The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-01

"a blNE a. hAi' tt'h'' ~ 80
tina, time. The building Is ten stories.
of brick and limestone. and in general
appearance H. not very different from
the old building which the firm In to
leave behind at broadway and Twenty
second street. Barnum Il Everdell. the
builders, have finished their task, and
for several days the building has been
In the hands of a brigade of window
cleaners and portere. who are busily
engaged In removing all signs left By
masons. plastcrers and others. Seven
floors of the building will he salesrooms
md the upper three floors offices AMI
workshops. The building wa designed
especially for the needs of Brooks Bros.
and contains everything that Will max
the store attractive to patrons and work.
men. La Fargo 4 Morris and Clinton
& Russell designed the structure. Last
September It's construction was begun.
The site is opposite st. Bartholomew
Church and the Hotel Biltmore. AMI
one block from the new Yale Club
and the Grand Central station. The
area is s5.5 feet along Madison avenue
and 1855 feet on the street. Eight old
dwellings covered the property until
Barnum 4 Everdell bought 1t last year
from Thomas Il. Hidden. who spent
years assembling the site for Just such
an Improvement.
Barnum & Everde,l planned to Inn
prove the site with an office building,
az there was and still is a big demand
for office space near the Grand Cent raj
Terminal. But before they had gone far
with their office building planning brok-
ers approached them with the Brooks
Bros. proposition. which was the erec-
ton OF a building for the firm on a
leasing bass. This was satisfactory to
] them and tho deal Wlq ,lpga1 The
clothiers take the building for twenty
one years with one or more renewal
priyil ges. During the first twcnty-one
years they will pay Barnum d Ever
dell about $4,000. 900 In rent. What
this operation means In money may he
judged by the fact that the Prudential
Life Insurance Company and the Guar
anty. Trust Company have advanced
N.25o.0O on mortgages on the prop
erty and building. OF this sum $1,000
OO0 was furnished by the Prudential
company.
When Brooks Bros. move into their
new building II will he the Attn
move OF the firm IN l02 years. al
estate men think hat the store marks
tho beginning Of an extensive business
development through Madison avenue
north of Forty-s cond. street.
The completion Of Arnold Constable
store a, Fifth avenue and Forticth
street will follow the Brooks Bros.
opening by a few months. The build
ing is being rushed TO completion and
its advanced stage may b. seen by the
accompanying picture. The general struc-
tural lines of the building have been
carried out and the builders are now
turning tn the details Of the store build
in-. whose cost has been estimated al
anywhere from $4,000 to 1000. 600,
! I limestone md tara colt. ~ il siy stnries
high. 1l2.li feet on Fifth avenu and
lT5 feet on the street with an arm or
extension back OF the Union League
club to the north side of Thirty-ninth
street. The building will harmonic in
a measure with the Public Library, dag
onally opposite. In II will be the retail
and wholesale departments Of the bust
ness, the latter department occupying
the upper part OF the building. The
structure Is going up on the site Oi
Frederick Nandcrbilt's former home and
| adjoining property which he bought al
the start 10 protect his residence from
5 business invasion and later TO increase
r the value of his corner plot as a sit,
for a business building.
I II was not until after he saw FIN
avenue was doomed as a Residential
= street that he began to consider hi:
, home as a site for a big business build
ing. Though Mr.. Vanderbilt has per
, mitted his residence to he torn down III
I has not r~elinquished his hold IN th'
property. II is still his. and the buildin
a which Arnold-C onstab'e are TO occup
Is practically his. Arnold Constabl
T made a deal with Mr.. Vanderbilt 10
him to build for them a new home 70
n which they would pay him somewher
in the ~neighborhood of s2i0.000 a yea
, as rental for the next twenty-one years
. At this rate the rental at the end OF III
a period would amount TO $4,000, 900, an
as the lease has two renewals Of twenty
one years each. which probably will b
exercised. Mr., Vanderbilt and his heir
= will receive at least SIS, 900 900 for tn
: use OF the building in the next SO years
Though the building Is only six storie
= Il has the height OF a building OF eigh
or nine stories. This is explained by tn
y exceptional height Of the ceilings. ther
being twenty feet between the first Ar,
second floors and fifteen feet betwee
the others. The operation removed
n centre of former social life In New Yor
but days when II was a good social cen
tire are long past, With the exceptio
~ the Wcnnel house at Thirty-nint
e street diagonally across Firth avenu
r. from the new Arnold Constable sto'
there is not another dwelling on FIT
avenue from Fourteenth to Forty-secon
street and even far above that street.
at Not all of the former Vanderbilt hon
~ site is occupied by the new Arnold-Cor
stable building. The southerly end
Il the plot, that Is. a thirty foot section az