Vol. LXXXVIII





AUGUST 19, igu





Ko. 2266





GOOD TASTE  IN THE NEWER APARTMENTS.

Simplicity and a Homelike Atmosphere Sought After in the Costly
Houses Built this Year in Large Numbers—The Renting Situation.





THE tall modern apartment house, liko
the skyscraper, is distinctly a New
York type. The idea of housing many
families under one roof was conceived
abroad, but the twelve-story, steel skele¬
ton house, with all the luxuries of the
finest priva.te dwelling, has reached its
full development only in th:s city. The
engineering inventions which made pos¬
sible the tall offlce building have been
used effectively in the apartment, and
to-day the general construction plan of
the two kinds of building is almost iden¬
tical.

The first apartment houses were com¬
monly known as "flats" and were hut
little superior to pur present new-law
tenements. They were occupied mainly
by people of very moderate means, who
■could not afford the luxury of a private
house and a certain amount of popular
prejudice existed against them. In fact,
in the early days of many-family houses,
flat dwellers were looked upon as an in¬
ferior order by private house residents.
To-day people of wealth and fashion are
housed in apartments. The extent to
which  the  private  house  is  being super-





the blocks between 60th and 95th streets,
west of Lexington avenue, and with the
advent of rapid transit on the East Side
the apartment house builder is likely to
encroach seriously on this hitherto re¬
stricted  neighborhood.

Apartment houses as now constructed
may be divided into four types; the five-
story non-flreproof walkup; the semi-
fireproof six-story elevator house; the
fireproof house, ranging from eight to
twelve stories; and the co-operative
building. The flrst type, is not nearly so
popular as it was a few years ago and
is found chiefly in the neighborhoods
where land is cheap. These houses cater
to people of very moderate means. The
six-story house is a very popular form of
building and has been extensively used in
the development of the upper West Side,
Washington Heights and the Bronx. The
fireproof type of house is coming rapidly
into favor and is to be found on all of the
better class of side streets and avenues.
The height of apartment houses is gov¬
erned almost entirely by the regulation
of the cily building code. Under the law.
all buildings over 75 feet high must be of





fnl if enterprises of this character will
ever be carried out to any great extent
except in districts which are recognized
social centers. The tendency to-day in
all forms of building is towards larger
structures. The public has become edu¬
cated to the necessity of light and air
and the proper supply of these elements
is only lo be obtained hy the use of large
ground areas. Besides this, the builders
have found that large structures are pro¬
portionately more economical in construc¬
tion and in management. The twenty-
flve-foot house, so common a few years
ago, is almost never undertaken. Build¬
ers seldom care to attempt an apartment
house on a plot of less than 50 fl.inwidth,
and buildings occupying an entire block
front are by no means unusual. On the
middle West Side, one may flnd two
apartment houses, each of which covers
an entire block and provides accommoda¬
tions for over one hundred famMies.

The necessity of providing ample light
and air to all the rooms has given rise
to a deal of experimentation in the ar¬
rangement of court space. In large houses
of the better class the side court, alriiost













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THE   CURVING   STREET   LINE   MAKES  THIS  HOUSE  ATTRACTIVE.





BUILDING   WITH   FORECOURTS   OPENING   ON THE STREET.





seded may he realized hy a n'ance at the
records of the build'ng department. In
some of the poorest years in the last de¬
cade as few as sixty-five private houses
were huilt in Manhattan, while in the pre¬
ceding ten years the number ranged from
835 in ISDO to 112 in IWO. Fifteen years
ago the construction of dwellings was a
favorite speculative operation,-but to-day
probably no money would be forthcoming
for   flnancing  such   an   operation.

Unlike oftice buildings, apartments are
confined to no particular sections, but
are to he found in all parts of the bor¬
ough above Bleecker street. The newer
"ections of town have been built up. al¬
most entirely with these structures, while
nearly all of the older social centers have
felt the inroads of apartments to a large
extent. The exclusive Gramercy Park
private residence section has almost en¬
tirely disappeared: Hurray Hill :s sur¬
rounded with apartments; here and there
they have appeared on 5th avenue and
Park avenue, above 5!1th street, is now
the chief seat of the most expensive
and luxurious apartments in the world.
The ultra-fashionahle private hou,=e dis¬
trict  is  now  confined  almost  entirely   to





fireproof construction, hut in the case of
apartments the height of the structure
is limited lo one and a-half times the
width of the street on which the building
stands. For this reason the eight-story
houses are found mainly on the side
streets, while the ten and twelve-story
buildings appear on the wider avenues.
Up to the present time, no apartments
of over twelve stories have been attempt¬
ed, but one of sixteen stories has recently
been planned on Columbia Heights, over¬
looking  the  college  campus.

The co-operative type of house has be¬
come quite popular of late among people
of wealth who desire to have a proprie¬
tary interest in the property in which
they reside. The very nature Of a tenant-
owned structure presupposes a perman-
nency not to be expected in huildings of
a purely speculative or investment na¬
ture, and for this reason houses of this
class are found only in the most desira¬
ble locations. The district around Gram-
arcy Park and that section of Park ave¬
nue lying just north of SOth street, have
been their favorite locations. A few ar¬
tists' buildings of this nature have ap¬
peared on the West Side, but It la doubt-





entirely employed in earlier construction,
has practically disappeared. A rear space
and one large court running into the cen¬
ter of the building from the rear, is one
very common plan. Another, which is
becoming popu'ar, is to have one or two
courts, extending into the building on the
street side. This plan gives every room
in the front part of the building an out¬
look on the street. In very large houses,
such as the Apthorpe or Eelnord. the en¬
tire building is constructed around an
immense interior court which has a
greater width than that of many avenues.
On account of the possibilities afforded
for grass plots, hedges and flower gar¬
dens, the latter plan is ideal, but unfor¬
tunately it can only he used in the case
of extremely large  buildings.

The immense amount of apartment
house construction and the conseciuent
competition for tenants, has given rise to
a great variety of architecture. In order
to attract public interest and to secure
the co-operation of owners in the build¬
ing of sightly and well-planned houses,
the New York Chapter of the American
Institute of Architects has offered an an¬
nual prize to the owner of that tenement