The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-12
APARTMENT LIFE.
A Years Rent i'm the Metropolis
Means N Small Fortune.

New York Letter in Pittsburg Dispatch.
Apartment houses are powerful factors
they were comparatively few and their ad-
vantageS were subject TO criticism. But
they have multiplied, their ADVANTAGES are
fully acknowledged and New York could
not get along without them very well. or
course there are apartments and apart.
magnificent ones that have sprung up all
over the residential portions Of the city. In
the elaborately constructed apartment
enjoy all the privacy Of separate estab-
lishment of the old style without, however,
living elsewhere. They can be had fur
nished or unfurnished, and all that is neces-
sary in the former is TO move in and settle
down. as the landlord has done the rest.
and with lavish hand, too. OF course
there's nothing cheap about living in an
aristocratic apartment house. The most
reasonable unfinished bachelor apartment
Of two rooms, service included. without any
provision for eating, costs 81 200 for rent.
on tn rent To ore than
$4,000 yearly Every person who has toured
the metropolis has probably taken peer
Park at Seventeen avenue and Fifty-ninth
street. Suites of apartments here. consist
Sc eoo wear Tbe ansrtnents g IN fhe Corner ,er
houses and those which have a special
story in the rear. whereby additional
more than the foregoing sum. The series
of buildings which go TO make up the mag
nifieent whole comprise eight distinct
houses placed so as TO form hollow square,
which is in reality a grand court, and az
fords light and air for the rear apartments.
elaborate in this country and are well
worth looking at If only from the outside.
Possibly you imagine that apartments
bear Ito let signs. Well. there. you are
mistaken. The eagerness with which folk
here turn to life In luxurious and expensive
apartments is shown by the fact that rare
ly, If ever, is any OF these houses without
its full share Of tenants. Indeed. the dwell
lers within these clustered buildings make
Of themselves a considerable village There
are more than 500 persons living there. OF
whom more than half thousand are rent
ers. the remainder comprising the servants
and general staff of apartment managers.
In this group OF one-fioor palaces every
convenience which genius can devise and
AS an example of the extent to which these
ARRANGEMENTS are carried, every apartment
Is fitted with telephones, the general office
having switches for long-distance communi-
cation. 20 that any one OF the tenants may.
at his good pleasure or necessity, call up
The nearby points. Domesticity in sach
handy home as this should mean bliss
of the highest he's type. But that phase OK
The above group of high-priced homes Is
not the only one here by long shot On
West Seventy-second street facing Central
Park. is the Dakota apartments, said to 10
the largest under one roof in the world.
Here the rents begin as moderately In
the navarro, ana tnen cilmp up beyond the
observation-disclosures mark. But. in spite OF
the high tariff, the Dakota is ever blessed
with full quota OF swell tenantry. AM
other favorite In the same line is the
Knickerbocker, on Fifth avenue. The rent
for small bachelor apartments on the tenth
floor is $1,000 The other tenants. however.
buy their apartments, paying 100000 for q
ten years lease, and are allowed any liberty
they choose in the matter Of interior con-
structon and decoration. The management
never has 10 advertise -or tenants. AS to
the matter of the comparative cost between
maintaining a private house and maintains
ing apartments in some of he aristocratic
apartment houses here there is room for
larger inducements TO the parsimonious.
But however that may be. one-fioor homes
of the palatial sort are on the increase.
where a good many folks scarcely kAu0
time enough for all their pleasure&