The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-02-15
ROUND ABOUT GOTHAM.
GOSSIP OF THE WEEK IN THE
GREAT METROPOLIS
Expensive Apartment Hotels-Enormous
Cost of Rooms without Board-"hy
wealthy New Workers Prefer That Mode OF
LAfc--Notcs for Ladies'.
New York BUREAU
RICHMOND DAILY TIMES, 7
Eabrnat.v II 1891

handsome price for life in these apartments III
preference to life in private houses. AT the
Plaza Hotel the highest priced suites OF rooms
-un from si5O TO $3.50 week without meals.
Three bedrooms, q dining-room and bath
room COMPRISE one of these suites. suite OF
A parlor and bedroom rents from si2 to sloo
a week without meals. There Is one suite OF
rooms occupied by family that brings III a
weekly rental Of 81 900.
$4,000 TO 900. Each bathroom costs AT
least Al. 900. The floors are laid in mosaic;
the walls are tiled: the bath-tub is porcelain;
he pipes are all nickel-plated, and every
room has a ventilator at the top OF the house.
In the Hotel Plaza there are forty suites OF
rooms which rent from $50 to 1850 week .l
The ANNOYANCE of housekeeping and the
care of servants have developed tins tendency
for hotel life Another thing. too, 1t Is less
expensive than keeping large establishment
The cost Of living on Fifth avenue is I'M
mense. The lot will cost from $4,000 to
5000 then the house has to be erected ana
furnished, and the interest on the total outlay
Is something enormous. A suite Olive rooms
in the Plaza Hotel has a frontage on ffth
avenue of rs 10 100 feet The expense Of
maintaining house with that frontage on the
avenue would be something tremendous.
In the Hotel Imperial there are nine suites
of rooms that rent for $50 a day without
board. The suites consist Of a parlOr, two
bedrooms. and bathroom. They are very
handsomely furnished The aim of the deco
rator seems TO have been to give as homeike
look as possible to the rooms. The highest
priced suite in the Hotel Grenoble is sI,ogO
per annum but the rooms are unfinished
The tenants supply everything except steam,
heat and water. The Central Park apartment
houses, built by Navarro, command rent
from $4,000 to 81. 500, and the Belgravia, which
is the highest-priced apartment house IN sle
city, has some unfinished suites that rent
for &s,bO0. The Gramercy Park and the
Rembrandt are built and owned on
the cooperative plan. There are few
apartments in each house rented so as TO make
the expenses lighter. The balance OF the ex-
penses are made up by assessments on the IN
dividual owners.
The Hawthorne, on Fifty-ninth street. next
to the Navarro, is another high-priced apart
ment house. The apartment hotel Is some
thing new There are three of these now IN
full operation The suites consist Of from two
20 nine rooms. There is restaurant on the
premises from which the tenants are sup
posed to draw their supplies.
Though the rent for these suites may seem
exhOrbitant n person could not live so well on
the same amount of money in private house
as in first-class hotel by simply pressing
button almost everything can he obtained.
There ia large population of wealthy people
in New York who have no permanent home,
but change their quarters with the seasOrs,
and il is this population that fills Che apart
ment houses. In recent years our wealthy
Southern visitors have been wanting rooms at
large prices. They recognize the fact that
New York is one Of the best all-the-year-
round cities in the world. The hotel
proprietors are catering now to the Southern
trade. The Southerners are getting to be
very wealthy class of people. Hotels hsve
many advantages over apartment houses, and
each new hotel that is erected is IN improve
ment ON the last. The service is much better
in hotel Apartment houses have, as a rule.
only two or three bellmen on duty, while the
hotels have at least thirty. Carriages can be
obtained at any moment, day or night, and
while the houses open at in the morning
and close at O'Clock at night, the hotels open
at in the morning and close at !. A. NJ.
Many families who own their own houses rent
account of the absence Of care and
trouble. Another advantage too. is that they
can leave town when they please. Many
people who are housekeeping for years grow
tired Of it, and are willing TO pay large sums
for comfortable homes in apartment houses
or hotels. Shortly after the Grenoble was
built tenant moved into il, his wife became
sick and they went abroad. On their return
they bought houS on Fifth avenue above
the park. but the experiment was failure.
They returned to the Grepobe TO live, with
the observation, I'VE have been simply keep
ing a servants boarding house." Another
lady paid $50, 900 for n house, and spent 500
900 more in decorating it, bnt she had so
much trouble with her housekeeper and SER
wants she finally gave 1t up and sought peace
and comfort In an apartment house.
MERCHANT TAILoRs.
The Merchant Tailors' Society, whose mem
beers are the most fashionable tailors in this
city, propose to sell at auction all the Judg-
ments they have obtained in the courts against
men who have contracted bills and evinced no
inclination TO settle. There is hardly
prominent tailor III the city that has not
FROM IS, 900 to $1,000 bad debts on his books
The auction sale is to take place at the Real
Estate Exchange and the attendance. no
doubt, Will be larger than II some large estate
was To- be disposed cf The total sum of the
debts il over 300, 900, many Of the individual
accounts run up to $500 Many "A startling
revelation IS expected at this sale
ron THE LADIES.
The chAtelaine bouquet is quite the rage
1t il long .stemmed. and is suspended from
the waist by chatelaine of handsome ribbon.
and usually consists Of roses and foliage or
carnations and lilies of the valley The chate.
laine bouquet is however appropriate only
with bridal or dancing toilets.
English walking jackets for the spring ale
fitted very smoothly over the hips and are not
cut up 10 short in the back as formerly. SOme
Of the French three-Quarter coats are cut on
the bias and are without darts, opening over
very elegant and elaborate waistcOats of hea,v
corded silk, silk embroidered or covered with
very itch design i'll passemcnterie specially
wrought fol vest fronts. Other models are
fitted like cuirass, with very deeply archcd
side forms and having the revived cross
basque seam arching from the font over the
hips 10 the centre forms AT the back.
Spring flowers ia every beautiful variety are
prominently and prematniely figuring on the
favored head-gear Of the moment, moe par
ticulafly dalnask red tulips. violets of the or
binary sort, as well as the pinkish Nealolitan
aud parma blossoms these deeply shaded and
mixed or not according To fancy Daffodils.
crccus flowers, .primroses and hyacinths are
IN great use, following the tastes for violet
and pale yellow shades. A pretty Kendall hat
OF green velvet, which graces the window
OF an uptown house, has front carniture of
black thread lace, arranged in fan pleats. in
the heart Of which is set fine cluster of vel
low touQuils, the blossoms standing
erect ON their rather long, green
stems. these designed to nod naturally with
every movement of the wearer. Another fea-
ture in the millinery ofithe month is the COM
bination of velvet of two or three distinct
colors. velvet flowers forming part of the
melange. Some Of the fore and at" trim
mings on plateau hats are simply grotesaue.
aud also most inartistic and unbecominc
These hats, with their ridiculous rampant
decorations, are favored by the tournauceless
49,.