In 1901 the street still suggested the time when it had been lined by the dull, monotonous high stoops.

Those old fronts had been knocked away, business had invaded many of the lower stories, but there still remained something of the former flavour.

But property holders were awake to their opportunities.

Inside lots twenty-five by one hundred feet on the Avenue were held at one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and corner lots correspondingly higher.

Within two years these prices had doubled and trebled.