Behind mystery door in pre-war 1 BR

Dumbwaiter?

If it is a full size door, who knows? If it about three by four feet at eye level that would be a dumb waiter and when I had mine removed, it was yuk in there.

Macau - I agree with RE Mom, it's almost def. a former dumbwaiter. And if it's like our building, the electric for the apartments runs up the shaft. You can probably collapse it down and add a pantry - if you decide to buy. I can send you pics of our former dumwbwaiter/kitchen renovation. We collapsed it from about 2 feet wide to about 6 inches wide (they redid the wiring to consolidate/update) and we added a full length, pull out pantry.

Good luck.

Thank you! It would be great to see pictures...I was thinking former dumbwaiter, too, but it is a full sized door, so I started to rule that out. Did you have to get board approval to do this 'collapsing' of electrics? I'm assuming so...does it affect the other apartments? I can't imagine nobody has tried to open theirs in the past. Maybe get into the building first and then have the neighbours round for a chat :-)

$50 to the super will get you the answer very quickly.

I love mystery doors! Have you tried getting the original floor plan of the building? That may explain things. Very likely, though, if in a kitchen it was a pantry or dumbwaiter. Or, it could be a holdover from a former split between your apartment and the neighbor's.

But who knows... perhaps there's a whole other ROOM in there (every New Yorker's dream... to discover a secret chamber in their apartment that no one else knew existed...) :-)

Are there four apartments per floor? In an H-shaped building, there might be kitchen doors into fire stairs on either side of the center of the H.

In prewars, fire stairs abound. They seem to be tucked all over the place sometimes. Some owners just secretly seal them up. Others decorate over them. Ask the super. The super will likely know. Your neighbors will know, too.

You people are so stupid! It is clearly a portal to another dimension. Y'all need to educate yourselves & spend more time at the movies. The only real question is whether it'll take you to a wonderful land far away, or if opening it will let out evil creatures imprisoned eons ago.

kylwest, correct. E.g., at the 1920s Devonshire, there were originally 11 apartments per floor, with seven sets of stairs plus a couple of outside fire escapes: http://www.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/dlo?obj=ldpd_YR_0015_MH_001_004&size=large

Each apartment had to have independent access to two staircases. By the 1930s, that requirement was loosened up.

Just one of those pre-war features: a portal to Narnia!

There isn't space for stairs...at most I'd estimate a 4' x 4' space in there. (Enough for a panic room!!!)
I can't imagine why somebody would seal shut an existing pantry, so back again to the dumbwaiter. I'll look for pictures of what dumbwaiter doors looked like. I've seen 1 or 2 and they were only ever small sliding door type openings, but I suppose they can come in whatever measurements the building deemed fit back in the day. I can't ask the neighbours yet, as they're not yet my neighbours. But hopefully soon...

Agree withe Kylewest. Prewar units often have kitchen doors to stairwell and some have their garbage pickup there, not all, but some.

Oh, and, the apartment does technically have access to two staircases already: The one next to the elevator and then then another out the emergency exit. Both lovely, wide stair wells beneath sky lights (I love stairwells!).

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/nyregion/still-secret-and-secure-safe-rooms-now-hide-in-plain-sight.html

http://stuffijustlearned.blogspot.com/2009/10/dreams-of-hidden-rooms.html

If it is in the kitchen and a full size door... it is probably a shared service entry between 2 apts. that was used mainly for deliveries. You neighbor would have the same on their side. Then there would be a 3rd door from the hallway (which could be covered over) from where the delivery person would enter into a small hallway, and then knock on either door so deliveries could be brought directly into the kitchen without having to go through the apartment. These spaces are typically 3 x 5. In my building there is one for every two apts. As this is no longer used for deliveries, people share for storage space, one buys out the other, etc. My neighbor (before I purchased) bought the whole space to incorporate into her kitchen and sealed the hallway door. I had just the remaining door on my side which I am removing and sealing with a wall. Hope this is not your case and you have a whole extra room!!