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REAL ESTATE
AND
NEW YORK, JUNE 3, 1916
CAUSE AND EFFECT IN APARTMENT HOUSE
CONSTRUCTION IN NEW YORK CITY
By REGINALD PELHAM BOLTON
Author of "Building for Profit"—"Power for Profit"
PART III.
MERE statistics may fail to decide the
trend of future development, since
they deal with past effects, often with
the cumulative results of past mistakes
Recorded facts and figures are helpful
in determining financial considerations,
in which they are of special value, but
they generally fall to afford more than
a partial vision of human tendencies and
purposes. These are often elusive. They
require keen perception and analysis.
Observations on such a subject as the
characteristics of tenants of real estate
vary in every locality, and among every
class of society.
Without some compilation of the
needs and circumstances of the people
who create the demand for apartments,
the subject of their development be¬
comes clouded by many uncertain con¬
ditions. If, however, some Insight into
the character and habits of even a part
of the great army of tenants can be
secured, we may be able to formulate
some reasons for a prevailing demand or
for some general tendency or preference
towards a particular form of apartment
accommodation.
Circumstances Must Be Considered.
Thus the prevalent preference which
is disclosed by the statistical records
for a reduced number of rooms in mod¬
ern apartments, may be explained or its
character and extent may be better
understood when we consider the cir¬
cumstance that a large proportion of
all new apartments are tenanted by
young couples or by bachelors of either
sex. These, especially in Manhattan,
are engaged In labor, in business, of
professional work, and have little time
and probably less inclination for house¬
keeping cares and home duties. Their
tastes and methods of life are indicated
by the trades and stores which cater to
their needs. The erection of apartment
buildings in any new neighborhood is
generally accompanied by the establish¬
ment of that class of small stores which
provides the needs of the non-house¬
keeping tenant.
Nearby Conveniences.
The delicatessen store, the bakery, and
the restaurant provide accessible food
supplies, without the process of home-
cooking. These nearby conveniences
eliminate the kitchen, or even the
"kitchenette" as a fixed feature of home
life, and reduce the culinary processes of
the home to the operation of a coffee
percolator and an egg boiler. House
cleaning and dish washing, even on a
small scale, is provided without housing
the servant, and a regiment of colored
maids may be seen every morning, pro¬
ceeding by the subway trains to such
duties. The tailor-valet, the shoeblack,
and tlie laundry provide for the domestic
clothing details, while the vaudeville, the
"movie" and the cabaret offer cheap
means of spending the evening hours
away from "home."
Under such circumstances, a three-
room, a two-room, or even a one-room
apartment becomes more desirable than
the prevalent five and six-room space,
and the area necessary for home life is
reduced to a place in which to sleep. In¬
creasing numbers of such young people
camp out in summer time in the woods
or along the vast shore lines of the
waters surrounding the city, or board
cheaply in suburban country resorts.
They can vacate a small apartment at
the expense of the transfer of a single
wagon load of furnishings, and can thus
save rent during the summer months.
This process has attractions and advan¬
tages for everyone concerned except the
unhappy victim or goat of the system,
who need scarcely be named.
This is one of several developments
in the halilts and idiosyncrasies of ten¬
ants that help to throw light on the
direction and character of demand for
accommodation, .\nother general fea¬
ture Is the Increased familiarity of all
classes of tenants with
the modern conveniences
of the home, the batli-
rooni, kitclien and re¬
frigerator fi.xtures, tele¬
phone, the use of elec¬
tricity for light and
power, and of gas for
heating and cooking.
Flats must now be fitted
with conveniences such
as these, which only a
few years ago were nov¬
elties in expensive apart¬
ments. So necessary are
they that the occupant
may be considered to be
hiring the conveniences,
accompanied by more or
less of space in which to
cook, eat and sleep.
And, apparently, the
minimum of living space
is a desideratum, pro¬
vided the conveniences
are secured. This fea¬
ture is promoted by the
consideration generally
given by tenants to the
total rent, rather than
to the rate of rental per
room or per square foot
of floor area. Spare
guest rooms are no long¬
er in demand, .-^t equal
rents the preference goes
to the least number of
rooms actually required, on the score of
economy in lessened housework, and
perhaps in less chance of mothers-in-law
and other periodic visitors.
.\ great many tenants of apartments
even in high-class elevator houses, are
renting off spare bedrooms to. room-
boarders. This Is merely a process of
reducing the cost of unnecessary space,
rented In many instances because lesser
spaces could not be obtained. As the
room lias to be furnished and provided
with bed and liath linen, gas or electric
light, cleaned and dusted, the return is
not so much profit, as a reduction of an
undeslred expense. Many of these
lodgers, e.xisting uncomfortably like a
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