394 



NEW YORK CITY. 



years of age and over numbered 107,323, or 27.60 

 per cent, in 1899-1900 the proportion was 23.41 

 per cent, and the number 79,988. Out of the total 

 immigration the percentage of deportations was 

 1.04 in 1899-1900 and 0.8U in last year. 



Real Estate. The year 1901 was the most re- 

 markable year that New York city has ever had 

 in the volume of business transacted in the real- 

 estate market and in the building industry. It 

 was marked by the incorporation, lollowed almost 

 immediately by active operations, of syndicates 

 with enormous capital for dealing in real estate, 

 and likewise by the incorporation of building, 

 loan, and trust companies for the erection of 

 gigantic structures such as had never before been 

 contemplated. 



The recorded transactions at the Register's of- 

 fice numbered 15,919 transfers of realty, against 

 14,587 in 1900, and the consideration involved in 

 these transfers was increased from $114,243,112 

 in 1900 to $156,413,052. There was a marked 

 advance in the price of real estate, as the average 

 price per parcel in 1900 was only $17,800, and in 

 the last year it was $21,900. The expressed con- 

 sideration has heretofore, in one or two years, 

 exceeded the figures of last year, but owing to 

 the fact of the formation of the syndicates 

 many of which were for speculative purposes 

 the deeds to the largest transactions were re- 

 corded at what, on the real-estate market, is 

 known as a nominal consideration, consequently 

 no figures could be obtained. The transactions 

 of this character in 1900 were only 25 per cent. 

 of the total, while last year they were 60 per 

 cent. 



South of City Hall, the sale of old buildings, 

 which were torn down and upon which the latest 

 improved office buildings were or are being built, 

 was most remarkable. This was due to the de- 

 mands of extensive business corporations from 

 all parts of the country, which were establishing 

 headquarters in New York. Perhaps the most 

 remarkable movement, however, has been that on 

 Fifth Avenue. In 1900 but 81 conveyances were 

 recorded south of the northerly limit of Central 

 Park, while in 1901 164 parcels of realty were 

 transferred in that district. Between 23d and 50th 

 Streets the avenue became more and more valu- 

 ble as a site for fashionable shops. Property 

 here that could have been bought a few years ago 

 for $20 a square foot, sold last year as high as 

 $72 a square foot. 



Farther up the avenue, opposite Central Park, 

 the character of this thoroughfare was determined 

 definitely by the .erection of the fine mansion of 

 Andrew Carnegie and the purchase of mansions 

 or ground for the erection of palatial residences 

 by the magnates of the Steel Trust and other 

 millionaires. 



Another center of great activity was around 

 Greeley Square, at the junction of Broadway, 

 Sixth Avenue, and 34th Street, where two of the 

 largest retail dry-goods companies began opera- 

 tions for the erection of mammoth establishments. 

 They paid the highest price ever known in this 

 locality for the large properties they purchased. 

 Then, too, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 

 purchased the two blocks of ground between 32d 

 and 33d Streets, between Seventh and Ninth Ave- 

 nues, at various prices. One house in 32d Street, 

 between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, they ac- 

 quired for $16,500, while for a precisely similar 

 house adjoining they paid $26,000. On these two 

 blocks, the company announced in December that 

 they proposed to erect a great central station, to 

 be connected with their main line by a tunnel 

 under the North river and by another tunnel to 



the East Side and under the East river to connect 

 with the Long Island Railroad. 



Immediately after the advent of 1900 real-.estate 

 speculators appreciated the fact that the new 

 rapid-transit railroad which will run through 

 42d Street and thence up Broadway would, upon 

 its completion, very greatly enhance the value 

 of property around Longacre Square, as one of 

 its most important stations in the center of the 

 city will be there, and their purchases caused 

 an advance of 30 to 35 per cent, in realty 

 around it. Plans were filed for three hotels and 

 a theater and 14 apartment-houses thereabouts. 

 One of the hotels is to be erected on the south- 

 east corner of 42d Street and Broadway the site 

 of the old St. Cloud Hotel by William Waldorf 

 Astor, and the preparatory work was begun. 

 This hotel is to rival all others in New York. 



There were extensive purchases of land in large 

 parcels, many of them belonging to old estates, 

 on Washington Heights and in the borough of 

 the Bronx, at constantly advancing prices, by 

 speculative syndicates and extensive operators, 

 who in many cases resold to builders, loaning 

 them money for the erection of buildings. 



In the building trade, many new and interest- 

 ing features were developed. The plans filed in 

 the Department of Buildings in Manhattan and 

 the Bronx called for the erection of 2,512 build- 

 ings, at a cost of $118,897,820. The figures show 

 a large increase over those of the years previous, 

 in which the number of buildings planned was 

 1,969, and their estimated cost $57,233,355. Five 

 years ago the average cost of new buildings con- 

 structed on the island of Manhattan was but lit- 

 tle over $20,000. In 1899 it had increased to a 

 little more than $25,000, while last year it rose 

 to $48,000. The distinctive feature has been the 

 erection of apartment hotels, and these have 

 sprung up like mushrooms in the residential quar- 

 ter of the city. The largest of these was erected 

 on the southeast corner of 63d Street and Madison 

 Avenue, and is 100 feet square and 13 stories high. 



Every person who has visited New York will 

 remember the triangle known as " the Flat-iron," 

 bounded by Fifth Avenue and Broadway and 22d 

 and 23d Streets, which comes to a point in front 

 of the Fifth Avenue Hotel and Madison Square. 

 This was sold to a syndicate, the old buildings 

 occupying the site were torn down, and work was 

 begun on a 20-story office-building. 



In the borough of Brooklyn, the total number 

 of conveyances of realty in 1901 was 16,231, 

 against 15,814 in 1900, while the monetary con- 

 sideration in the latter year was $25,101,230 and 

 in 1901 it was $24,127,386, showing a decrease on 

 an increased number of transactions. The total 

 number of mortgages recorded was 12,343, against 

 12,534 in 1900. The total amount last year was 

 $67,889,940, against $53,050,825. Plans were filed 

 for 3,272 new buildings, at an estimated cost of 

 $17,992,075, against 2,982, at a cost of $16,274,189 

 in 1900. 



Political. The regular election was held on 

 Nov. 5, and unusual interest was manifested, 

 owing to the fact that a determined effort was 

 made to defeat the Democratic ticket, which bore 

 the names of the Tammany candidates. There 

 were 7 tickets in the field, as follow: Republican, 

 Democratic, Prohibition, Socialist-Labor, Social- 

 Democrat, Citizens' Union, and Greater New York 

 Democracy, the last two of which nominated the 

 same candidates as were on the Republican ticket, 

 which in consequence became known as the Fu- 

 sion ticket. The candidates were as follow: Re- 

 publican Mayor, Seth Low; Comptroller, Ed- 

 ward M. Grout; President of the Board of Alder- 



