Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 26

OAKLAND TRIBUNE. DECEMBER 22, 1906 ACTIVITY IN REAL ESTATE UNABATED A Very Lively Harket Is Anticipated by Dealers in This City in the Spring. SUNSET TELEPHONE COMPANY'S PACIFIC ANOTHER INDUSTRY COAST MODEL STATION BUILDING ESTABLISHED IN CITY New rianufactory, Which Will Give Employment to a Large Number of Skilled Mechanics. 5 gro win ommM years. The tool manufacturers of the country have, in fact, been for over three years unable to keep abreast with the orders that have poured in upon them from all quarters.

Japan bought i 'lit A Contrary to previous reports, the block bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Jackson and Madison streets, has passed Into the possession of the Doak Gas Engine Company, and not into the hands of the Western Pacific R. R. Co. The extraordinary activity which marked the real estate market in (Oakland and Its enviornments for months past continues unabated. Indeed, if anything, it is growing apace.

The real estate agencies ar- all up to their eyes in business. Purchasers are numerous and the trend of prices all over the city Is upward. some business sections the frontage iis Jumping daily. Some people expected a lull In the jjmarket when the rainy season set in. Qulte the opposite has been the case.

Tot the week ending Wednesday (Iiight, 1239 transfers of realty had filed with the County Recorder. A LIVELY SPRING ANTICIPATED, Kvery man interested directly or indirectly in the real estate market is looking forward to the most strenuous times in the spring. All signs indicate 'it 'APPRECIATION OF LAND VALUES. Outsiders are beginning to under stand the value of land on the eastern bay shore, and they are practically falling over one another in their eagerness to get in as near bedrock prices as possible. Owners of property who formerly lacked proper appreciation of their possessions are now fully awake and estimate its value at something nearer to Its real worth than they ever did before.

In the judgment of the keenest and most cautious observers, prices are likely to advance steadily and materially in the business district, particularly In that section of the city adjacent to the water front, which has been recently Invaded by business. DEMAND FOR OUTSIDE PROPERTY There is a growing demand for outside property, particularly In the Fruit-vale district and beyond. This is evidenced by the recent subdivision of two large outside tracts in Brooklyn township and the filing of maps of the same with the Eoard of Supervisors during the -Ti vM.i The new owners are laying the foundations for the enlargement of the former plantng mill and remodeling it to suit their own wants. It will covet for the present an area of 160x77 feet; but it is the intention of the company to extend the building ultimately so as to embrace the entire block, which has a frontage of 300 feet on Fourth and Fifth streets. A SAN FRANCISCO REFUGEE.

The company is a San Francisco refugee, its. former works stationed on Fourth street, between Howard and Mission, having been totally destroyed in the great conflagration. Temporary quarters were secured at Stege where business was resumed as soon as what tools the company had recovered were assembled. NEARLY ONE HUNDRED EMPLOYES. "We shall start," said W.

Letts Oliver, in a recent interview, "with sixty or seventy men, which is about the number we employed in San Francisco. But as soon as a complete outfit of tools can be obtained we shall quadruple the size and capacity of the works and give employment to a great many more skilled mechanics. SCARCITY OF TOOLS. "It is all a question of tool supply. We are having great difficulty in getting tools.

The stock of all the tool works of the country is sold out. It is a mistake, however, to think that this is due to the San Francisco fire, and the demand for tools to refit its workshops. It grows out of the condition of foreign trade during late WHOLESALE DISTRICT ON FRANKLIN STREET I a model for the company's telephone stations everywhere on the Pacific Coast. It will be as fireproof as the new building of the Oakland Bank of Savings, both having been designed by the same architect. It will also be built A contract is about to be let by the Sunset Telephone Company for its Piedmont Telephone building, to be erected at the corner of Forty-fifth strpet and Telegraph avenue.

MODEL FOR THE PACIFIC COAST. The building has been planned as Franklin street, between Seventh 'and Fourteenth streets, is assuming 'all of the aspects' of a wholesale thoroughfare. Seve'ral of the largest wholesale establishments in the city are quartered upon it. It possesses great advantages for this class of trade, owing to the fact that it is not occupied by a street railroad track. In the matter of building improvements, the neighborhood of Twelfth, ACCEPTED PLAN OF THE NEW BUILDING OF THE OAKLAND BANK OF SAVINGS EFFECT OF ELECTRICITY ON WEBSTER STREET LINE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NEW CHINESE QUARTERS out the whole stock of tools in the United States during the war with Russia; and Europe, South Africa and the Philippines have been since draw- lng enormously on our tool workshlps.

Some of the tools we need cannot be delivered to us for fourteen months. It will be three months before even the more urgent of our orders are filled. PROPOSED EXPANSION OF THE WORKS. "When we have the works fully fitted up," continued Mr. Oliver, "we In- tend that they shall be four times as large as they were In San Francisco, for there is a big demand In that city now for gasoline engines of all descriptions.

Our works will manufacture stationary marine and portable engines; also engines suitable for hoisting and pumping in mining. Besides adding to the wings of the mill, we are fitting the iiiterlor with a traveling crane to carry heavy weights; but unless sonething unfor-seen happens, we will be In running order by January 1." INVESTMENT IN, THE ENTER-1 PRISE. The establishment of this new industry will have a stimulating effect on real estate in that section of the city, which already Is the scene of extraordinary business and industrial development. The company's enterprise means an immediate investment of over 100,000, and it will probably exceed $150,000 by the time all the improvements planned are carried out, which will be done as quickly as possible. new buildings erected in the new Chinese quarters, which give the latter nil of that characteristic Orientalism in architectural decoration which made the old Chinatown In San Francisco so attractive to visitors and globe tourists.

LATEST IMPROVEMENTS. The whole of the frontage of the block on west side of Harrison, between Fourth and Fifth streets, has passed into the possession of the Chinese. The old Glascock homestead, 100x150, has been covered for over two months by a three-story building with stores underneath. Now the other half of the block Is undergoing a corresponding change. On the south sode of Sixth street, between Webster and Harrison, a new two-story building, with three stores occupying the ground floor, has Just been started In the middle of the block.

Arrangements are being made for the erection of a new business building in the middle of the block on tho east side of Alice street, between Fifth and Sixth, displacing a cottage residence, which must be moved off within one week. The northwest corner of Fifth and Alice, in the same block, 75x75, is already covered by a substantial three-story wooden building. containing seven stores on the ground floor, and the upper floor arranged ex clusively for manufacturing. Nearly the whole of lower Webster street, from First street to Seventy Is now occupied exclusively by busl ness. LAND VALUES 'INCREASING.

Land values throughout this section continue to steadily advance. Very little, if any, property can now be bought in this district for less than $200 per-front foot, and along the lint of First street, between Broadway and it Is rated at $350 per front foot. An offer 'Of $300 per front foot was refused less than three weeks ago. The official announcement made by E. E.

Cajvln, the general manager of the Southern Pacific Company, that it has let all contracts for the conversion and equipment of the local steam line on Webster street as an electric railroad has had a magical effect upon property values on that thoroughfare, which is now devoted almost exclusively to business from First to The accepted plans of the elevation of the new building at the northwest corner of Broadway and Twelfth street, which Is to be occupied by the Oakland Bank and Savings and the Bankers' Trust Company, are a modification of the original design by architect C. W. Dickey. Most of the ornate work on the exterior walls shown in the first plans submitted has been eliminated. BUILDING MATERIALS USED.

The structure will be six stories in height above the street level. The first story will be constructed of California granite. Above that Roman brick and terra cotta will be used. The building will be finished off with a copper cornice around its four sides. All of th5 first floor, except the passage to the upper part of the building, will be occupied by the bank.

To this banking room there will be three entrances one on Broadway and two on the Twelfth street side. BIGGEST BANKING ROOM IN THE STATE. It will be the biggest banking room ADVANCE IN LAND VALUES ON BROADWAY Thirteenth and Fourteenth' streets, on this thoroughfare, is one of the busiest quarters In the city, and the improvements in process of erection are among the most important and imposing Just now under way. It will become still more important from a business standpoint as soon as the Southern Pacific Company begins to put up the permanent improvements it Is now planning to build at the terminus of the South Pacific Coast line. Fourteenth street.

There are strong indications thafc the upper end of this street will be finally incorporated in the wholesale district. The William Cluff Company, wholesale grocers, has abandoned the temporary quarters occupied by.it for several months past on Franklin and entered more permanent quarters on the northwest corner of Webster and Tenth streets. erty owners are holding out for much larger figures than prevailed the earlier part of the year, when some frontage could have been obtained there probably at $330 per front foot. It is doubtful whether any can be obtained in that quarter now for less than $600 per front foot, if, Indeed, it is obtainable at that figure. commissioned by Mr.

McNear to draw a new design. This building will cost approximately $130,000, and will be an ornament to the neighborhood, as well as an important addition to Oakland's hotel accommodations. whose aggregate value represents an expenditure of While there is no means of determining the point positively, the cost for new buildings represents probably less than one-fourth the amount of money that has been employed in the same period in the manipulation of real estate directly associated with these new structures. of the same materials, only the interior walls will be lined with white brick instead of plaster. ESTIMATED COST.

It is estimated that the cost of the new station will approximate $45,000. pumps on the premises directly from the well. INTERIOR FITTINGS. The offices in the building will be fitted with every modern convenience electric light and power, steam heaters, compressed air, hot and cold running water, extra supply and waste for dentists, telephone, messenger call and metal cabinets. The bank will be sud- 4 plied with tempered air blowers, cool In and warm In winter.

Besides the two elevators for general use, there will be a smaller one placed in the building, exclusively for the use of the bank, and running from the basement to the second floor. The basement will contain the package vault. The bookkeepers will occupy the space over the vault, and the legal department the second floor. PROGRESS OF THE WORK. The massive foundations of the building are nearly finished.

Most of the steel work to be used is on the ground and the remainder is in transit. The building will cost, completed, between $350,000 and $400,000. IN ID0RA PARK mn along the sides of the pavilion for the use of spectators. JAPANESE EFFECTS. The Japanese color effect on the roof, to correspond with its form, will be produced by painting the same between the ribs in green.

The ribs will be painted a rich brown, and their ends will be touched up in bright scarlet and gold. The new rink will be the handsomest in the country and will doubtless add immensely to the popularity of Idora Park. The work is being pushed vigorously in order to have the rink open next month. A CHRISTMAS TRIP Miss Ellabelle Mae Doolittle. the Lees-vllle poetess, was asked last week to write an epitaph for the stone to be put on the grave of little Mary Winkle of Leesville, who died recently from eating peanuts, Jam, three bananas, some lard and drinking a bottle of sewing machine oil.

Miss Doolittle turned out the following little gem: Little Mary Winkle, Lies here below; She's gone to another land. Don't you know. Although to her dear papa and mamma Her trip to heaven came As a beautiful Christmas present temperature of the body. "Thus, when you shiver, nature is putting you through a little course of exercise to warm you up, so that you won't take a cold, or a dose of rheumatism, or an attack of pneumonia. When nature shakes you up in this kindly way.

it is your duty to help her out by moving briskly about for a while, thus making asolutely sure your immunity from iilnev' $50,000 RINK BEING ERECTED During the past eight months property values along the line of Broadway have undergone a remarkable change, and they are still advancing. The latest transfers showed a maximum frontage value of $4000 per front foot. In the neighborhood of Fourteenth. Values on the lower part of Broadway are in an uncertain condition. Prop The new Chinese quarters below Seventh street and east of Broadway is undergoing changes daily.

So far as new building is concerned it continues to be one of the most active parts of the city. The value of improvements in the heart of the city is, of course, immensely greater, because those improvements are made of more stable and costly materials, but In no part of Oakland of equal area are there so many carpenters employed, as In the district described, erecting new-structures or changing old ones to accomodate the wants of the colony. Xearly every foot of ground formerly vacant In this neighborhood and eight months ago there was a vast amount of it has since been covered with bufldings. CHANGES IN THE CHARACTER OF BUILDINGS. The first buildings to be erected on the line of First and Second and Alice and Harrison streets were cheap structures hurriedly put together and not intended for permanent occupation.

Since then everything has changed, some of the strongest three and four-story wooden buildings ever erected in Oakland have been built there within the last two months or so. These are to be occupied by important Chinese manufacturing industries. One of these otands on the southwest corner of Second and Jackson streets, covering an area of 150x100 feet. Its floors have been built to carry the heaviest kind of machinery. Its exterior has a posl- tive Oriental or pagoda-like appearance with Its double tier of balconies.

THE CHINESE THEATER. The Chinese erected at the southwest corner of Alice and Second streets is rapidly approaching completion. ORIENTAL ARCHITECTURE IN VOGUE. Several Oriental restaurants have been opened In the upper stories of in California. It will be furnished with 250 feet of bank counter, which will also be the largest on the Pacific Coast.

STRICTLY FIREPROOF. The building will be as nearly flre-prcof as it will be possible for human skill or ingenuity to make it. No wood will be used In its construction. The floors will be built of cement. Doors and window-sashes and frames will be metal, with wired glass panes and automatic rolling steel sjftitters.

Bven thf; two rapid hydauljfo elevators will be enclosed in a fireproof shaft with wired glass in the doors. OTHER PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FIRE. As an additional protection against fire an artesian well will be sunk on the premises. Power will be generated in the building, fuel oil being used in the production of steam. Hydrants will be placed on every floor and on the roof, which, in the event of fire, will be served by the engine and on the Pacific Coast whose roof is unsupported by posts.

The great span of the roof will be sustained by steel trusses, leaving a clear field for the vision throughout the interior. These trusses cost $22,000. In the center of the oblong will be a band stand, elevated eight feet above the floor of the rink, which can thus be seen and heard from every part of the structure. A cafe will also be located within the central area. All of that part of the rink lying outside of the pavilion proper will be enclosed with glass sides.

An amphitheater of seats will WHAT SHIVER MEANS. At the Thanksgiving football game the young girl, despite her sable stole, shivered. "That shiver," said her companion, a physician, "is nature's method of warning you. It is nature's preventive remedy for a cold. "You see, the shiver is an involuntary rythmical contraction of the muscles, and there is nothing like a contraction of the muscles for raising the side their liqueur, a tooth paste, a salve and a pill for the purification of the blood.

"The Trappist monks make a high-priced chocolate the best chocolate, it is said, to be found in all Europe. "The Carthusian, monks in some of their monasteries carry on a printing business. The "Trappists of Canada run huge dairy farms. The monks of Mount Bernard, in England, run a I REVISING THE PLANS OF NEW ARCADE HOTEL The first plans which George W. JtfcNear had drawn for the New Arcade Hotel, at the junction of Grove street nd San Pablo avenue, have been discarded, and C.

W. Dickey has been i NEW BUILDINGS IN CITY OF OAKLAND DURING 1906 Fifty thousand dollars Is being spent at present in the remodeling of the roller skating rink at Idora Park. The accompanying sketch gives a bird's eye view of It as it will appear when finished. The effect to be produced In form and coloring is strictly Japanesque. ALL UNDER ROOF.

The new rink will be entirely roofed over, and it embraces the whole of the openalr oblong which It displaces. The main pavilion, located at the western end of the oblong, will be the largest MONKS IN BUSINESS. The Thanksgiving dinner concluded with black coffees and liqueurs. In their quaint, squat bottles the liqueurs, in color as clear as emerald or topai, In taste as pure and delicate as honey, made a brave show beside the glistening coffee service of old silver. "All the best liqueurs," said the host, "are made by monks.

The Bene-dictine monks, the monks of-la Trappe and those of la Grande Chartreuse make famous liqueurs, while the monks of the Black Forest in Germany make from cherries a. white liqueur that epicures swear by. "For hundreds of years, in some cases, those monks have made their liqueurs, and year by4 year their output becomes richer a clear proof that in the manufacture of food products no matter what anybody says, is not essential to success. "The Benedictine make, be- IfMETAMORPHOSIS OF Walter B. Fawcett, the secretary of the Board of Public Works, has compiled the work of the year in the matter of construction of new buildings In this lty, whtchvmakes an instructive showing.

According to the permits Issued by the board from December 15, 1905, to the cloee of business on December 16. 190C, permits- for 2839 buildings were Issued. CAIRE HOMESTEAD CHANGES IN CLARERIONT HOTEL EQUIPMENT by Chinese traders. This assumes the extension, of the business section of Chinatown eastward to Alice on Eighth street, as it has already taken possession of a portion of the eastern half of the block. NOT A KNOCK.

Mrs. WUley Does she know any thing about bringing up children? Mrs. Wallcy Sure: she's a club worn-' jurnat4 Ver bad Somnrlu The. Justinian Caire homestead at the northeast corner of Eighth and Harrison streets, which was sold over three months ago for $35,000, is undergoing a complete metamorphorsis. The lot is 175x125.

The old family mansion is now being moved to the corner, where it will be raised and a row of stores on the Harrison and eighth street frontage- are to be erected on the property for occupation Some important changes have been made ta the equipment of tourist hoteL This building Is rapidly drawing toward completion. The roof Is now being laid. Every- thing about It is being rushed to put it into service as early as possible..