Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-26
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
IN APARTMENT HOUSES
Richmond Slow to Accept Innova-
tons. but When ii Goes for Good
Thing IL Goes Strong.
TWO STORY TO sKYsCRAPERs
Over 5000 People Living in Modern
Apartment Houses, and Like That
Kind OF Life - All Modern in
EQuipmcmt.

In the olden time. the very oldcn.
the average Richmond citizen thought
life was not worth living unless he
had more than "A plenty of room. Most
men at the head or a family owned or
rented house on 4 large lot. with
ample space for a Kitchen apart from
the residence, a stable. maybe a COW
house and then some ground for Il
garden. AS tile city grew and the
population got thicker. the kitchen be-
came :. part Of the residence. and after
ii while the owners OF carriage horses.
buggy horses ana riding nays COM
'n"nced To keep their ANIMALS in the
boarding stables, and by and by the
IotS were mad" smaller and the garden
dispensed "ith. Tile comparatively
Few people who did not care to keep
house boarded at the hotels. but none
took to the apartment house.
That institution vas not looked upon
with favor. The modern apartment
house Was considered Il Northern in
novation that was at variance with
the old-time Nir.inians idea Of home
life. II was slow coming 90 Richmond,
but when ~ did come, ii came with
rush. 1t was about fifteen years ago
that the first modern apartment house
made its appearance. II was the
Chesterfield. corner Of Shafer and
IRA ki!n streets eight stories in
height. with approximately seventy
1--we apartments, and a twentieth CEN
fury restaurant in the basement.
Many people shook their heads and
said tho building OF the Chesterfield
was a bad investment. and the pro-
rnoters would never get folks TO live
there. crowded uD in ono house like
sardines in a box, but the house was
soon filed. and its modern equipment
and advantages were found to fill
long felt want. Other apartment
houses on tho Same modern order, with
their elevators, EitchcnettcS. sun par
lo:s, flower gardens in windows and
ali the Ike a. that. commenced to go
up all tn" way from four stories TO
twelve. Gresham Court. Tie Hanover.
the Raleigh. tn" Westchcs.er. the
Shenandoah and others came along, not
IN the order named, but they came
quickly ana then the tallcst Of them
all, MonrO" Terrace, twelve stories in
height but with elevators sufficient to
ma Is" the sky Iarlor as comc-atablc
as tho ground iiOor. went up at the
corner al Laurel and Franklin Streets.
In the meantime apartment houses
OF TWO and three stories. with their
kitchcncttcs, etc. and all of the apart
rnents arranged for any kind OF house
keeping. were being built all over the
city. Until they are now simply TOO
numerous To mention, and homes Of
th!s class are still going up as fast
as builders can do the work in this
day Of scarcity of building material
and high cost ut labor. There are not
less than SiXty-hv" or seventy of the
smaller kind and all OF them filled with
tenants, and the demand is for yet more
OF them.
II would bc Impossible without max
ing a housc-tO-housc canvass and TAX
ing - regular census to give the exact
population OF Kichmond's apartment
houses Of III" kind talked about above.
but a conservative estimate places il
At about 5000 Possibly close can
vass would show several hundred more
As minated. Richmond was slow in
adopting tho modern apartment house.
hut when l. did take To il. as in all
other institutions. il called for the best,
and to-day no city in the land can
boast OF better built. better equipped
or more modern. up-to-datc apartment
houses than Richmond.