The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-04-05
THE FAMILY HOTELS.
THEY ARE BECOMING A NOTICEABLE
FEATURE OF NEW YORK LIFE.
Very Popular With Persons Who Don't
Want Trouble and Can Pay To Keep It
on-some OF the Attractive Features of
This Kind of Life.

This Kind OF Life.
The development of family hotels in
New York I'm the last five years or so has
been quite as remarkable in its way as the
sudden expansion and increase In magnifi-
cence which have marked the growth OF
the ordinary hotels of this city in the same
period The result Is that lots of people
have now chance Of experimenting with
a solution OF the great problem Of how TO
live, which was formerly within the reach
Of only few. Xhere are probably more
than 30 large hotels of the first class In
this city which are the permanent homes
OF the major proportion of their guests
and In ADDITION there are any number OF
smaller and less pretentious houses whose
patronage has the same fixed character.
All the newer hotels of this type are of
the most improved construction, and the
division of the floor space and arrangement
of the suits Of rooms so that each shall
have the greatest possible amount of light
and fresh air are carried out according TO
the latest notions of architects and build
ers of flathouses. A few of the most ex-
pensive and exclusive of these hotels are
fitted up, decorated and furnished with
luxuriousness surpassed only in the most
costly apartments of such places as the
Waldorf and Savoy. They have all the
newest conveniences and are under regu-
lar hotel management. So IL is not sur
prising that people enter them with hope
full sentiments after long unsuccessful
struggling with the problem of living.
In these hotels a good many derelicts
find shelter. They are persons who have
tried housekeeping and been routed by its
difficulties tried boarding and rebelled
against constant, forced intimacy with I'M
congen ial people; tried ordinary hotels and
tled from the public character of the life
there; tried flats and become acquainted
with despair. The family hotel does af-
ford freedom from good many of the ob-
jections TO their former modes of life. Be-
ing arranged in suits, it gives as much
privacy and independence as a flathouse;
its character is less public than that of an
ordinary hotel. The chief annoyances Of
boarding house life are eliminated, and
there is none of the troubles of house
keeping.
The family hotel and the ordinary hotel
are two distinct varieties, although some
of the latter type have guests who live in
them the whole year round, and most of the
former are glad TO entertain any casual
transients who happen TO find their way
TO them. Some of the family hotels, how
ever are so strict in constituting the regu
lations which are intended TO guard the
comfort and susceptibilities Of their guests
that they will accommodate visitors to the
city only as favor not granted TO every
one, just as on the other hand there are
hotels that prefer 20 depend altogether on
their transient trade and do not care TO
encourage permanent residence by a reduc-
ton in rates. The family hotel, indeed, is
an evolution Of the boarding house and the
6athouse rather than the ordinary hotel.
IL Is the great progress which has been
made in methods Of construction I'm recent
years that has made possible the present
development Of family hotels in this city.
The family hotels always offered fayorite
solution Of the problem Of living, but the
older ones did lot afford any great degree
Of luxury and besides ranged from rather
expensive 70 extremely expensive. They
were found mostly on or near Fifth avenue,
and TO live in some Of them is proof in
itself not Of respectability alone, but also
a claim Of long descent some Of these
places are sources OF wonder and envy 70
the newer generation Of hotel keepers.
They have been gold mines 70 their land
lords for years and still are, though they
calities By the growth Of the city. and may
be old, badly constructed buildings with
out the conveniences which are generally
regarded now as Indispensable. Their
guests have become attached 70 them after
having grown old in them and know no
other home. 30 they 20 on living in them
year after year. Among these guests are
some curious characters, such as solitary
milliOnaires who keep their relatives at a
distance, live with extreme simplicity and
leave estates that delight the heirs by prov
ing larger than anybody ever suspected
them % be.
II the older hotels can be kept going by
their name and established CUSTOM the
new ones have % offer all possible attrac-
tions 10 secure guests. They are from
eight 20 ten stories and upward in height.
They are as nearly lreprOOf as the newest
methods Of construction can make them.
Their framework is of the steel cage type,
like the big Office buildings down town,
and all the metal work is iDclOsed In fire
proof material. The floors are Of terra cot
Ia or other fire resisting material, and so
are the partition walls. This affords "a
double adyantage-it gives protection from
fire and 10 prevents the occupants OF one
suit from being annoyed by sounds in the
suits on either side or above or below.
Floors and walls are soundproof. The
rooms are sometimes fitted with telephones
connecting with the Office as the central
station, but more commonly with mere
speaking tubes. They are lighted with
electricity, OF course. The plumbing Is
exposed, the bathrooms are tiled. The larger
suits have private halls and are in all re-
spects like flats Of the first class, save that
they are without kitchens or rooms for
servants. Generally there are hardwood
floors for those who prefer them. In these
hotels some people hire their rooms by the
year or for longer periods and use their
own furniture. Less furniture being need.
ed than would DO required for house OF
an ordinary fat, there Is a tendency To OK
pend the difference in cost for things of a
better quality, 80 that one finds surpris-
ingly large number of apartments In such
hotels absolutely crowded with handsome
furniture and expensive bric-a-brac ano
decorations. The hotel servants do thu
housework, so that the mistress has abso
lutalv moi hinU a do guyp that the 6crV