Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-21
Luxury in Apartment Houses Carried
to the Extreme.
EASY TO RENT At $4,000 A YEAR
Furnishings, Too, Pile UP the Cos
to a Lofty Figure.
OWNERS INCOMES TO MATCH
Copyright. 1900. by W. W. Young

Copyright. 1890. by W. W. Youns)
Written for The Evening Star.
That rich Americans are willing to pay
any price for that which meets their ever
increasing demand for luxury is strikingly
illustrated by the remarkable growth or
high-class apartment house building in our
large cities. Present Indications are that
the day Of private city mansions is on the
decline. in some degree at least, and huge
piles of palaces. on top of the other,
from ten to hundreds under single shell
tering roof. are taking their places.
Rich as well as poor in our great cities
are now living much like the ancient cliff
dwellers; the poor in what they are content
to call flats" the wealthy in what they in
sist on calling apartments though the
latter. except In size and luxurious appoint
ments are very like the former A famous
New York auctioneer once put up for sale
what he called vase. When he found that
It's estimated value was more than hun
dred dollars he begged the pardon of his
audience and said that he had just noticed
that IL was not vase, but a "vaze.'
That Is about the distinction made between
fiat and apartment
A private house fitted up at an expense
of 100000 is considered luxurious almost
anywhere on earth. To expend so much
money in fitting up an apartment, suite
of rooms not owned by the tenant but
years ago: yet such lavishness is not I'M
common in this country now. and there are
teveral apartments in the city of New
York the decorations and special furnish
:ngs in each Of which represent outlay
of S1G.UG or even more
Rental of a House.
Excellent four-story private residences In
select portions of New York city may be
rented for $1,000 or 5000 a year. That
many citizens to whom money is no object
prefer apartments nowadays to owning
their own homes or renting private houses
is shown by the fact that every apartment
in the city which rents at the top pri e,
$1,000 a year, is occupied. and the waiting
lists are long The owner OF the apart
ment building. one of the highest priced in
the city. said on this point recently: Il
have Eever had any trouble in renting
$1,000 apartments, and II / had SIX OF
seven more of that kind they would he
taken Immediately. for all / would have 10
Go would be to send word to few people
on my waiting list who are anxious 10
abandon their private residences as soon as
they can find suitable rtments. WIZ n
We first opened our house We were prepared
to throw a series of rooms into q suite the
rental of which would have been $4,000
year: but at that time there was no call for
II. The greatest demand seems to be for
suites CT five rooms. with baths, which reht
for S1.TAD year These prices are for I'M
furnished rooms
gorgeous why
In another house several of the twelve
gorgeous apartments rent for $4,000
year. unfurnished, and the prices of tne
others are not much under that figure. A
New York architect is just completing
structure which is eight stories high, one
apartment TO floor and the rental of each
is IGGsLunfurnished, Of course.
There are no fewer than fifty buildings
in the country in which rents for apdr
hfe,b AZ to o
The building of such composite palaces Is
still i'll its infancy. Apartments which rent
for from 81 2tu TO 81 $40 about a COM
now were private houses few
years ago.
The prices paid for apartments are fairly
accurate indexes Of the incomes enjoyed
by the renters. of course. According to
the usual standards the paying OF from
$3.50 to 81 sol a year rental for apart
ments would imply incomes of from $1,000
TO S1o'rp year But to pay in rent
from S5Ou 10 $1,000 for apartments. an
annual outlay for which there is nothing
10 show al the end Of the year except the
memory Of twelve months Of luxury, i'm
plies a mucn greater prop1rtionate income:
for the citizen who can afford 10 do it is
he who INDUCES in other Injuries on sim
Harry magnificent scale Almost invariably
he has his country house. closing his apart
ment from four to seven months out of
the year; he mas his horses and carriages
In the cI.y and a large retinue of household
and personal servants. often as many as
ten
Must Have Coed Income.
1t is safe to say. then. that the income
Of such an apartment dwelIer must gener-
ally be at least 100000 a year; in many
cases II is much more Basing conclusion
on the present popularity of high-priced
apartments. it seems clear that there is a
surprising number of men in the United
States whose incomes are S1JO.CU0 or more
year. An otncer of the New York cham
Der OF commerce said 10 the writer recently
that 800 would BE- a very conservative esti-
mate of the number of men in New York
alone whose incomes are three or more
times as large as that OF the President of
the United States. And it is a fact that
under the prevailing system of luxurious
living. with their gorgeous apartments
their country homes. their private yachts
their private railway cars, etc. most of
them are living pretty we'll up to the limit
A city of Composite Houses
Naturally New York particularly the
borough Of Manhattan. on account Of the
very high value Of the ground. is further
advanced than any other city In luxurious
apartment house building. Instead of be-
ing a city Of homes ii has become CITY
Of composite palaces"
One curious development of the apart-
ment house idea is joint ownership Of build
inss by the tenants; great buildings in
which the tenants purchase their apart
ments outright-purchase holes in walls
hign up IN the air just they might pur-
chase ordinary real estate. Instead of own
ing TO the center of the earth and as far
above. through air and space. as they wish
TO lay claim To, their possession is bounded
above by the floor Of the fiat overhead and
below by the ceiling of the fiat underneath
Their apartments are nothing more than
human cliff swallows nests.
As much as 100000 has been paid for a
single apartment OF this kind. Two other
wellknown apartment houses in that city
have made a success OF this system. In one
the highest price paid by tie original stock
holders for apartments of ten rooms was
$4,000. and for apartments of seven rooms
from 1850 to 5000 was paid. There are
eighteen stockholders. each owning his
These