New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-23
Pictures Heigg hts Section
Years Ago and Now
93-Year.Old Man Tells of Fort George When New
York Was Young and Predicts 1t Place of Next
Big Building Movement

Standing the other day about at the
pot Lane, near Ben Reilly's Arrow
head Inn and only a few blocks south
from the historic site Of Fort Wash
ington, the highest point on Washing
ton Heights, an elderly member of one
of New York's foremost Knickerbocker
families pointed with his stick to De-
pot Lane and toward the old New
York Central Railroad station on the
Hudson River frontage and said
"Would that l could have foreseen
the advent of rapid transit and its
wonderful, marvellous effect upon
property values and building in this
gloriously healthful scction--one that
has not its equal in all New York.
"A few more years-cve if l may
live to see it-and these high lands
will be the real residential heart OF
New York. AS ! stand here ! cannot
sight displayed by practically all the
members of the old Riding and priv
ing Club, myself included.
"Our club grounds were located close
to where we are standing. Every part
Of Washington Heights and 4 large
part of the balance of the city lay
bare and barren to our view from the
clubhouse, except where the thick foli-
age interfered with it. Land then
could have been purchased for little
or nothing, except i'll the case of prop
critics held by the owners Of the sew
eral large, semi suburban estates that
then graced the region.
"And yet, SO deceptive is the too
c1n 10 Of n
paratively few of the club members
took advantage of the many opportuni-
ties they had to buy and to make
money. This privilege was reserved
for the 'syndicatcs that were formed
in later years and which since have
sold out to the builders of the apart
ment houses that now line each and
every street, leaving scarcely a single
lot vacant, all the way north to 181st
Street
"ln the interim. as was to have been
expected, the cow-paths, estate and
station roads, driveways and cstab-
had been legally opened regulated,
graded, paved and curbed- sewers, gas,
electricity and telephones introduced.
Land values first and then lot prices re-
sponded quickly to the influence ex-
erted by these improvements. fuctu-
ating, however, first up, then down, as
the market rose and FELL fell and rose.
"The real upward movement began
with the construction of the Broad
way subway. Fact is that New York
is apartment hungry and something
must be done at the earliest possible
moment to relieve the present famine
in housings. In all my ninety-three
years of experience and close observa-
tion have never known conditions
TO be better from the point Of view
Of the landlord or worse from that
Of the tenant.
mo building movement of size
can be gotten under way on the
Heights, however. until some one or
more of the few remaining estates
have been bought up in their entirety
and parcelled out
ut is logical, therefore, to expect
the next big building movement In
the. area lying between 1s1st Street
and Fort George, on the ground made
Sacred by The sacrifices Of our Colonial
troops during the War Of the Hevolu=
ton, In fact. ihefe ID ito other di=
feetoh, IN Manhattan, IN which bopus
iaten can move. Neither is there
any other section that is half SO
picturesque beautiful or generally
accessible, at least from the residen-
tial point Of view"