286 BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



costly church edifices. On Fifth, Madison and Park ave- 

 nues they are particularly large, and constitute a striking 

 feature in the street scenery. Brownstone has been the 

 common material in their construction. 



The up-town streets near the park contain many new 

 apartment-houses, built of brick, trimmed with stone. There 

 is, however, an apparent increase in the use of brick in their 

 construction over that of stone, corresponding to the demand 

 for apartment-houses in preference to the older styles of 

 dwelling-houses. 



Above Fifty-ninth street and west of Central park, there 

 is an extraordinarily large amount of building in progress 

 and whole blocks of costly houses are in course of erection. 

 The ground is high, the situation between the park and 

 the river is good, and the more eligible sites are held at high 

 prices. They are being occupied by a superior class of 

 dwelling-houses. The style of fronts in these newer houses 

 is much more varied than on Fifth avenue and the streets 

 below the park, and there is a much greater variety of stone 

 used. Instead of rows of houses of the same stone, a com- 

 mon practice in this part of the city is the use of eight or ten 

 kinds of stone in a block, and so that no two adjoining build- 

 ings are of the same stone. Limestones thus alternate with 

 sandstones, and these latter are of various shades of color, 

 combining to produce a pleasing effect, and relieve the 

 monotony incidental to the use of a single variety. For these 

 new^er constructions Connecticut brownstone is less employed 

 and there is more of the oolitic limestones from Indiana, the 

 red sandstones from Lake Superior, Ohio sandstones, the 

 Longmeadow sandstones, and the blue sandstones from 

 western New York. 



East of the park on the cross streets, there is more brick 

 and relatively less stone, excepting for trimmings, but on 

 the avenues more stone is used. And there are more 

 apartment-houses, which may be said to be true of all of the 

 avenues up town. 



