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OLDEST APARTMENT
HOUSE IN NEW YORK CITY 142 East 18th Street,
floor plan Inspired by the success of luxury, multiple-family Parisian dwellings, Rutherford Stuyvesant spent $100,000 in 1869 to build New York's first apartment building. Critics were skeptical that "good families" would share a roof, and dubbed the project "Stuyvesant's Folly." But the innovative investor proved them wrong. He hired the French-trained architect Richard Morris Hunt and chose a fashionable location near Union Square, Stuyvesant Square, and Gramercy Park. The first four floors contained 16 apartments, and the top floor housed 4 artists' studios. Although lacking an elevator, the building had running (cold) water, a novelty at the time. Full occupancy followed, and "Parisian flats" came into vogue. In later years, steam heat and electricity were added, and the building remained fully occupied until its 1958 demolition for Gramercy Green, a 14-story building with 240 apartments. The flat, long facade on a narrow side street posed compositional difficulties for Abbott. Standing on the stoop of a brownstone across the street, she included as much of the building as possible. A window-washer added a human touch. Return to the Middle East Side |
