New York, New York....and the Rise of the Luxury High-Rise

   The high-rise apartment building was a relatively new building type in the mid 1800's.  The need for such a type arose in cities across the U.S. where land was quickly becoming scarce and prices soared.  By 1860, the population in New York had reached one million, of which about 42% were new immigrants. 

     The cost of building and maintaining large urban townhouses was becoming untenable even for the upper classes.  But, developers had to change perceptions of "apartment living" in order to convince the gentry to consider such a move.


  Prior to the mid 19th century, the only apartment buildings in New York were tenements at the lower end of Manhattan, inhabited by poor immigrants.  According to author, Elizabeth Hawes "all respectable New Yorkers lived in private homes".  Developer Rutherford Stuyvesant is often credited with building the first luxury high-rise apartment building in New York. The Stuyvesant was located at 142 E. 18th Street in 1869, and was razed in the 1930's. 



The design was by William Morris Hunt after a chance meeting in Paris with Stuyvesant.  Hunt  had spent a decade living and traveling the great cities of Europe where apartment living had been around since ancient Roman cities were built.  Hunt and Stuyvesant knew that young America was ready for this building type.   

The first tenants at The Stuyvesant, nicknamed Hunt's Folley, had a lot to do with making apartment living cool.  Although, a very bohemian bunch, all had excellent social credentials.  There was General Custer's widow,  a great-niece of Thomas Jefferson, and Calvert Vaux, co-designer of Central Park. 

     The next great apartment building in New York was the now-legendary Dakota, still famous and still standing high above Central Park at 1 West 72nd Street.  When completed in 1884, The Dakota stood alone looming over the park on a street where cows and goats still grazed.  The Dakota, designed by Henry Hardenbergh, had a couryard plan much like the ancient Roman houses and insulae.  The courtyard plan was implemented in many New York buildings allowing for much-needed light and air. 

     Over the next thirty years, almost all upper and middle income resident of New York city would make the move to apartment living.  Other large and mid-sized cities followed suite as land became scarce and expensive.  Cities like Philadelphia; Washington, DC; and Boston all had luxury apartment buildings by the turn of the century.  Smaller cities like Richmond followed in their wake.   


The Chesterfiled Apartments, 900 W. Franklin Street, Richmond, VA