The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-30
NEW WRINKLES IN A
IMPRoTEME NT HAS ALMOST
REACHED PERFECTION.


NuhMNhuN DtNhhNn " SuhNtuuNhGbN IN ~
Part OF Fiat jewellers Have brought Their
Homes to the Highest stage or Comfort
Management and Profits OF Fiats.
There are o lot OF new wrinkles In fats.
Every year the fiat dwoller looks for moro and
moro improvements, and every year no finds
what he Is looking for. Mr.. and Mrs. Flat
Dwoller are probably tho only persons In tho
world who can hear a policeman say Move
on" without feeling in the least ruffled. "Movo
on" Is their slogan. This Is a desirable spirit
to possess. 80 reformcrs and political and social
cconomists and club women say. but 1t is al.
together another thing whom tho spirit possesses
you, as 1t certainly docs over half tho persons
who live in fats. A study of the fats them.
selves, tho bare empty dwellings, leads the
thoughtful person to believe that there are two
classes of tramps in this world. ono without
homes and the other with them. The latter is
comprised Of fiat dwcllcrs. Who ever heard Of
one family occupying the same fiat for ten
yearsi The average real estate agent tells
You in his smoothest voice and with his bland
est smile: why. l have tenants in my Steenth
street fats who have been there three or four
or Ave years." with q great show of pride, but
that seems to DO tho time limit.
The fiat Of 1898 is an admirable dwelling
place. It fills every want Of the most mi
gratory fat dweller and leaves him no excuse
WituiuB y OtueF improvements. II bnD
spirit of moving hasn't taken too firm a hold on
him he ought to be able to settle down for at
least twenty years. When an active real estate
man with an office uptown on tho west side was
asked what improvements Mr.. and Mrs. Flat
Dwellor arc now demanding no answered:
"They demand everything from ono months
or two months FREQ ront down, but what land
lords are giving them Is another story. When
I use the term fiat / mean all sorts Of apart.
mont houses above tho tenement house up to
the fine apartment hotels. Some persons, you
know, omphatically declare that they would
not DO caught living in q fiat because flats are
SO common, but that they think an apartment
altogether a different thing. The only differ
once between a fiat and an apartment. conf
dentially. is in the mind of the dweller. Suppose
/ build two large apartment houses exactly
alike. one on Central Park West and the other
over on Tenth avenue. The one on Central Park
West would be an apartment house; tho other
would be n fiat house. Tho difference resolves
itself into a nero matter OF location.
But you asked about the flats of '9s, the new
est fats that are being built. They are models
of convenience and beauty. About four years
ago landlords began to put HE'D bathrooms and
open plumbing in flats. AT first they only put
them in the most expensive ones, but the per.
sons who lived in cheap fats heard of this I'm.
,pTONcu1cnt, OF TuLleT saw IL LOT tnemsclVeB, LOT
1T is a well-established fact that no matter how
comfortable fiat jewellers are they put in a great
deal Of time looking at other fats just to see
what they aren't getting for their money, and
they Immediately demanded tiled bathrooms
and open plumbing. The result is that 1t is
now possible to rent u fiat for $50 or $25 n
month with open plumbing ana ar attractive
bathroom with tiled floor and with wainscoting
in initiation of marble thing. Even in the worry
Oldest houses the bathrooms and plumbing have
been remodelled and hot water is supplied to
the occupants.
''The next thing demanded by the fiat dwcllcr
was the gas range. AS soon as he got that he
wanted something else, for he found that unscss
no hot water. The something else was an all
o ta9e- iss 6onsS supply o. q hot hot water nSEct by , the owner
are all supplied with hot water from the base.
ing this Improvement. When the Women and
children living in flats would 60 away for the
hall, they found themselves without a supply of
hot water, as they had no cooking done. and SO
fhSsy pf TO- Furnish Sn hot i %atsr. ING Grs aTnSIs IN IN tins ihs
way ono Improvement and another have been
added to tho fat until the apartment of to-day
boulevard oyer there as an example. 1t has
Just been finished and is a fair specimen Of the
consists Of seven good.sized rooms, a bath and
a kitchen, Every room is light, sunny and airy,
i Reeaq in li IT, dSrk bose are NJ not to Wsier content slentr TO
lights and steam heat are supplied by the owner
OF the house; There Is a passenger elevator
though each fiat is a housekeeping flat with a
large Kitchen and a gas range, there is a %restaur-
meals If they prefer to do SO. The halls are ali
handsomely furnished and the windows sup
piled with shades. or course all these convent,
service. but things are. coming to such a pass
that many persons will not OCCUPY a fiat in a
building where There is no hall boy"
do fiat dwellers move from year to year just
to reap the benefit Of conveniences added to
new .Ye esttSSs eys DO" " snsWe sns f tGe reSI estate man.
ants in that way that we had in the past. PEG.
Pile have learned that things are seldom what
they seem when 1t comes to a new fiat. A new
fiat is a beautiful thing to look at generally,
wall DECORATIONS and fresh paint. but Mr.. and
Mrs: Flat Dweller have learned that the per-
f baa po %ew as iist we eli a AZ pl iis GOOD od re onas. Even nss t is
best and most carefully constructed, building
must settle TO a certain extent, the doors and
shut or open. the rooms are damp and hard TO
heat, and therefore likely to cause sickness.
and The bathroom isn't tiled or the rooms are
moi quite rs conveniently arranged as those in
the new fats in the next block.
When asked II tho fiat OF to-day Is growing
taller or lower, the agent said:
tuVAS 10 a thii Iah upuh iie houoc
being oversa certain number of feet high, no
matter whether 1t is ~fireproof or not. which is
decidedly unjust, since hotels may BIO built to
scrape the SKY. IL a man wishes. In localities
where land 10 very valuable the tendency 10 TO
build flats just AS high rs the law allows, but
way up town. where ground Is comparatively
cheap. builders are lowering them. Whyi BE
cause people object % climbing over five, flights
of stairs. and IL does not pay to put an elevator
In q tve-storied apartment house.
"a real estate agent who has to deal with
fiat dwcllers has many amusing experiences
and many trying ones. The philosopher who
said that every sweet has its sour must have
rented flats to people. Flat jewellers demand
this. that. or the otner thing because other nat
dwe,lers they know have them. Now, ! know
two young lawyers who occupy a fiat in Brooklyn,
not u million miles from B~cecher's church. who
brag that 1t rocks when the wind bows like a
hammock swayed by II sweet southern breeze.
They call II their Bro9klyn hammock iiats and
they heard Of this, would Immediately demand u
fiat in u building that would rock with the
wind and soolhe them TO sleep. That's just
about as reasonable as come Of them arc. Take
tho matter OF open plumbing, for instance.
Open plumbing is q fad nowadays; Flat
dwcllcrs do not know that closed plumbing ID
in nine cases out Of ton i'm the new Hat houses,