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Lobby apartments: always residential spaces?

Started by ApartmentMouse
almost 10 years ago
Posts: 27
Member since: Aug 2015
Discussion about
The more prewar buildings I visit, the more I see apartment doors opening onto lobbies. Sometimes they're reached by a very short flight of stairs with a nice ornamental railing. They're definitely for living in, with numbers and buzzer or bell buttons. The one person I've known who lived in one said that the lobby noise, and the lack of privacy through the door, was awful. Were they once utility rooms, or rooms for live-in staff? They don't look like later additions, but don't seem ideal for living in.
Response by NWT
almost 10 years ago
Posts: 6643
Member since: Sep 2008

Some were built as apartments, some as doctor's offices. The super's apartment and any extra maids' rooms are usually at the back of the ground floor.

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Response by jelj13
almost 10 years ago
Posts: 821
Member since: Sep 2011

Go to this URL for the original plans of buildings in NYC. They often show whether a first floor units were for other types of uses than a normal apartment. http://nyre.cul.columbia.edu/projects/view/503#images

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