Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-01-31
Highways and By-Ways
of Lii OF New York
Copyright, 1922, by the Public Ledger Company
BY ramona CARROLL,


NEW YORK, Jan. 31-If the million
aires lived in their Fifth avenue homes,
the movement to erect apartment houses
along the eastern fringe Of Central Park
would have less Importance to the many.
But the wealthy do not live here. Their
homes are boarded up in the spring,
summer and autumn months and the
short winter season constitute a chain
OF sumptuous dressing rooms where
madame and master change their clothes
for the opera, the horse show and the
theater Occasionally a social affair is
given in the avenue, but most always
Of late the stellar functions are held
at their Long Island, Westchester or
New Jersey country places or at 4 smart
hotel. -
From Fifty Ninth to One Hundred and
Tenth streets, Fifth avenue is popu-
larly known, through the greater part
Of its extent, as a "miIilonaires row.
Here is where, from the top of a bus
or a sightseeing car, visitors can look
down into the homes Of Vincent Aston,
Edwin Gould, William Rockefeller
Thomas F. Ryan, Robert L. Geery, Mort.
inner L. Schiff, Robert Goelet, George J.
Gould, Adrian Tselin, Jr, Harry Payne
Whitney, Judge e. H. Gary, Senator
William A. Clark Mrs. Herman DEL
rlchs, James 3. Duke and others, and
into the stately abodes where once lived
Andrew Carnegie, E. II. Hartman, II. c.
Havemeyer and Henry Clay Frick.
About two months ago the board Of
estimate and apportionment, by resolu-
ton, restricted future building in Fifth
avenue, between Sixtieth and Ninety
Sixth streets, to a height Of seventy five
feet That was a decision for the
millionaires from the Hylan administra.
ton, the mayor himself fayOrng the
shutting out Of the proposed apart
ment houses, and calling them Chinese
walls which would deprive the eastern
portion of the city from the benefit
Of the cooling breezes sweeping across
Central Park"
Last week the corporation counsel de-
cided, in an opinion, that the restric.
ton Of the board Of estimate was legal
and binding, much to the Joy of those
millionaires who want to keep theh
Fifth avenue dressing rooms" but to
the wrath Of others who desire to sell
and those realty operators who had
erecting huge apartment houses The
construction of thirteen apartment
houses. costing about Ss,50O0O0, hangs
in the balance, pending hitter fight
that has started against the rastrlc-
ton, which viii be carried 10 the high
est courts. II necessary
A curious feature In connection with
keeping Fifth aveaue free from apart
ment houses" IS that one block east,
In Madison avenue, apartment houses
are allowed 70 a height IL twelve stor],s
and another block further east. on Park
avenue, they can attain n height ~ seven
teen stories. A canvass Of the property
owners IN Fifth avenue showed that the
m!lllonaires constitute "a house divided
against itself'-some want the reCtric-
ton removed and some want II main
tanned To the great mass Of citizens
the row IS Of snail concern. except
that apartment houses once established
in Firth avenue would give thousands
Of middle class families a living share
ia the beauties Of Central Park
Few streets IN this city Of rnnid
changes can show such contrast as
Fifth avenue within half century. Be
fore Central Park was laid out Il ran
for three miles through q district so
dlsreputable and poverty Stricken that
It had come 20 be known as the squat
ters' sovereignty"
It was n district OF swnmps and
thickets and stagnant pools. The squat
ters lived IN shant@s constructed from
boards and driftwood, gathered at the
river front, and the. roofs OF these
shantles we're patched with In The estI-
mated number Of squatters Mt the peak
Of their invasion Of the district was
800. and the largest and foulest set
Element was Seneca Village" near
Seventy Ninth street. on the site OF the
present Metropolitan Museum Of Art.
Boss" Tweed, the Tammany chief
who ended his days in Ludlow Street
Jail, was the driving force behind the
creation OF Central Park. and the ex-
elusive section In Fifth avenue. north Of
the Metropolitan Club. nicknamed the
"Mililonalres' Club. the white struc.
ture with halls Of numldiau marble Mt
Sixtieth street. Now that the rich have
pre-emptied upper Fifth avenue into a
thorouEhfare Of palatial elegance, It Is
the same Tammany Hall that blocks
some Of the wealthy from getting out
from under and ecapitalzng the fame
Of the avenue in dollars for their park
fronting lands That is the paradox
Of the situation.
In the death of Carl Henry Andrew
Bjerregaard. chief librarian Of the read
Ing room OF the New York Public Ii
brary, the world has lost sculptor in
the embryo. Mr.. Bjcrregaard was in his
nth year. At the age OF 20 he taught
himself painting, and produced several
hundred sketches and pictures in oil
and water colors. He painted entirely
from memory, some OF the scenes com
ing to him in his dreams. At an ex-