The New York herald., 1922-01-08

Among all the vast changes that have
been taking place in the vicinity OF
Fifth avenue and Fifty-seventh street in
recent years few have attracted more
attention than the erection of the great
B twenty-five story Heckscher Building at
q the southwest corner of those thorough
. fares and the recent opening OF the
q artistic new home Of j. NJ Gliding &
Co, which adjoins it on the south. These
structures represent the most approved
~ and satisfactory types OF commercial
architecture in the city. They are also
monuments that will commemorate the
confidence which these business inter-
ests have in the future of that portion
,. of the ever changing surface of Man
r haitian Island. There is only one more
building on this block front. That is
the handsome home of Duveen Brothers,
art dealers.
The new Gliding store occupies a
frontage of fifty feet and its real es-
tate history calls attention TO the ex-
traordnary increase in property values
in this Fifth avenue neighborhood. Two
handsome residences formerly occupied
the plot. The house at 724 Fifth avenue
< was purchased I'm 1884 by r. Fulton Cut
ting for 1000. The price created some
thing OF sensation at the time as IL
was said TO have been the highest ever
paid for Fifth avenue dwelling OF It's
size. Mr.. Cutting lived there for sew
eral years and prior To 1911. when ec-
CURED by the present owners, the dwell
ing was occupied by Mrs. Mary r. Bier
stadt, widow Of the artist, Albert Bier
stadt.
The house at 726 Fifth avenue was the
home a generation ago OF Aaron Ray
mond n prominent New York merchant
in 1908 Mrs Louis r. Hoyt purchased
the plot for about S250.000 and erected
new residence which was sold early IN
1920. Mrs. Hoyt set a price of 100000
on her property and. like the plot NJ
724, thirty-six years before. when the
Hoyt residence was sold the price paid
was reputed to have been the highest
ever paid for an inside lot on Fifth ave-
nue north OF Forty-second street
Almost within n stones throw from
the Gliding store Is the plaza area above
: Fifty-ninth street with the statue OF
Gen. w. r. Sherman by ST. Gaudens,
Z which appropriately faces the elaborate
!, Pulitzer fountain to the south. On the
west Is the Plaza Hotel and opposite arc
the Savoy and the Netherand hotels.
The Metropolitan and Knickerbocker
. clubs arc close by, 20 the north. while
among the private residences remaining
are those OF Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt,
Commodore Eldridge II. Gerry and
Harry II. Huntington. who married tho
widow OF Coils r. Huntington. That
house. built by the wealthy California
railroad pioneer Is directly opposite the
new home OF J. NJ Gliding & Company
and IN Il Is housed most OF rhe incom-
parable Huntington library, the largest
and most valuable private collection OF
books ever gathere>i together in America.
IL a compls-, history OF these blocks
at the nortf-r1y boundary Of the great
est and busiest retail thoroughfare In the
world could be written, II would form
one OF tiie most fascinating stories of
the growth OF the metropolis In itE never
ceasinE onward march 20 greatness and
achievement In the commercial and 90
Z ciai world.
Going back into the early part OF the
last century the map OF the city IN 1907.
laid out In rectangular blocks by the
commissioner Of that time. shows barely
half dozen buildings IN the Fifth ave-
nue. area north OF Forty-sccond street.
The country home OF Thomas Adds
Emmet. the Irish patriot and first OF
. that name TO come TO America IN 1904,
Is plainly marked IN the block bounded
BY Fifth and Sixth avenues, Fifty
and Fify-third streets There were also
two small houses In the middle OF the
block between the same avenues and
Fifty-flfth and Fifty-slxth streets. The
: Elgin Botanical Gardens occupied a
large portion Of the blocks on the west