166 COMMISSION OX BUILDING DISTRICTS 



So far, however, as factories can be located near residential zones, it 

 would decrease the rush-hour congestion on our transit lines, and, what is 

 more important, it would give the factory workers more time to sleep, more 

 time for lunch, and more time for themselves, instead of spending their 

 time as they do now in the cars, the subways and the elevated. 



Statement by Lawson Ptjkdy, President, Department of Taxes and 



Assessments, May 8, 1916 

 Value of real estate depreciated by haphazard development 



I have been President of the Department of Taxes and Assessments 

 since 1906, and during that time there have been an average of eight to ten 

 thousand applications for the reduction of the assessed value of real 

 estate filed annually with the department. I have personally examined and 

 been familiar with more than fifty per cent of such applications. These 

 applications gave reasons in behalf of the owner of the property for his 

 conclusion that the assessed value is more than the actual value. By the 

 examination of these applications I have become familiar with many of 

 the causes for the decline in value in real estate in various parts of the city. 

 A very large proportion of such applications contain allegations to the ef- 

 fect that the value of buildings has been depreciated by the erection of 

 buildings in the neighborhood, sometimes adjoining, which covered too large 

 a proportion of the area of the lot, or are too high, or both. Many applica- 

 tions have stated that the character of the neighborhood has been depreci- 

 ated through the erection of buildings of great height and housing a very 

 large number of factory workers. This intense use of the land has re- 

 sulted in street congestion, both for vehicular traffic and pedestrian traffic. 

 It has, moreover, so darkened the streets and the interior of blocks as to 

 render neighboring buildings unprofitable. 



As a result of my experience I am confident that in order to preserve 

 the value of land, which is another mode of expressing the idea of pre- 

 serving the opportunity to put land to its most profitable economic use, and 

 to preserve the value of buildings, it is essential that no building should be 

 permitted which would not serve as a suitable type, both as to height and 

 as to area of land covered, for the development of all the territory suitable 

 for the erection of such buildings. The proper height and area of land to be 

 covered must depend upon the character of use. There must be room for 

 vehicular and pedestrian traffic on streets. And there must be adequate light 

 and air for every building without stealing light and air from neighbors. 



Depreciation of values in loft section 



The evil effects of failure to protect property owners from the ill- 

 considered action of their neighbors, is well illustrated by the decline in the 

 value of the land between Union Square and Madison Square, and between 

 Seventh Avenue and Broadway. In 1911 land on Twenty-third Street, on 

 the south side between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, was assessed at 

 $285,000 a lot; in 1916, at $80,000 a lot. In 1911, between Fourteenth 

 Street and Twenty-third Street, on Sixth Avenue, land was assessed from 

 $85,000 a lot to $175,000 a lot ; in 1916 the same land is assessed at $50,000 

 a lot to $80,000. In 1911, the lowest assessment on Fifth Avenue, between 

 Fourteenth Street and Madison Square, was $100,000 a lot. rising to over 

 $200,000 a lot. In 1916, the assessment ranges from $75,000 to $90,000. 

 In the intervening cross streets, from Fifteenth Street to Twenty-second 

 Street, loft buildings were erected, twelve stories high, and when first 



