The New York Times from New York, New York • Page 65

Part -Seven Part Seven Real Estate Section Real Estate Section I -iv t.i..-..:j.-...:.irl.; ...3,5 Vise- AlWft 'Cottrtp Tin. LATEST DEALINGS IN REALTY FIELD Intenstine Sales in the Heart of Old Greenwich Village Improvements Planned. C. E. SPRACUE SELLS HOME Ctntral Union Ga Company Buys a Hundrtd-Foot Plot In tho Bronx Many Suburban Sal.

An Important transaction In th heart of Id Greenwich Village wai announced yesterday by John li. Dye ft who, In conjunction with Cimmtn, Voorheea A Floyd, sold lor Mary O. Newell to Leon Ottinger the northwest corner of Waah-Jnfftoa and Barrow Streete, a plot 100 ten on Waahrngton" Btrect and 70 feet os. Barrow Street, together with 160 Chriitopber Street, a plot 20 by 75. contiguous thereto.

There are alx subatantial three-story. kasement and cellar dwellings on the plot' The corner house la altered for iter purposes. This la the first sale of tae property In twenty-five years. This property Is directly opposite the Cntted States Appraiser's Stores and the Kuare block bounded by Barrow, Washington. Morton, and Greenwich Streets nesntly purchased by J.

H. Crulkshank (or Immediate Improvement The southwest corner of Washington and Greenwich Btreels is improved with a new raur-story school, and the property Immediately adjoining on the west Is a thre-story hulldln occupied by the Christopher Street Knllroarl Company. Anoth-r sale In the village was re-Ported by Charles Russe, who sold YM Greenwich Avenue, a three-story flat, on ni XI. br 50 hy 70. at tha southwest cor-Mr of Jane Street.

C. K. Ipragae Sella Besldesie. Charles K. Bprague, President of the Bjon Savings Bank, has sold his i 1,6 Seventy-fifth 8treet- i nlsta of a four-story hlsh-V i on 20 br The Hel.bta.

7 rreowick Brown has sold to Virginia Bhsrtdan 2M Wadsworth Avenua. a three- wry dwelling on a lot 23.4 by 90 at tha southwest corner of 188th Street Thl la blocks of the new Subway i.M9i"L.8lrMt -n 8t- Nicholas Y1" Of ened the pub-thisVI1 i'n- x- Mr.rown purchased and SP at uctlon aeveral tlays ago. substantial profit. on lot 22 6 by 99.11. tail a'wm corn yere ef Hetka Dloek Fro at.

Tha Raymore Realty Company, and are tha TOduhoblock front 6a th side Jv with whlcl bey will Im-Cwt hii-2wf elevator apart- hVhr to Rrmor Court, erect. tteB KrJlrch'Tf 1(ith Street, be-Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Bays la Broil. Central Union Gas Company has la-Its holdings In tho lower Mott cf the Bronx Purchasing on Avenue, a TiiiSfJJf of the present works. Uadt Mles lnclu SL'S and 7 Court- Corm" owoot being lar4 nd Ise; the north-lh 21 Courtlandt Avenue and TVi.n"1-. bX bought from Strlr.n: a plot 60 by loo on 148th aa of Courtlandt Ave- F.t?J? thtBergay Company.

Fetser 521 J- Clarenca Oavlea. were Paruea in the deal. Jam Sale. Sr Trattnar and I. Klein sold for tha Benon tha two flve-T front buildings on tha south lot "I11 of Melroae Avenua ihV 1l0- for John Schnack- coftr of l6th rHiwi Avenue, a lot 4S by southeast comer of 197th br Orand Boulevard, a tot 67 storv ti.Sf."n" by WtoX FSbaVZ ti J- J.

Plttman have fir 2.237 Tlebout Avenue; also tw--tory Stataa. Islaaal. CUm Drmk oa George TZ Ohio, to William M. Pot on tha north aide of Werlelgh. 40 by -77 1 -v frir -7 fr A city of princely apartments.

This definition, which has been applied to Nw York as designating one of its marked characteristics, is aptly chosen. Not only doea New York lead all other cltiea In the world In the sum total of Its multi-family residences, but 'It is also superior In the number of structures that may Justly be called magnificent or palatial, designed both from the exterior and Interior architectural and interior effects so as to appeal to the most fastidious taste. In no other city are auch high prices paid for apartments nor anywhere else can so many high-class and high-priced apartments be found. Tha demand, also. Is steadily Increasing aa Indicated by the number of new $1,000,000 operationa under way in both the east and west sides of the city.

A few years ago 12,000 was regarded as an extravagarTt price to pay for an apartment. The price haa now reached and It la quite within tho bounds of reason that this fancy yearly rental may be considerably exceeded In the near future. Indeed, there Is coming to be an excluslveness In apartment housea Just as Uere haa been In private homes and choice residential sections. More apartments are being built wlth the aim of catering only to tha wealthy class of tenants. There Is, aa yet, no concerted effort to form apartment house groups of these high-priced places aa la the case of private home communities on Murray lini.

Upper Fifth Avenua. or Gramercy Park aeveral' yeara ago. These ultra expensive apartmenta are situated in widely different parta of tha city, occupying tha best neighborhoods In their respective localities, and surrounded by similar structures equally as magnificent In outward appearance, but not devoted chiefly to tenanta with Incomea of from $00,000 to many hundreda of thousands a year. In other words, tha development ot New apartment house life ia working toward Walk up Seventh Avenue, and aa one neare Fifty-seventh 8treet he will see high In the air painted In large letters on tha blank wall of a twelve-story building tha words, Rentals from $0,300 up." This la tha Alwyn Court, occupying tha largo southeast corner of Seventh Avenua and Fifty-eighth Street, tha largest apartment house of this exclusive character Is tha city, and which haa been finished less than a year. There are twenty-four apartments in tha building, two on a floor, of fourteen rooma and five baths.

In price they go "up" aa high as $9,000. That ther are plenty of tenants who prefer thla method of living In tha city may be judged from tha fact that three of these apartmenta, vera ranted during the last three weeks, and they were all near the $9,000 mark. There la. however, one tenant la tha Alwyn Court who ia paying $16,000 A year for his rooma, but this la a apeciatly arranged apartment, made by combining two of' the regular eultea on separate floor, making- them a duplex apartment. It la taken under a tea yeara lease, and plana are being- made for utilising two others ia the same style, for whlea 116.

1 pfeflp pl ill! jV''; Jv-? jjvr' -i iil fill II I i i oere, ana aunougu inw in it -A PPIMfTI -PPTPPQ TriP-. Suites 1 in Unfinished House Rented for $1 8,000 and $25,000 Palatial Buildings and their Conveniences. 1 made for a shorter period than three years. There are two apartments in the Lang-ham, on Central Park West, between Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Streets, which are rented for $15,000, but these, Uk4 tho $16,000 Alwyn Court suite, comprise two regular apartments. In, the Van Norden Trust Company Building, on Fifth Avenue and Sixtieth Street, rentals considerably over $10,000 have been paid, and prices equal to this have been paid In the Bolkenhayn, one of the earliest exclusive apartment houses erected in the city, on Fifth Avenue and Fifty-eighth Street, adjoining the Savoy Hotel.

The Fifth Avenue Apartment House, on the southwest corner of Fifty-first Street, commands rentals of from $8,009 to This Is a new building, recently opened, containing ten apartments, one on a floor, while the entire top floor is given over to extra servants' rooms. The Verona at Madison Avenue and Sixty-fourth Street. Is one of the palatial apartments of the city, a home there ranging from $8,000 to $9,500. In several of the magnificent new structures going up on Park Avenue north of Fifty-ninth woo? On the west side there are any number of apartment houses containing a few high-priced suites, and indeed, the $3,000 class is so numerous as to be scarcely worthy of mention in this aire of wonderful prices for rooms equipped with every Imaginable convenience and many luxuries for delightful and easy housekeeping. The Apthorpe, the great Astor apartment occupying the entire block on Broadway and West End Avenue, between Seventy-eighth and Seventy-ninth Streets, contains six apartments at and there are nu vacancies.

The new Harperley Hall, on Central. Park West and Sixty-fourth Street, which rlll not be ready for occupancy until Oct. 1. haa three apartments at and two have been rented. One might go on citing scores of other houses containing among their more moderate Firlced suites a few commanding rentals ar out of reach of the ordinary mortal and discover that In tha majority of cases not the slightest difficulty la experienced In renting them.

There Is now under construction on Fifth Avenue and Eighty-first Street a twelve-story apartment house which. If not In the magnificence of Its appointments, at least In the cost of llvins is Ukelyto take first rank among the exclusive apartment structures la the city. It was at flrat intended to have eighteen apartmenta, but one prospective tenant, after looking over the floor plana mildly hinted that he was afraid his family would be cramped for room in one ef the regular suites of seventeen rooma and five baths, so a portion of an upper floor haa been incorporated, giving him twenty-four rooms and nine or ten baths. The price was no object and for this palatial duplex arrangement he haa signed a lease for tea yeara at $25,000 a year. Five of these seventeen apartments have already been rented, two of them being for $18,000, containing seventeen rooms and five baths.

The cheapest Is $10,000, and only one is to be provided at this low figure, while no lease under five yeara will be considered. If the statement so frequently reiterated that New York is a city of apartment house dwellers haa ever been doubted there caa surely be no more credulity when one realises the trend toward apartment house living by those who can readily afford a private residence of the best type in any choice neighborhood. It may be Interesting to state that here Is a house la the city not far from the middle Fifth Avenue district In which a tenant haa been paylag $23,000 for his duplex apartment for nearly four yeara. The house contains eight apartmenta. The lowest price is $12,000, and they are non-housekeeping- at that.

The building la conducted on a club or family community plan, so that can hardly figure as a regular aaartment house, for when a vacancy does occur the personal and so- CUI StaVtllfl of the) would-be Oociinant eif Sii mnrA hnnnrrSnA Ksstn Isiaa aMtffa a rr '1 A J- A 1 a I 1 I SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 25. 1 1 1 i i 4 here, and although there Is a vacancy at- nreaent. aeatn in tna lamuv oi one ox ine original tenants having caused a removal. tne new tenant win oe requirea Drcsem many other qualifications beside the writlnr of a $12,000 check for the honor of residing in one of the finest and most exclusive apartment houses on Manhattan.

Ask any one of a score of agents or managers of houses catering to high-priced tenants why the occupants seem to prefer apartment house living when they could easily afford a house of their own, and nine times out of ten the first answer to the question will be: The Servant problem. Here is an apartment of twelve or fourteen rooms with five baths." remarked a manager, who has had charge of some ot the finest structures on the west aide. "The suite includes four or five servants' rooms, while on the top floor extra rooms for servants may be obtained. Four to five servants, as a rule, are enough for the $3,000 to $10,000 apartment, and some need but three. The occupants can live Just as well and entertain Just as lavishly with rooms fully as Urge and as attractively fitted up as In the great majority of private homes renting at $5,000 and over.

Twice as many servants would be required In the private bouse. "Then there Is the question of convenience. The heating, lighting, repairing, and scores of other things that the owner or resident of a private home haa constantly te think about are all done by the management. The separation of rooma, keeping the kitchen and servants' rooms distinct from the living quarters of the family, gives practically the same privacy aa In one's own house." Another and a very Important reason cited was the fact that almost without exception the class ot $5,000 and upward tenants either own or rent for the season country residences. Thus they virtually own a private house and then of recent years It has become the custom to remain In the country late and go out early.

Tha tenants of these $5,000 to $10,000 apartments," It was. asked, "are then not actual occupants more than five or six months a year? That's right." was the answer, and In aome cases they are only here three qr four But they want a home la town, where everything wlU be ready for housekeeping the minute they enter the building. In some of the larger apartments one or two servants may be left to look after things while the family Is away to Europe, by the seashore, or in the mountains, but la most cases tne management of the house takes care of the rooms and safeguards the property. In the final analysis the whole question resolves Itself down to convenience Apartment house building and equipment hive reached such a stage of Perfection that everything Imaginable to facilitate housekeeping is now provided, the majority of the best apartmenta beg tn reapectMfar ahead of most privata resi- dWhat are deemed necessities for apartments not only of the Wghestprice but for the more modrit I1.W to ciau would be regarded less than ten yeara are as luxuries. Ia many of the newer nous? thesleTtricf dumb waiter service considered a short time ago as one of the greatest aaseta la the complete JQUlp-rnentTa new house, haa bdon special service elevators being provided running direct to the pantry or Wtchan doors, and the garbage cans are renwvsa SrSe bulldlrc employes three or four 'The wfrtSratinc plant Is jjf-In many of the housea Jthout additional cost.

Small safes with combination locks are built into the wall, for the preservaUon of JewjsU or Important Danera. The servants' rooms nave tneir ot? rpeJal In th. Alwyn Court one of Ihe interesting things In the boudoir li millinery cloeet arranged in box-like compartments, glass shelves, for twelve hata. and even the largest creations will fit to as neat as a tick. Another large closet Is espe-cUUy arranged for the hanelns; of princess gownaT- Roomy open lreplaea or thVburnlnj of woolojrs proyMed.

Parquet floors and elaborate hardwood trtmTof course, are the rule in all of the luxurious spertments, the dining rooms and libraries often being richly paneled, oak predominating and occasionally Circassian walnut. i'v- Huwriir Hall haa a rather unusual 4f rooms for one maftv ttf tha ttOftt AX 1910. 11 YARD 20'O'Wlpt aJ Mi 'Y I isninl 5 -1 pTJ77l I I Taa r. I jj wo- I nTs tf coort r'nYa-5! lilacs 'js5D 'F jfjT I civile I 3-V IT 77 rnoM. mau ROOM 1 1 iLl MU51C Jv.Aoon tf-j.

1 i ROOM. 1 I Jj otAnet criAnatt.cnMiBta cr rr-j II SEVENTH A a floor vIxl Alwyic Cou.vtOOO, from two to four rooms, non-housekeep-, lng, but furnished with kitchenettes, are i provided. More tl.an two-thirds of the 74 apartments In the building are rented and tenants cannot move in for another week. In the new Brentmore, Just above RUSri FOR APARTMENTS. Real Estate Men Report Greater Demand This Season Than a Year Ago.

"Never in my experience," said Pierre M.f Looker. President of the Monaton Realty Inveeting Corporation. haa there been auch a demand for living apartmenta We have ten large apartment a TBAntr1in anil nouses in wn x.4,u. ths rapidity at which they are at Mrh thev are belnc rented la astonishing. The demand last Fa3 was not near ss great.

We are not the only ones who are experlenclng'these conditions. I learn from other real estate men they are having the same rush. Rents have not increased over last year, at leist not. with us," continued Mr. Looker.

"In fact. I DO BU IIUU (hare has been a noticeable increase In rents to any part of the city. Naturally the newer and more ostentatious apartmenta have a higher seals of prices, but these prices are to keeping with the building, the surroundings and the location. My experience has taught me that people who seek a refined neighborhood and a well-kept bouse are.notoppoaed to paxtoS 17" 7P-J tarrerlev Hall, onlv ela-ht of Its S2 apartments are available for lease, thoae laken including four at $4,500. Similar reports of encouraging rentals are found In all of the new high class housea throughout the city.

INCREASED LAND VALUES. Holding in Empire Stats Double in the Last Decade. Almost four and a half billions of dollars have been added to the valuation ef all the land In tha Emplrefitate within the last ten years, according to figures from the State Tax Commission, that are being made the basia of special study h. hMrfnn.rM of the Street Railway Association of the Bute of New York. While over thirteen hundred miles of trolley track have been spread through Its undeveloped sections durine this pe riod, the State's total assessed value ef real estate' Is recorded as Increasing- ever Mln.fU.

At Vw I Cyi fJieejM assay vit sasesa wasaisawaa we York's real property, when leaa than t00 miles of scattered traction systems existed: while with over 4.000 miles ot car track to-day. assessed values of 62. 4x7 have Just been announced. With its great Increase in population New York County has more than doubled Its real estate valuation following the opening up of sections along the new aub-r th records of Tax Commission i --if-- i ml i. WEEKLY REVIEW OF BUILDING INDUSTRY Constantly Crowing Demand for High-Grade Construction and Material Is Felt 85 BUILDING OPERATIONS Twenty-four Big Apartments to be Built This Fall Tha Value of Which Is About ever-grewlng demand for grade construction as shown In the million-dollar apartments and downtown of-flea buildings In course ot construction and planned.

Is carrying with tt mar- ket tor higher grades of time, plaster, to-; terlor trim, better types of elevators, and 1 a higher quality of exterior adornment Thla is true of all types of construction, but dealers supplying apartment houses are noting the Improvement to the demand for quality, etpeclaUy since the renewal of building activity with the opening of the Fall sea eon has brought In new business from customers whs have been accustomed la the past te purchase lower gradea of materials. One dealer explained tt as being due to the fact that the market is not overcrowded for the highest class tenancy, except that the apartment house market could not heretofore offer Inducements sufficient to coax the man accustomed to luxuries in the suburbs back to the city, where he could get to his business and to the theatre In a cab or hla automobile within, a. few minutes. Of the eighty-five principal build: operations scheduled to go ahead this Fall, representing to all aa estimated value ef $57,815,000. twenty-four are apartment houses, wboee value Is roughly computed at $13,799,000.

Of this total, six alone will aggregate a total expenditure of $4,400,000, or practically halt the cost of the entire two dosen. or the remainder three will cost more than $300. Wio, sad thirteen will represent an expenditure of more than I30U.UOU The high-class apartment house seeker or to-day wants luxury, and the mtfider of the average apartment of thla type builds for his own Investment, not for speculation, first, because the prices available In speculation for finiaoed apartment houses seldom reaeh the eoet price of such a structure aa those million-dollar apartment bouses noted, to say nothing of leaving a margin for the seller. It therefore behooves owners of that -type of building to put in materiel that wtiriaat; Instead ot specifying medium grades of lime and plaster, wire cut front brick, an ordinary slertrlo elevator, and cheap roof tile, he gets the beet grade of lime, he specifies repressed front brick, he gets sn electric traction elevator, and his roof- tle Is suitable for promenade purposes. He can afford to, do thla because his tenants, he knows, will be of the long-term variety, providing be caa give the service required, and he eees that he la rut a position to do this by installing he highest grade of boilers, vacuum cleaner plant, and other requisites ot the modern apartment building.

The only exception te the call for higher gradea of building materials Is that of common brick. No Indication has been -noted of a special call for high-grade material, the Improvement to the market being quite as customary, that la. the selling of large quantities of cheaper frades when the market Is recovering; rom a long period of depression. At this time the manufacturers are holding their best brick for better prices than those of LS to per l.ooo. wholesale, new ruing.

ItariUn Klver common brick is still quoted at $5.25 to per l.OuO, dock. New York, although more new business Is being taken on local contracts for delivery within the next sixty eeye. A fair grade of thla material is coming into the market although ne concerted call for higher gradea Is noted to thie market. In. Newark end the soburbe.

the falling off to speculative buUdUts; has brought about a dull market end the prospects are that there will be Utile new buildmgs coming eut this Fell, aithouga the permits issued by the tenement bouse department New Jersey Indicate a average ef over each Pjeoedtos; week since the middle of August. Most of this work, it thought by distributors In that section, will be held ever until Spring before It goes ahead, so as to avoid uncertainties erialaa ever possible political contingencies. Here to the city Hudson River common brick arrivals a week ago were 54 wlta caTgo sale, of $5 with rive extras i oo hand ea lost Monday. This eh wo that iff, market Is a boor bins; thU wnmodltT while manufacturers are iMrtdtoaT back their ehlpnrents pending a farther strengthening ot the market But the department that best reflects the activity la high class apartment house construction is that ef building hardware and everything in this line that goes Into construction work. The Jobbers report business better than in September a year aye although the trade was very satisfactory last Fall.

The Imprevemeat In business so far this month shows a decided Improvement ever that of July and August, but most ot the business new coming eut Includes much of that 'held up during- the summer. Fall trade is now under way. accord inA ta Jobbers, and the call is prvery 1x4 I WlOWyflli o-4eaear4 i I.