Fifth Avenue — Old and New
 

Fifth  Avenue To-day

By

WILLIAM J. PEDRICK,

in collaboration with FREDERICK N. SARD

'T can not play upon any stringed instru¬
ment; but I can tell you how of a little
village to make a great and glorious city."
Themistocles

History Is change; we wish to measure the change. For us, there is an apparent
choice of units with which to do so. The progress from one generation to another
may be estimated in any of several valuations: that of the artist, that of the
student of society, that of the economist. And each description, though It seems to
differ from the others, will be concerned with the same thing—will be telling the
same story.

To Fifth Avenue, one hundred years brought a new world of commerce, a
new type of architecture, a vastly varied population. These are not separate facts^—
there Is only one fact: Fifth Avenue has grown. Of this growth a table of realty
values Is only seemingly a one-sided Index;  actually it is the final test.

The earliest recorded assessment of real estate on Fifth Avenue occurs in the
year 1826, when the section from Washington Arch to 13th Street was valued by
the authorities at 314,600.

Our readers w^ill appreciate the importance of presenting for the first time a
comparative table of realty values In the Fifth Avenue section from 1826 to 1924.
 

A   Century   of Realty  Values
 

District                                  Date      Value            1924 Value        Exempt 1924

FIFTH AVENUE                                                            in Dollars

Arch to 13th Street.......................    1826        14,600             8,128,000               1,167,000

13th to 23d Street........................    1836      405,000            29,541,500

23d to 34tli Street........................    1838      246,500            61,947,000               1,000,000

34th to 40th Street.......................    1838      138,800            71,802,000               2,390,000

40th to 86th Street.......................    1841      397,000          259,611,000             53,250,000

86th to 110th Street......................    1841      173,000            22,287,000             11,613,000

MADISON AVENUE

23d to 40th Street........................    1840      112,300            59,462,000               1,950,000

40th to 59th Street.......................    1864      936,000            64,064,000              1,290,000

PARK AVENUE

34th to 40th Street.......................    1844        33,100            10,874,000                 800,000

40th to 59th Street.......................    1855      297,510            85,746,000              3,310,000

59th to 86th Street.......................    1855      219,000            53,104,000             16,000,000

CROSSTOWN

Lexington Avenue or Irving Place to Sixth Avenue

14th Street..............................    1836      184,000            13,265,000

23d Street...............................    1838      158,000            25,428,000

34th Street..............................    1840       49,375            27,616,000                 800,000

42d Street...............................    1841        43,200            33,861,000

57th Street..............................    1841        15,000            26,494,000                 890,000

59th Street..............................    1841        12,000            10,409,000                 155,000
 

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