dollars. When it collapsed the spec
ulators, who Were millionaires on pa
per, had become paupers.
One instance of the course of things
will suffice. 1t is vouched for by one
of the most prominent brokers in this
city, and, as he was himself a figure in
the transaction, the facts may be ac-
cepted without reserve. Just before
the great panic of '73 he sold a corner
plot of FIVE lots in Fifth avenue in the
Sixties for S325.000 Before the panic
was ended be sold the same property
for his client at S115,090 To-day the
plot is valued at between S55OOoO and
100000
1t is fitting that the mile and half
of millionaires' houses should start
with the .smillionaires' club" the Met
ropolitan, at the north corner of Sixth
eth street The beautiful clubhouse
was started in 1882, and Immediately
revived interest in the avenue directly
TO the north OF it. every block of which
is replete with with interest.
Before the club was finished former
Commodore Elbridge T. Gerry. in 1894,
l~is