[glowrock]

Originally Posted by ardecila

YMMV... obviously one of the new TOD rental buildings with amenities and an elevator will rent for more than a gut-rehabbed vintage walkup. But my girlfriend rents in a "new construction" - 2000s before the crash - building at a price that actually beats a lot of gut rehabs I've seen.

It's not all vintage building stock with the bedroom problem, just tenements on a 25' lot with side gangways. If the lot is wider, or if the building was built for commercial use up to the lot line, then there isn't really a problem.

Also, the 1920s were a turning point because developers started building apartments en masse for the middle class; previously most apartments were for the working poor, but social mores were changing in big Northern cities. In fact, even the language changed from "tenement" to "apartment" to make the new lifestyle more marketable to the middle class. Design changed as well. Bedrooms got larger to accommodate nicer furniture, they switched from stove heating to radiant heating, the exterior of the buildings started to get more elaborate with fancy brick and limestone carvings, and "picturesque" decorative styles like Spanish Revival, Gothic, Craftsman, etc. Better plumbing, mechanical laundry, and supermarkets eliminated the need for backyard toilets, clotheslines, chicken coops etc. Now the buildings could push to the alley, and new front yards or courtyards were created instead to impress visitors and passersby.

1920s middle-class streetscape:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9807...7i16384!8i8192

c. 1900 tenement streetscape:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8385...7i16384!8i8192

Thanks for that very detailed explanation, ardecila. This really helps shed some light on the whole "shoebox bedroom" phenomenon!

Aaron (Glowrock)