Selling Lower Manhattan Tenements in 1908
With Photographic Views and Survey Maps
A remarkable real estate auction catalogue with photographic street views and survey maps of a wide range of buildings in Lower Manhattan, part of the estate of Stephen Whitney, one of the first multi-millionaires in the city. The catalogue showcases commercial and residential buildings with accompanying descriptions and photographic street views of the buildings offered for sale, along with detailed information about each property’s structure, lease terms, rent obligations, and surrounding transportation infrastructure.
The detailed survey maps and photographic views are notable, the latter often inadvertently showing business signs, pedestrians and onlookers, as well as horse-drawn carts and carriages. The photographer is not identified. The booklet itself was printed by Martin B. Brown Co., Printers and Lithographers, 49-57 Park Place.
The Joseph P. Day auction catalog provides a valuable historical record of New York City real estate during a period of rapid urban expansion. The documentation of tenement housing, warehouses, and commercial spaces, alongside details about lease structures and transportation, offers insight into early 20th-century property investment trends and land value considerations. The catalog also reflects the architectural and economic landscape of Manhattan and Brooklyn at a time when industrial and residential developments were shaping the city's future. A notice in the New York Times described this sale of thirty-one parcels in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as one of the most important real estate offerings of the season. Among the properties to be sold: the Hotel Raleigh, on Broadway, opposite Bond Street, with the remaining Manhattan parcels situated in Lower Manhattan.
Includes the following properties:
Borough of Manhattan
- 108-110 Norfolk Street
- 31 West Street
- 90 Washington Street
- 21 Pearl Street
- 25 Pearl Street
- 32 Pearl Street
- 121 Broad Street
- 31 Front Street
- 47 Front Street
- 40 Front Street
- 65 Front Street
- 298 Madison Street
- 211 Monroe Street
- 663 Broadway to 230 Mercer Street (Raleigh Hotel)
- 418-420 Sixth Street
And the following (the buildings whereon belonged to the tenants under privilege of renewal or removal):
- 302 Madison Street
- 376 Madison Street
- 201-203-208 Monroe Street
- 316-318-320 Sixth Street
- 88-90 First Avenue
- 414-416 Sixth Street
Borough of Brooklyn
- 85 Prospect Street, 125-127 Pearl Street, and 4-6 Tallman Street, adjoining approach to Manhattan Bridge No. 3.