New-York tribune., 1919-05-29
Bennett Estate
On Heights To Be
Sold at Auction
Realty of Farmer Owner
Of n. Y. Herald Offered
TO Provide Funds to
Carry Out Wills Terms

Carry Out Wills Terms
IN order thai the viii of the late
James Gordon Bennett, owner of The
New York Herald, 1.-The Evening Tele-
gram" and the European edition of
The Herald" may at once be carried
out, the executors of his estate yester-
day announced having authorized Jo-
seph P. Day, auctioneer, to sell the
Bennett real estate holdings located on
Washington Heights, just north of
lS1st Street, and extending from
Broadway to the Hudson River
The property, which consists of
about 500 lots, assessed by the city at
close to $2,00o,O0O Will be sold abso-
lutely to the highest bidders regardless
of its actual value, in the Real Estate
Salesroom, II Nesey Street, on Tues
day, June TO-
In statement issued yesterday by
Rodman Wanamaker, one of the. exec
utors, and Robert W Gambler, attorney.
the reasns for the sale were stated to
be as follows:
hcdSOHS Tor sale
THE late MIR. Bennett provided N
his viii for the establishment and
maintenance of a suitable and COM
Portable home aud pecunary aid for
Journalists who have been employed
for at least ten years upon, or by or in
connection with any daily newspaper
or journal regularly published on or
ough of Manhat.an, in the City Of New
York, and who shall, by reason of old
age, accident, bodily infirmity and
through the lack of means, be unable
to care for themselves or need a home
or aid
1t is in order to carry out the terms
of Mr.. Benefits will that sale of the
Fort Washington property belonging to
the estate has BEEN ordered
The first definite move in that di-
rection was made on Friday, May l6
last, on which date the James Gordon
Bennett memorial home for New York
journalists was chartered, as a mem
bership corporation, by the Secretary
of State, Francis NJ. Hugo.
"The incorporators Of the memorial
were: Rodman Wanamakcr, !. D. Jer-
rold Kelley, Josiah K. OH, of New York
City; Robert W. Gambler, of Short
Hills, N. j., and Thomas F. Sherman,
of Rye, N. Y.
'1he home is to be erected and main
tanned in accordance with the will Of
the late Mr.. Bennett, in memory of his
father, for whom the same shall be q
perpetual memorial
The property to be sold by Mr.. Day
to the highest bidders, on June 10, was
inherited by the late James Gordon
Bennett from his father and formerly
was the location of the Bennett 'coun-
try home and the scene of MANY So
clal gatherings. On a part of the
property, lying just west of Fort Wash
lngton Avenue, are all that remain of
the bastions Of old Fort Washington.
stronghold of the Colonial troops
during the period of the Revolution.
An Apartment Improvement Section
"Colncldent with this announcement
the public now knows the reason of the
large publicity run for the past week
in connection with the WASHINGTON
Heights district,.in which publicity por-
traits OF some of our most prominent
citizens were used as directly or in
directly connected with this section
and was carried on in the form Of
what is called blind advertising, which
aroused the interest of the public in
this epochal sale.
All the wide area lying south and
east OF the Bennett estate, which ex-
tends to lS7th Street, is improved with
apartment houses, the northerly line
OF which runs west to Riverside Drive
and has overnowed into Northern
Avenue
The Bennett property, in fact. has
been formidable barrier to the north
erly extension of Manhattan's housing
facilities, especially along the highly
elevated ridge lying between Broadway
and the Hudson River.
The forthcoming sale by public
auction viii serve to remove this
great barrier just at a time when the
tenant population of the city is dis
tressed beyond measure by the prevail
ing scarcity of apartments and at =
time when builders and lenders on
bond and mortgage are preparing to
launch the biggest building boom
ever recorded in the history Of New
York
Property Bought at Various Times
The property included in the sale
was purchased at various times, be-
ginning IN 1885, by James Gordon Ben
nett, 81, and added to in later years
by his son, the late Mr.. Bennett. More
than eighty years have elapsed, there
fore, since the public has been given
an opportunity to purchase the prop
erty. The late Mr. Bennett refused in
variably even to consider selling it,
IT. IS IN part the highest elevated point
OF land On Manhattan Island"
Sa!es al AUCTION