The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-02
SEVEN MILLIONS
 IN REALTY GIFT
 OF ASTOR TO SON
William Waldorf Gives >Three Valuable Parcels to Capt.
 John Jacob.

New York, July 2-Property assess ed by the New York city tax co4arrais- sioners/ at more than $7,00o, 900 has been g4ven by William Waldorf As tor of England to his youngest son, Captain John Jacob Astor. Knowledge of the gift became public yesterday -, CT, fIasa lawyers for MT. Astor's in terests in this country. Montgomery & Peabody of Wall street. had deeds filed in the Registers office re- cording the gift. The papers fndicat- cd that they were signed in England at Mir. Astor's London home, 1S Carl ton House Terrace on May S1
 The property is in three parcels and includes the northern portion of the old AstOR House at Broadway and Barclay street. wiAh adjacent property On Barclay street. and a 75-fpot plor on Yesey street, the tWelve-story hE1- change Court ofhce building on the southeast corner Of Broadway and Exchange Place, running through to New street, and tho eight-story of1ice aIlfld7Eg at 10 wall street, extending through to Pine street
 Tn addition to the main AScor House pIof, Captain John Jacob As for gets tsae old buildings adjoining at e to 1o Barclay street, giving him a frontage on that street of 24O feet, 1OO.7 feet on Broadway. and 76 feet e,n yseaav street. from 133 to 16, i'm 4ae,1satasEv In the rear of the lower portion of 2he building owned by Vim cent Astor and torn down two years ago for the construction of the Broad way subway This entire parcel in 1914 was assessed at s2.61zsO0O, of which $4, ,505, 900 yvas land value
 wen KnOusm OMaCe BHE1tn&-
 rhe Exchange Court Buzding has a frontage of 186 feet on the south side of Exchange Place, ocouping the en4zre block front between Broadway and New Street, with frontage on the former 0f aDou4 1a5 feet and 18O ua4aon Is @3.T50so soO0, of which more than %2s000, 900 represents land value Although one of tEe oldest 1t 1s .one of the best e0nakxuoAed office buLldaneg in the lower part Of the ctkY and with E2s ssn&1as oG faxnous peEBDna@aM including one of Cover nor PaAeF stuyveRa.nt, on the Broad- way fanada, uReseaazs an art1sf4C ap- SpeaFRnca Years ago this plot was 1oxared by TOW of dAngy storage ton In 1888 for &450s0O0- In I886 II was bought by John Jacob AstOr, NmEMex of y111HHrn Waldorf AseoE, for s1,O0os000s and q. lew YeaxB 1a4er the EMchange Court BHd1d1ng was erect ed
 A3LlEA44l98 Wall Street. including the numbers from 8 to n. fronting SC feet and running EAaRuuwh to and Pine Mtree4 W41h q dapGn of 19S feet, is aS- seased ct a.sOo. eco. of which s1,- 7So.O0O represazz4s land yzx1zae Tho what earlier man the Eznhange Court ed1fz0e. but it has always been kept in modem condition and is . popular office structure
 The 4O6a4 land va1uaf1On of these properties tg 86, ,285. 600, and with the &zsz0o, DOC
 L@gsG Really Gafs Here
 In the opinion of realty men this is by far the largest gift of real estate other than by bequesk, ever recorded in New York City.
 Capt John Jacob Astor, who now becomes one of the largo reaI estate holders on MAnhat6an Island, is the fifth Of thaA name from the original John Jacobs founder of the AsEor for tune The DOsthuuOus son of the 1ate Col John AstOr, ts the sixth member of the family to bear the ancestral name. This youngest member of the iAstor family was born in the Fifth avenue Astor mansion on Aug 14, 191R. and W1Il-soon be years old
 Capt John Jacob Astor has not been as prominently identified with English political life as his elder brother, Waldorf Astor, who has been a member of Parliament He joined the English army in 1906 and went to the front with the English troops early In the war as captain of the First Life Guards, and was reported as being lightly wounded in a battle in France last October He is 30 years old His sister, Pauline, is six years older, and Waldorf Astor, the oldest son, is 37 years old
 Astorss Second Big Gift.
 The gift of William Waldorf Astor is the second large transfer of his New York city holdings made within a few years. Tn June, 1911, he deed- ed to the Farmers Loan and Trust Company, in trust for the eldest son, Waldorf. the Waldorf section of the Waldorf-Astor hotel, being the Fifth avenue and Thirty-thfrd street half of the big hostelry In addition there were included the Astor Court Build ling and the old structures at g to 27 West Thirty third street Their as sessed valuation is now more than $6x000,000- The present transaction differs from this earlier one in that it is an outright gift, while Waldorf Astoris property is held in trust for his use.
 It was stated at that time that one reason for Mr. Astor's transfer of his ownership in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel FwaS his desire to escape a heavy state inheritance tax law which is 5 per cent. on bequests over $1,0oO,- 900. That statement was never de- nied by MT. Astorss lawyers, and it seems likely that MT. Astor may have adopted the same principle in the present case, although it was inn possible to reach the laswy CTS for the estate last night to confirm the sup position.
 These parcels, however, are rela- lively a small part of William Wal dorf Astorss real estate holdings in Manhattan Island, which include the Hotel Astor, the Hotel Netherland, and the row of three private resi- dences on the northeast corner of F'ifth avenue and Fifty sixth street adjoining the Burlington mansion.