WHEN BUSINESS
IS CALLING.
To be the instrumentality by which fellow beings may
attain to the independence, the self respect, the manliness, the happiness and
the contentment that comes from owning a home; comes nearer being a calling than
a business.
It is therefore with the greatest enthusiasm, and a
full sense of its responsibility, that the Hammond & Suburban Realty Co.
presents the Kenwood Addition for the consideration of the discriminating
homeseeker.
Kenwood is the most progressive step yet taken in
this vicinity in the direction of providing an ideal home site at a moderate
cost on easy terms, thus placing a first-class property within the reach of most
everybody.
In the series of articles which follows, we explain some of the features of the new addition which we believe make Kenwood the most desirable place of residence in Hammond. For our mutual benefit we suggest a careful perusal of the entire series.
THE SETTING FOR
A HOME.
You have seen a little inexpensive home, half hidden
in a nest of bushes in a “fairy garden spot”, as the Poet Riley says, that
seemed more beautiful to you than the great $30,000 mansion that sits stiff and
aching with formality in the center of a small close cropped lawn.
The small house had the proper setting, the large
house did not. There is a
difference between a home and a place to live.
Most of the houses in Hammond are simply places to live.
Too little attention is paid to landscape gardening.
Even though a person were
disposed to beautify his yard by planting trees and shrubs the prevailing
ignorance of the subject of landscape gardening would be likely to result in a
botch of the job and a consequent loss of time and money.
The Kenwood addition is to be Hammond’s first
garden city. It has been laid out
by landscape artists of great renown. Not
only have they provided a general scheme of planting, but they will draft a
separate plan to be presented free of charge with every sale of lots.
Every home that is built in Kenwood will have its own
setting of foliage designed to accord with the architecture of the house.
The Chicago architectural firm of Cole & Meinereman has been employed
to furnish a landscape gardening plan to all who build in this ideal
subdivision.
Not only is each home given an attractive setting,
but by having the same artist make the landscape gardening plans for every
homesite in the subdivision, a certain uniformity in planning is assured.
Thus the same kind of trees will be planted and they
will be in orderly rows, a certain distance from the street.
The result will be so remarkably beautiful that values in Kenwood are
sure to increase.
HOW VALUES ARE
MADE.
These ridges and sloughs were valueless 100 years
ago. An Indian trail became a stage
coach route, the stage coach route became a country highway.
Two or more of these highways intersect and become trading centers.
Railroads are attracted by the activity, and finally a city develops.
Thus values are created.
Every improvement made in a city reflects value on
the property within a certain radius. The
man who wants to be near the country club, the man who values good neighbors
whose attractive yards and gardens make his home more pleasant; the man who
likes order instead of chaos, will eventually pay more for Kenwood property, for
values will grow.
Thus, in determining the present and prospective
value of a piece of property, every improvement in the immediate vicinity adds
to its value, and the tendency to continue the making of these improvements
points to future increases in values.
The builders of the Kenwood addition took this into
consideration. To start with, they
secured all of the property south of Glendale Park, which contains the finest
aggregation of residences in Northern Indiana, property which is logically an
extension of Homewood.
The property was platted liberally.
Restrictions insured the erection only of attractive homes.
Sewers have been built, walks, curb and gutter are being laid, the paving
of streets will be completed by the summer of 1913, the city has authorized the
water put in, and the gas company will provide immediate service to all who
build.
A score of fine residences will be built immediately.
In another year the present low prices will be increased to cover these
certain increases in value.
AN IDEA – THE
BASEMENT GARAGE.
Nature began making Kenwood addition five or ten
thousand years ago. We have the
exact figures concerning everything else about the addition excepting this.
At any rate a good many thousands of years ago this
country was covered with a great sheet of ice.
This ice moved from the north to the south, a few feet every year, like
an enormous river. Such formations
of ice are called glaciers.
This glacier receded, leaving long beaches here and
there. There is one at Dyer, one at
Highland, one at Hammond, running through Kenwood addition.
These beaches are the only elevations of land in northern Lake county.
Thus while the rest of Hammond is built in the
sloughs, where houses must be erected on stilts in order to provide a basement;
deep cellars are possible in the Kenwood addition.
Advantage has been taken of this and the sewers are
from six to twelve feet under the ground. Thus
the houses will be more attractive and the cellars more valuable.
Beautiful terraced lawns are possible.
Kenwood is the only place in Hammond where the
basement garage is possible. Think
what that means. Many of these lots
are four, five, six and seven feet above the grade of the street.
The elevation makes it possible to build a driveway
on an easy grade into the basement; where a part of the space that is usually
wasted can be used for a garage: There
is $400 to $600 saved.
And think of the convenience of having your automobile in a comfortable basement from which you can drive in the cold spring and fall months without spending half an hour to warm up your engine. You may not expect to get a car right away, but when you do the basement garage will save you money.
WE EXCLUDE
ANARCHISTS.
A man bought a lot in Homewood, he was among the
first to buy and consequently had the choice of the property.
Some one else bought the plot next to him and erected a three-story flat
building. It towered above him, was
ugly to look at and ruined his property. The
man is now willing to sell for less than he paid, but can find no buyers.
He declares that he would not think of living there himself.
No flat buildings are permitted in
Kenwood.
A man bought a lot on Calumet Avenue.
He looked forward to the erection of a fine home.
A foreigner bought the lot next to him, built a shack-of-a-house, a barn
out of old boxes, filled his back yard with chicken coops and then raised
potatoes and corn in his front yard. You
can buy Mr. Man’s Calumet Avenue lot for 25 per cent off when it should have
increased in value. You
can’t built a house costing less than $2,500 in Kenwood.
Other people have bought residential property only to
have stores or saloons built next to them.
Frequently a neighbor, with a false sense of economy, erects a house on a
twenty-five or thirty-foot lot and shuts off your light.
Your only recourse is to profanity.
Business houses are excluded from Kenwood:
there is a twenty year restriction against saloons; no house may be built
on less than 50 feet, all houses must be built back of an established building
line.
In short, Kenwood
excludes the anarchist, the man who refuses to conform to certain
restrictions that are conceded to be in the interests of the community as a
whole. If you believe in orderly,
uniform development and want to be protected from the man who does not –buy in
Kenwood.
WE COMPEL
RESULTS.
With becoming modesty we assert that we are live
wires; what’s more, we demonstrate it.
Remarkable things have been accomplished in Kenwood in a few brief
months.
Forty acres of raw acreage were purchased from the
Zachau heirs in October, 1911. We
had it surveyed, made a score of plats of the property until we got one that
suited us. Got that accepted.
We donated 54 feet for the straightening of Hohman
Street and then the county paved it to a width of 40 feet.
We are now petitioning for the oiling of the street.
Those interested in the development of the south side aided us in getting
a $40,000 concrete bridge over the Little Calumet river.
That bridge will be complete during the summer of 1913.
We let the contract for a complete sewer system,
that’s built. The contract for a
mile and a half of cement walk, curb and gutter is let and will be built at
once.
We are assured for immediate water service, the
Northern Indiana Gas & Electric company has received the pipe for gas main
extensions, we have graded a mile of streets, petitioned for and secured the
opening of Kenwood avenue and are now petitioning for the paving of nearly a
mile of asphalt macadam streets.
We will curb the county pavement on State Line
street, have Kenwood avenue opened through to Burnham avenue in West Hammond and
boulevarded; the east side of Hohman street is to be parked with dense shrubbery
to a width of 24 feet in accordance with plans by our expert landscape gardener,
and a dozen fine residences will be erected this year.
The very magnitude of these
operations must compel attention.
Beware of buying property from the man who plats his
property and goes to sleep on his blue prints.
When you buy in a subdivision you take stock in the enterprise as a
whole. Don’t tie up with the man
who sells out a subdivision as a speculative proposition. The development of
Kenwood is real. Are you casting
your lot with live ones?
A SESSION WITH
THE BANKER.
Now supposing you were a
banker. Supposing you, on the money
side of the mahogany table, looked over your glasses, sized up your customer and
listened to his request for that loan which he must secure somewhere before his
ambition to be a freeholder, the owner of a home, may be realized.
The first questions you ask are:
“Where is your property? What
did you pay for it? Has it
increased in value since you bought it? Are
the assessments high? Is there a
prospect of a future increase in value?”
How essential it is, then, when purchasing your lots
that you not only get full value for your money, but that you buy property that
will be regarded as the most acceptable security for a loan.
And mark this: No
banker, or other lender of money, will advance you the funds with which to build
even a moderate priced house unless the value of your lot is equal to at least a
third of the amount of your loan.
Therefore, high grade, amply restricted property in
the better neighborhoods, where the average character of the houses is first
class, affords the best security for the loan that must finally be made before
the dream of a home will come true.
Picture the bitter disappointment of the owner of a
homesite, acquired only after years of economy, learning from his banker that
the property is going back that its value is questionable and last of all that
it is impossible to make a loan sufficient to build even a moderate house on
such security.
Pick out one of the splendid homesites in Kenwood, pay cash if you can; if not, let us sell it on easy payments, the certain increase in value will assure you a good rate of interest on the investment, and when the time comes to build your home you can go to your banker with assurance that your application for a loan will receive favorable consideration.
SPECIAL
ASSESSMENT EVILS.
Too little is known of the important subject of city
building. How many subdividers
discriminate between main traffic thoroughfares and a street that will never be
utilized for other than residential purposes.
While all streets should be wide, most pavements
should be narrow. A street is an
allotment of land for general traffic purposes and extends from lot line to lot
line. The pavement is that portion
of the street which is devoted to wheeled traffic.
It is easy to determine what streets are likely to
become thoroughfares; what streets will have traction lines and will some day be
congested with automobile, carriages and wagon traffic.
The pavements on those streets should be wide.
But where is the sense, the economic justification
for paving a street that is exclusively residential to a width of 40 or 50 feet.
An exclusively residential street need never be paved to a width greater
than 25 feet. A short residential street will find a pavement 20 feet wide
ample.
The pavements in Kenwood are all of a minimum width
to reduce the assessments. The only
thoroughfares in the subdivision are Hohman and State Line streets and Kenwood
avenue, and these are either paved or about to be paved by the county.
The walks are five feet in width excepting on
thoroughfares where they are six feet. The
saving here is considerable. It
illustrates the desire of the builders of Kenwood to conform to the modern idea
of keeping assessments as low as possible.
Just remember that the ultimate owner of a
residential lot must pay the special assessment freight.
If he does not pay the assessments in installments he pays it in the
increased cost of the property. That
is why we are so concerned about keeping assessments down to the minimum.
Let us tell you about the little things that have
been done in Kenwood to make the way of the homebuilder smoother.
One of the little things that goes to make this a FINISHED subdivision.
Go into the average subdivision after you have bought
a lot and ask its location. You
will be told that certain stakes mark its boundary lines.
Perhaps the stakes have been moved.
Maybe you go back with the man who is to do your excavating and point to
the wrong lot. You have no way of
knowing.
In Kenwood a child will be able to go over the
property and locate any lot in the subdivision. Each lot corner is to be permanently marked by a square piece
of steel to be buried in the concrete on the inside of the walk.
Steel stamps will also be used to impress the words
“Lot 39 Block 8” or whatever is the description into the concrete.
Thus every lot will be plainly designated both by immovable steel stakes,
buried in the most permanent improvement on the property and by the same
description of the lot that appears on the official plat.
On the street side of the cement walk the house
numbers will be impressed into the concrete before it hardens so that anyone
passing may know, by simply glancing at the sidewalk, just what is the number of
the house within.
It will be an innovation to have the surveyor move
along with the walk builders and bury steel stakes in the sidewalks at the lot
boundaries but it will save an infinite amount of trouble and expense to the
purchaser of the property. The
surveyor ordinarily charges $15 to $25 for each survey of a lot.
Earthquakes are unknown in Kenwood and sidewalks last forever, so there will be no fence line tights in the loyalty.
OUR FIRST
PURCHASERS.
When Homewood property was first put on the market
lots sold for less than $1000 for 50 feet of inside frontage.
A few people had the strength of their convictions.
They had the nerve to back up their judgement with their cash, with the
result:
1. They
got the lowest prices. 2.they had the privilege of selecting from the entire
subdivision the lot which best suited their fancy. 3. They got the best terms.
4. Every facility for borrowing money for the building of homes was provided.
Those who doubted those who were skeptical those who
wanted to wait to see what some one else would do:
1.
Paid as high as $1,800 for lots which two years before were selling for
$900. 2. If they paid less they ahs to take the less desirable locations. 3.
They got the best terms. 4. The
matter of a loan was made a straight banking proposition.
Homewood was Hammond’s first
experiment in high-grade subdivision. Kenwood
is the second. The same influences
that made Homewood will make Kenwood. The only difference will be that Kenwood will be a decided
improvement over Homewood.
Kenwood is as much of a step in advance of Homewood
as Homewood was over anything that had been laid out up to that time.
Kenwood is, we believe, the last word in modern subdividing.
And furthermore this subdivision is open to all who
believe in our ideas of city building. The
merchant, the doctor, the lawyer, the clerk, the banker, the railroad man and
the ordinary citizen are all welcome to Kenwood.
All we ask is that you catch the spirit of this great home making enterprise and co-operate with us to make these sunny slopes the little paradise that we expect it to become. The inducements to first purchasers are the greatest.
The purpose of these monologues has been to
familiarize the general public with the advantages of Kenwood as a residential
district. We have endeavored to
have you catch the inspiration of this movement to build a little garden city
within the limits of Hammond.
We would have failed in our efforts, however, were
the people of Hammond to get the impression from the preceding talks that
Kenwood is to be a “Ruffleshirt Hill,” a Euclid Avenue district or even a
Glendale Park.
The little $3,000 home is just as welcome as the one
costing $25,000, for we know that the $3,000 home in a setting of flowers,
vines, shrubs, and trees will be as beautiful to the eye as the mansion next
door.
We do want the purchaser to catch the spirit of the
enterprise and carry out, as nearly as possible, the landscape gardening plan
that will be presented to him free of cost.
It is not the houses but the charm of close cropped
lawns, the harmony of landscape gardening design, the open spaces filled with
restful green that is to make Kenwood the most charming residential district in
Hammond.
Kenwood is open to everybody.
Its 320 lots will afford homesites for 100 lovers of homes and nature.
We propose to demonstrate to the people of Hammond the commercial value
of the city beautiful ideas.
We propose to demonstrate to the people of this city
that narrow streets, cramped front yards, the crowding of the houses close
together and these scores of other attempts at false economy do not pay after
all. We get only eight lots out of
an acre. Most subdividers figure
nine.
and we want everybody with ideals similar to our own
to come in and help us make Kenwood the most advanced step in city building that
has yet been undertaken in Hammond. We
don’t ask the pedigree of the man who comes to Kenwood.
We do want his ideas on home building.
We estimate that Kenwood lots will increase in value
at an average rate of 10 per cent a year. This
is a very conservative estimate, founded on the performance of improved
property.
Kenwood should exceed Homewood in the rapidity of its
increase in value: 1. Because it is laid out better. 2. Because the market for
high-grade property is four or five times as great. 3. Because the people have
been educated to demand highly improved property. 4. Because it is ideally
restricted.
For this reason we recommend this property to the
investor. No great capital is
required to secure a contract for the purchase of lots and payments may be made
small enough or large enough to absorb the surplus of the average man on a
salary.
To the person who is saving for a home we recommend
Kenwood property for the reason that it is a gift edged investment, paves the
way to the construction of a comfortable house; and the legitimate increase in
value will pay a liberal interest charge on the money while you are paying for
the lot.
The company is disposed to show every construction to
the man who purchases for the purpose of eventually building.
It will aid him in making the loan for the construction of his house.
Nowhere in Hammond can property is purchased that has
the future that Kenwood has. Nowhere
are increases in value more certain. While the property has the speculative feature, yet we
discourage speculation. What we
want is legitimate development.
And the investor is taking positively no chance.
Kenwood will witness the greatest development of any position of Hammond
in the present year.
WE HAVE NO
COMPETITORS.
If this series of talks on Kenwood has given you our
point of view about the great city building, home making project which we have
undertaken on the south side in Hammond, we are convinced that they have been
worth while.
We knew that once the people of Hammond were apprised
of our plans, learned the scope of the project, caught the spirit of the
enterprise and then were convinced of our ability to make good that they would
come to us for homesites.
The one thing remaining to be settled in their minds
is the matter of price. At this
time the public who have followed these monologues, have probably come to this
conclusion, "“WE ARE CONVINCED THAT KENWOOD IS OUR CONCEPTION OF WHAT A
RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION SHOULD BE. NOW
HOW DO YOUR PRICES COMPARE WITH OTHER HIGH GRADE PROPERTY.”
Kenwood lots within 200 feet of Glendale, and just as
advantageously located, cost one-half as much. Kenwood lots that compare favorably with the best inside lots
in Homewood cost from one-half to two-thirds as much. In many cases we will sell three of our best Kenwood lots for
the price of two of the best Homewood lots.
Nothing in the neighborhood of Kenwood can compete
with it either in attractiveness or price.
Go out and find your heart’s desire in a homesite and we will duplicate
it, throw in a landscape gardening plan, save you money in assessments and then
save you from $800 to $1000 besides. WE
HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO COMPETITION.
When the public learns the facts about Kenwood there
will be such a stampede in that direction as the real estate business has never
known. We can accommodate just 100
purchasers.
To all who are interested we will be pleased to show
the property and there is no obligation to buy. Help us build garden homes in
Kenwood.
THE
TRANSPORTATION QUESTION.
Real estate history is full of instances in which
transportation has been a factor, which has extended outward the confines of the
city and made new values in suburban districts.
The modern tendency is to get away from the
congestion, noise, dirt, and bad air of the city into the wholesome out of doors
of the suburban districts. Transportation
alone makes this possible.
Realizing this the officers of the Hammond &
Suburban Realty Co., the owner Kenwood, determined to bring about the
construction of a streetcar line the full length of their property.
The matter was put up to A. L. Drum, the operating
manager of the roads, and he agreed to build an extension of the Hohman street
line to Munster, providing franchises were secured in Hammond, Munster,
Highlands, and Griffith before the first of May when the new public utilities
law went into effect.
The opportunity to get these franchises under the
favorable conditions existing before the utilities law went into effect was what
stimulated the company to its policy of expansion.
The necessary franchises were secured and the company
in accepting them gave bonds to complete the line within a year will show.
This is but one but of the big things that have been done for Kenwood.
Kenwood is now a hundred per cent, better than any
other property similarly situated. People
can get to Kenwood from any part of the region.
Accessibility is what invariably promotes values.
Follow the development of Chicago.
Districts that have transportation are years in advance of districts that
do not. Look at the map of Hammond
and you will note that its built up sections follow the streetcar lines.
Hohman Street is built up for nearly a mile farther
south than Calumet Avenue because of transportation. The investor should consider this.
LOOK INTO THE
MANHOLE.
Out on Conkey Avenue a man erected a business block.
He built three steps from the street to his store door.
He built knowing full well that it would be bad for his business.
He was asked his reason for such out-of-date construction and he said:
“Take a look into the manhole.” The sewer was almost on top of the ground.
A Hammond syndicate purchased some acreage on Calumet
Avenue for the purpose of subdividing and selling it.
They forgot to look into the manhole, with the result that the sale of
their property must stop until adequate sewers are built.
The Calumet Avenue sewer was built on top of the ground.
There are a number of streets in Homewood where the
sewers are so high that most of the houses are built on stilts and in spring wet
basements are a menace to health. A
look into a manhole will show the reason.
Comparisons are odious. Shallow sewers are odorous.
Manholes must be looked into or you will be stung when you buy
residential property. We submit
these facts for the protection of the purchaser of residential property.
Kenwood is the only place in all Hammond where an
entire subdivision has access to adequate sewer facilities.
That is, of courses, due to the fact that Kenwood is located on highest
point in Hammond.
Kenwood sewers range in depth from seven to fifteen
feet. The average depth of the
Kenwood sewers is ten feet. The
basement garage saves $300 to $500 on the cost of building.
When you take up the question of purchasing a
homesite, insist on looking into the manhole.
Insist on knowing the limitations of depth to which you may go when you
build your home. Don’t accept the flimsy excuse that you can build your
basement on top the ground. Such
construction is costly and does not provide a cellar. By all means look into the manhole.