Back in 1988 I worked & lived at 38W 88th St. Columbus Ave it's the Internation Student Centre in NYC. You only mentioned one basement, there was actually two. N.Y.C & Madrid are 43-45 degrees latitude it was so hot aircon was poor. We used to buy some ice cold Rolling Rock & climb the ladder, to the roof listen to the "hum of the traffic" & fall asleep up there.
Imagine living in a single closed bedroom with your entire family AND having 3 other families walk through your room to get to theirs. We have it so good😭
Was common in England where this design originally is from as are many of them including the brownstones which look identical to the houses in Chelsea, London, UK
If you're in the city, you can go to the Tenement Museum and actually see restored apartments like those in the B/W photos. And yeah, it must have been rough living...
@zaxmaxlax That was probably the case for most working class folks at the time. I've heard that some working class people in the Black Country, UK had outside toilets even in the 1960s.
I lived in NY for about ten years, and I laughed when you mentioned the "ample heat." It's quite common to look up and see apartment windows open during the coldest days of winter because the older, steam-heated apartments have two settings for the heat: off, and fiery depths of Hell.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a +100x ….if this guy writes a book, or starts a channel with longer deep dives on each building styles? I’ll subscribe or buy a book, whatever. He articulates SO well a topic I never knew I was so fascinated by.
Really enjoyed this episode as it touched base on the evolution of architecture in New York and the motivation behind the different architectures, which is something most people do not consider or appreciate.
My wife and I lived in a studio for over 20 years. As New Yorkers, we engaged in that favorite competitive sport, tracking real estate (both for sale and rentals). One day an ad appeared listing one of the studios in our line for sale, describing it as being "420 square feet". This surprised me so I got out my tape measure and measured every square inch of our apartment and calculated the actual square footage. This led me to the conclusion that in addition to both English and Metric measurements, there is a "Manhattan Real Estate Measurement". Specifically, according to my calculation, a Manhattan Square Foot is approximately 9 inches by 9 inches.
hey, Four different types of square footage, Gross Square Footage - total sq.ft. Net Square Footage - GSF minus walls, mechanical room, etc. Net Assignable Square Footage - NSF minus footage not for purpose of the space. Net Cleanable Square Footage - area that needs to be cleaned. Probably, landlord is stating the Gross Square Footage from middle of wall to middle of wall between the exterior walls. Some include the patio space, fire escape, etc.. While the tenant at best is using Net Square Footage. Basements although unlivable are included in Gross Square Footage. There's other terminology that almost makes a used car salesman look human in comparison.
The house I live in has a "mud room" on the back - tacked together, very poorly built, and not connected to the HVAC system (rain runs in across the old concrete patio under the floor). While local laws require all reportable/livable square footage to be conditioned spaces, my landlord counts that sizable, dank, musty space as part of the livable square footage on the property listing, but the lease says to "use at your own risk". He also has the property listed with a storage building behind the house, but the lease agreement also states the building is "use at your own risk" because the roof has caved in and the walls are starting to buckle.
@firesurfer Liar liar pants on fire. I wonder how many landlords take this approach because a certain number of prospects viewing the space will think, I can make it work anyway. And I'd question whether the price per actual square foot measures up to the local standard or is the value reflecting an inflated number.
Loved every minute of this video, I remember a teacher saying if you know what you’re teaching it’s never complicated. Anyone that complicates a subject doesn’t know it. This was fantastic……
As both a new yorker and a lover of architecture, this is genuinely one of my favorite videos AD has ever produced. What a wonderful guest- I could listen to him for hours.
WOW in 10 years you've lived in a railroad apartment, a classic 6, a Brownstone, AND a loft? You sure get around! Did you get your security deposits back? 😆
That's acquired knowledge...i.e. it was taught to him and learned via the discipline. It's different from being inherently (read: genetically) "smart" or intelligent. You can be both, or have one or the other, but acquired knowledge from the study of architecture, or any discipline, is different from being "smart" or intelligent.
It makes me sad realizing that there was a period in time (however brief in the grand scheme of things) when artists were taken so much more seriously than both before and after. Here in Sweden there was even the concept of "artist's pay" during much of the past century, which meant that artists could receive basic income simply for being an artist, as long as they went to speak with the proper authority and could prove that they were regularly producing art and that there was some sort of public interest in their works.
@advancedchiropractic667 I am also typically not a fan of subsidizing, but plenty of really good artists go unpaid, or pay the bills with different work entirely. I hope you are not sincerely that obtuse.
@advancedchiropractic667 Exactly. If you are just starting out, you do it on the side of a regular job. If/when you become successful, you can go full time with the art. Like every musician have to do.
@thegoodgeneral It's a sign of entitlement to think you don't have to pull your own weight, if you are able. That the tax payers should pay for you. At least get yourself a whealty patron to pay for your upkeep.
My mother still lives in the railroad apartment I was raised in Williamsburg on the north side. We moved there in 1969 and at age 81 she still lives in the same rent controlled apartment. She pays $142 a montth and my son who is a nurse lives with her and takes care of her. He will inherit the aparartment along with the rent. She renovated it in the 1980s and the landlord let her do it thinking he would evict her and have a new apartment. She left the bathturb in the kitchen as it has always been because it was a large kitchen and did not want to box it in. She said it would be like taking a bath in the closet. Well the landlord was not able to evict her and he tried for 30 years with every lie under the moon. My mother had the same attorney all that time and knew all their tricks. I love the apartment. I bought a large apartment on the south side of Williamsburg when I was 21 and still have it. I have an unobstructed view of the Manhattan skyline from the 21st floor. I can tell every type of building there is in the area. It was a shame the "tin men" of the 50s and 60s convinced som many people to put aluminum siding on beautiful buildings and tear the original features off.
I'm a small town boy living on an acre with chickens in the backyard, so this is as far away from my world as I can imagine. And I found it fascinating, explaining terms that I've heard on TV and in the movies for over 50 years without understanding. Thank you so much.
I really appreciate how he approached the changes of New York being caused by gentrification rather than just "things progressing". Humanizing and including marginalized people and financial insecurities in the conversation of housing is so important!
As a Dutch person, I'd like to clarify that the Dutch word for stoop is 'stoep' and it does not mean staircase it means sidewalk or pavement. The Dutch word for staircase is called 'trap'.
I've seen 3br apts with 2 baths in NYC where the smallest room had the dedicated bathroom. It didn't make sense to me but now I get it: it was the maid's room.
@ericalorraine7943lookup Priscilla Dearmin-Turner, this is her name online, she's the real investment prodigy since the crash and have help me recovered my loses
Mr Wyentzner is such a great presenter, and it's clear that he cares a lot about historic New York architecture and the people who have lived in it! Hearing about the technological innovations and social situations that lead to these different styles was extremely interesting and captivating, thank you!
This is absolutely fascinating! When visiting NYC, I see many of theses buildings in specific areas and to have a their historical context laid out in this video is quite mind blowing. I love this video. Excellent content. I really appreciate it.
3:05 - instead of alleyways, get a recycling spot. where you put trashcans into containers. the garage is stored in sheltered containers instead of on the street like this.
New Yorker here as well and yes, some of these apt layouts kill me, especially for the price! I personally feel the worst are the railroad apts, the middle rooms never have any natural light. Plus it a nightmare when you have roommates, there’s no privacy. Funny enough I have a friend on the LES who’s apt still has the tub in the kitchen and the toilet just has its own little room. It’s so odd, who wants to shower by their stove lol. He only took it because it’s rent stabilized lmao.
@suqarBoomBoom My grandma's building was a dumbbell tenement what they did was split the apartment up into smaller 1-2 bedroom apartments and just added the kitchens and bathroom where they could. The building even had an old shaft in the hallway that was used to throw trash down. The bathroom was tiny, just the width of a bathtub and toilet right next to it and didn't have an actual shower.
I have been noticing the layout of houses since I was 8 years old. I could draw you a floor plan of every house my friends lived in when I was a child. I loved this presentation. Thank you
I did that with cars. Memorized car headlights. And could tell you the make, model, and approximate year of every oncoming car in the dark. Weird skill I have since lost since so many newer cars are out.
This was so interesting. I always heard these terms thrown around but never really knew what they meant. The origin of "stoop" being Dutch makes a lot of sense, because it's a weirdly specific New York City word. I had no idea the origin of "studio apartment" was so fancy! I think the pattern of artists going into an industrial area, living like pioneers, building something special only to be victims of their own success when they are priced out of the neighborhood, has repeated itself all around the world.
The term is not specific to New York City at all. In fact, I'd say it's most widely used (both as a term and as a sitting perch) in Baltimore and probably in Philadelphia as well.
@stephans1990: This term _stoop_ does not mean simply "stairs" either. It indicates the stairs in front of a building's main entrance. Sitting on the stoop, you're virtually sitting on the sidewalk.
I also lived in a classic six on Clairmont Ave up by Barnard College and Columbia U on the top floor, and during the summer, it was brutally hot because of convection from the tar roof. I eventually noticed that the big clamshell windows in the living room and all the transoms had been painted over, and so one day I took a utility knife and opened all the transoms, and then the big windows. As soon as I opened them, the apartment cooled off by 30 degrees and a beautiful cool steady top-gallant breeze began blowing through the entire apartment. Pro tip: if you live in such an apartment with painted over transoms and windows, open them up!
Good advice. The continuous hallway from the front to the rear of the building was designed to be a breezeway. Before air conditioning buildings were designed for cross ventilation both horizontally and vertically. Nowadays with apartments being subdivided into smaller and smaller units blocking any ventilation they must be sweat boxes. The Venturi Effect, similiar to use in a car carburetor, is to have a larger window or opening low on a wall in a room (could even be vents on the floor if a crawlspace is underneath) and a smaller opening higher up on the opposite wall. As hot rises through the higher opening because of the smaller area it is speeded up and a strong draft is created. It helps to have casement windows pivoting at its center to direct the airflow.
I went to college there and always admired those beautiful apartments! I’m surprised to hear they were still maintained as “classic sixes”. I would have thought landlords would want to subdivide them into more smaller units.
This was extremely informative and insightful. I was born in the Bronx in the early 80s and can remember some distinctive looks and feel of the buildings in New York. Great video.
It alarms me that I have known artists who rented a "sleeping space", beneath the floor of a loft apartment. The loft suite had really tall ceilings, so along the way a crawl space beneath the floor was created. It was only 5 foot tall,.....to gain access to it, there was 4 steps down. The dweller of such a room couldn't even stand up in it. They would have to move about their sleeping space on their knees. The larges rooms above it, have actual windows, in their floors, to allow for some (natural) light to penetrate into the crawl-space, sleeping room. That "crawl-space" bedroom rented for a high amount of money. The dweller of that bedroom was allowed to share the bathroom & kitchen of the larger loft space above it. Madness!
Somewhere in my files is a photo of the clear plexiglass panels in the floors of the "loft space", with views into the "crawl space" sleeping quarters. I'm an artist and I know the friend & fellow artist of the person who rented the crawl space. With only minimal light coming in through the windows in the floor, there was also lighting down there as well. The occupant would move about in that space on their knees. There was a bed, a night stand, a small TV, and a computer connection.
I love my railroad apartment, I’m the third floor, it’s so fun to decorate and such a unique living style, you can see in my floors the indent of the most popular path that people have used. Original floors from the early 1900s! so it really feels magical to think of all the people who have lived in it since.
I went to architecture school about 30 years ago and this presentation reminds me about how much enjoyment I received from listening to a good architectural history professor.
I own a 6 fl brown stone in Baltimore. Built in the early 1800’s. It’s huge. After I bought it, I found an entire hidden room, 3 weeks after I moved in. My nephew said “Uncle Neal …. this isn’t a house … it’s a hotel !” I loved it when I was younger but now it’s just too much space.
@Antigonex It depends on the individual. My 2Br apt is over 1400sq ft & it'sjust me. The rooms r massive & the ceilings r 12ft. When my family comes down 2 visit, every1 is comfortable. As far as the 6 story brownstone, I'd put 3-4 huge apts & hire a property manager 2 manage the building. I'd b a silent landlord & live n 1 of them.
As a lifelong resident of Los Angeles, I have often heard these terms bandied about in movies or television shows set in New York. It's very interesting to learn the history of the architecture and the terms used to describe the various types of apartments. Thank you very much for making and posting this video!
@markallen2984 Ah, the triggered New Yorker rears his rude and arrogant head. Go watch another rerun of that awful NY sitcom, Seinfeld or whatever it's called.
@rich-tp2dx Well, that's rich coz I hear transplanted NYers all the time. Easy to spot with the grating Nanny accent and the unfounded arrogance. Never met a transplanted Angeleno in NY.
My mother’s family moved from the South in the early 1900s. My mother was raised in railroad apartments. Her wealthier aunt and uncle lived in the 7 room apartment, set up exactly as I remembered it. The kitchen was in the rear overlooking the back to gardens between the houses. There was a small maids room right off the kitchen with a bathroom. The family lived in the front rooms overlooking the street.
There is a book called Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments which follows the history of women like your grandmother who moved from the South to Manhattan in the 1900s. You might really enjoy it. It’s imaginative history as much documented family history was lost.
4:45 Back in 1975, I read a book called "The Good Old Days: They were terrible.", which described the conditions in these tenement buildings, including the trash piling up in ventilation shafts. It was quite revealing, but not really surprising. I later read something called "American Skyline" (written in the 1950s) which addressed a seeming paradox which had been bugging me for a while: how were there enough rich people in the 1800s to buy up all of the new, 5 or 6 story "brownstones" in cities like Boston and NYC. That's a lot of house, even for a very comfortable family. As the book described, these buildings were built in phases, with the newest streets being the most currently fashionable, and many of the houses in the streets that were more than a few years old became de facto rooming houses as the owners took in boarders to help pay the mortgage, then were subdivided not long after that. So the number of such buildings that were serving as individual residences at any given time was fairly low. In Boston, the leading edge of this wave was the newly created land from the gradual filling-in of the "Back Bay" saltwater swamp that originally surrounded the Charles River.
Well, it was the choice of the adults to keep having kids. They love the stench,the rats and garbage, otherwise: why would they keep having kids if they are poor? Same applies nowadays,the poor keep having kids they can´t support. Apply EUGENICS!
The railroad apartment layout reminds me of the "shotgun" houses we have here in the south. I lived in a shotgun apartment for about a year ... one room lead to the next. But it was up to the person living there what to do with each room ... and there was generally only one bedroom.
Love how he knows so much about architecture and not just the technical terms but how they came about why they came about what type of people lived in them and the systemic issues that people faced and still do
you must have missed all those white people living in squalor at the beginning of the video yeah they weren't blacks and minorities they were white people
This was quite an interesting history lesson and I very much enjoyed this video. The architecture of NYC's apartments inspired multi-family housing in cities across the US; particularly during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Learning more about the original contexts in which they developed was enjoyable viewing. This was presented in a truly engaging manner, IMHO--thanks! :)
I've lived in NYC for 12 years now and this is the most comprehensive and insightful recap of architecture and history of the city I've watched. Learned so much!
great video, next you should make one on the types of housing found in the outer boros (pre vs post war apartments, the projects, newer 5 over 1s and older 2-3 stories over store space, etc)
I love this! I appreciate you pointing out systematic issues surrounding funding which impacted how housing projects are not cared for. I also appreciate you pointing out that housing projects receive a bad reputation. A place and space that was built for the working-class people of NYC.
I live in a brownstone in Harlem that was built in 1910. I love how the bedrooms are in the back and there aren’t any alley ways. Makes things very private, safe, and quiet from the New York noises. And one newer thing that had grown in sound recently, fireworks. Anytime New Years or July 4th approaches, fireworks are nuts here in Harlem.
This is just such a well made video all around. Informative without any fluff just straight to the point, graphics and photos perfectly illustrating narration. It's 16 minutes long yet felt like 5 because of how well paced and clearly presented it is. RUclips randomly suggested it to me and I enjoyed every second of it. It should be a standard for educational videos under 20 minutes.
Wow, I've lived in nyc for a few years now and this was FASCINATING. To have been around so many of these places, and recognizing them in the video, but finally knowing the history. Really amazing, really appreciate it. I feel like Michael was super informative, talking about the good and the bad in what seemed to be a very leveled fashion. I'd love a tour from him!
As a boy in the Bronx, we lived in what I always heard referred to as a Pullman apartment. It was like you described as a railroad apt with the full length corridor. Before that my dad was the super in a dumbbell building. We lived in the basement next to the boiler room.
I grew up similar as my father was a Super and NYC Busdriver and because of All the Construction Trades I learned I can and have built many houses in my time as a Carpenter.
This is a really insightful video. I’m Australian and have never visited New York so it’s great to watch this video and learn all these new things. What a wonderful and historic city!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Something about the way this gentleman conducted himself in conjunction with the knowledge of his craft was just great
These kinds of videos are so educational. I love that it really allows us to learn about the terms and feautures and I really admire these kinds of lessons. This one was absolutely amazing. It goes without saying that I want more videos like this one
I absolutely loved this video! I was born in NY and lived in Queens. When I grew up, I ended up renting a 4 room railroad room apt. building in Long Island City off of 51st Ave and Vernon Blvd. one entered into a large kitchen with a window and the washing machine was there as well and I would hang out my wash on the clothesline. The owner told me he cut out a tiny bathroom on one side of the wall. I swear it was only big enough to walk in one step and a sink was there. Turn to your,left side and the toilet was there and as you sat on the commode, the shower curtain touched your body. If I leaned forward while sitting on the commode, my head could rest against the door. The shower was only large enough to just step in. You could turn around but that was all! Then the next room was what I called my living room. It was 8 feet wide and perhaps 12 feet in length. Very much a rectangle. I had a wall unit on one wall and a couch and two end tables next to either end of the couch on the other side of the room. The center of the rectangular room was where you walked to get through that room to the next room! That room led to a tiny square of a room in which I had a single bed against one wall and a small dresser on the other wall. That room led into the master bedroom with two windows facing the front street. There was room for a double bed, triple dresser, nightstand, and desk. That was my first adult apartment and I lived there with my younger sister. My rent during 1984-87 was $400.00 a month.
I just moved out of NYC a few months ago after nearly 41 years living on 100th Street (at Riverside Drive). I lived in a building built in 1913. In its original form, it had huge, multi-room apartments, but they were all cut down into smaller units sometime around the WWII era. I had one of the smaller apartments in the building--a small kitchen, a small-medium sized bathroom, a large bedroom and a large front room, and a mid-sized foyer--but compared to so many apartments elsewhere in the city, it was reasonably spacious, helped by having 10-foot ceilings. And it was rent-stabilized! I never did install an air-conditioner unit, so it could be hot in the summer, but, as you point it, there was plenty of steam heat throughout the winter. I loved living there. (By contrast, a college pal of mine who moved to NYC a couple of years before me lived in a railroad flat on 5th St. at the corner of Avenue B. Yes, the tub was in the kitchen, with a water closet at the far end of the apartment, a narrow closet-like space with only a toilet (no sink). The toilet was flushed by pulling on a chain hanging from the ceiling. My friend later moved one block up to 6th between Avenues A and B, and much later, to a loft in DUMBO while it was still an artist's colony, and before it became the high-priced SOHO clone it is today.)
I lived 82nd and RSD. I loved it. I remember the police chasing the coyotes down the street that wandered out of the park. It was so quiet and interesting to walk thru.
Wow, lived in NYC 20 years and never knew about these UWS 2 floor studios! Having a hard time believing they are still intact. Would love to see one. I lived in several kinds of apartments in my time there, ending up in a very non-luxe 250sf studio on the backside of a converted Brownstone in Ft. Greene. It was the quietest apartment I ever had, with a huge bathroom that was original, and 3 long windows. I loved living there. Now I live in a circa 1924 terracotta tile roofed apartment in Atlanta, which is also beautiful and interesting, with many windows and a crazy cross-breeze that would have been essential pre AC. Love historic buildings. This was great, thank you!
Not all tenement apartments were railroads. I lived for 14 years (1976-1990) in what was then called a one-bedroom apartment in what was then known as the East Village. All the buildings in my immediate vicinity went up in the 1890s. My apartment measured 310 square feet. It had three rooms, all in a row, but you entered in the middle room. That was the bathe-in, eat-in kitchen (11' x 11') -- completely unrenovated -- with the original sink next to the bathtub, to which a previous tenant had added a hinged cover to create counter space. West of the kitchen was the living room (11' x 11') which I often used as a bedroom (my "living bedroom") and which contained a kind of closet with a toilet. East of the kitchen was the bedroom (7' x 8'), which I eventually turned into an office. Each of the three rooms had one north-facing window, and then the living room and the toilet-closet shared a fourth window, half in each space. There was a little storage space: cabinets above the bathtub, a tiny closet in one corner of the kitchen, and a very narrow built-in armoire in the living room. The location was fantastic -- I was in the middle of a thriving art & social scene -- and the rent was affordable even for a starving artist -- $110 a month when I moved in, $265 a month when I moved out 14 years later. (Rent stabilization is what made that thriving scene possible!) I didn't mind the primitive plumbing, but I often felt claustrophobic in that space. All the while I lived there I had a recurring dream in which I found a door in my apartment that led to a whole new room whose existence I'd never suspected. It made me feel ecstatic until I woke up and realized it was just that dream again. By now every unit in that building has been renovated, but they haven't gotten any bigger, so modern bathrooms now take up a lot of the former living space. Since 1990 I've lived in Seattle, where apartments tend to be a lot bigger (though the newly built ones get smaller every year). Sadly, Seattle doesn't have any form of rent control or stabilization, and rents just keep getting higher.
im so glad u addressed affordable housing. some people have so many nasty thoughts about it not knowing how neglected the families and the buildings are by the government
@gizzyguzzi Because government provides a common good. And if left to private entities, only the rich could live in cities and then cities couldn’t function.
@woodcider How about personal responsibility? Get a damn job! Pay your own damn rent! Governments tenements created nothing but hopelessness and despair. Then welfare destroyed the family. Now government cant fix drug addiction and homelessness. Its a giant tax suck industry of pain snd suffering Government ruins everything
At 7:00 you mention housing projects fell into disrepair due to dwindling funding. Actually is was a vicious circle of the tenants not even attempting to keep them clean or to report problems which led to reduced funding which led to more property abuse. Much of the damage was caused directly by the tenants - as many were given the housing rent free and they never felt any ownership. Just one type of damage is graffiti. It wasn't long before superintendents, landlords, and the city got tired (and wasted money) on repainting every few months. I once went into a high rise project building in downtown Stamford, CT in 1974, I think it was built in 1969 only 5 years prior. The walls were covered in graffiti, trash ever where, broken windows borded up, and one of the elevator doors was ripped apart. There were still people living there. I didn't stay long. So what leads to squalid conditions is a two way street. Tenants have the attitude: why respect it if is it is not mine. The landlords have the attitude: why keep it in repair if the tenants don't respect it. It's a recipe for disaster. These days, our democratic party is becoming more Democratic Socialists. Which is different from communism. But the end results would be the same... the entire population living in filthy broken down tenements. I saw it in Russia in 1999. But most people cared about where they lived and didn't abuse it. I saw no graffiti or vandalism there, but some disrepair to lack of captial.
I love learning the history of architecture for different cities. This man is very interesting and easy going, laid back. A great video of knowledge. ❤ We have a lot of this same architecture in Birmingham, Alabama.
In the late 1970s I met some artists who rented on old, defunct bowling alley, in the city of Chicago. It had about 10 lanes, and the ceilings were very tall. They built a 2 story apartment over 6 of the 10 lanes, keeping the lanes intact, but covering them over. Outside of their apartment, were the original remaining 4 lanes. They kept them intact, the narrow alleys became places to set up chairs, & other furnishings,.....and guests could still bowl, though the mechanical ball return, was no longer there. It had been gutted out and sold for scrap. Pins could be set up and knocked down, but resetting them, was a manual affair.
@marcialabrahantes3369 I don't know, I live in Columbus, Ohio, and saw it when I was visiting Chicago. At the time I visited a lot of cities to see where artists were setting up their studios, (and sleeping quarters) in unusual spaces. In Athens, Ohio,..in a defunct department store. In Cleveland, Ohio,....& Cincinnati in old factory buildings. One had been an old brewery. In most cases these were semi-illegal places, not zoned for living or even as art studios. Most cities had a surplus old buildings, and their owners were more than happy to find anyone willing to pay a low rent. They rented as: "As is" condition. meaning the renter took on all the expenses to make it workable and livable.
I grew up in the housing projects in Bklyn. I don't know why I click on this but I did...and I am glad. This was VERY educational. Thank you for your work. You have gained a new subscriber.
I live on a small city 11000 people in Australia thanks for the chance to visit and learn about your city's architecture. Here we mostly live in single story houses the tallest building is only 3 stories tall. And it's a pub.
This guy is so easy to listen to, and his enthusiasm is magnetic. I live in South Dakota, and yearn for New York City. This video kind of takes me there. Thank you.
This was fascinating. I’ve only been in NYC three days of my entire life, but I find myself very intrigued by the architecture and how people have come to live in such small (usually) and unique spaces. Never knew about the origin of the SOHO name.
As a former property professional worked more than 25 years in London and in Berlin, it was great to learn these details about the architecture of this amazing city I love and lucky to know. Thank you
In Amsterdam, the staircases of brownstone-like houses were called 'stoep'. The staircases were needed because the cellars couldn't be very low, because Amsterdam was build below sea level.
@drfisheye today nyc has stoop; a set of stairs with a basement entrance below them typically. They vary from the original meaning where wide steps led to a roof covered outside area. This is more commonly referred to as a porch although the terms are commonly interchangeable. Then there are decks, witch are ubiquitous in suburban nyc. Often against building code as anything attached to the main structure needs to be on architecture plans and most are not . They are commonly private rear sitting areas w stairs to the house and ofter a set of stairs for egress. There is also a patio; a flat stone or cement are w acces to the house. I mention this as is occupies the same area as a deck but requires no permits for doing the same thing but isn't supported above ground. Both of these lack a roof
As a native Brooklynite, we've always referred to any outside steps in NYC as stoops, especially in Brooklyn. I remember my friends great grandparents calling them by that name in the 50s! Hello, Stoop Ball❣️🗽 Great times and memories.💕
I never knew about this channel until 30 min ago and I’m happy that I have. You sir have answered a lot of questions that werent answered until now. Such as the creation of brownstone houses and for whom. Such as the parlor floor elevated. When I was a kid I came across apartments that still have a bathtub in the middle of the kitchen and now I know why. I’ve been passionate about architecture since I was 10 years old and I was designing mansions, commercial buildings and I’ve also designed and built a hovercraft for a charity event in Junior HS. That success at the age gained attention and support from my principle. She didnt want to see my natural talent go to waste. She had surprised me with an offer from Cooper Union to attend and study there. I have a masters in Architecture today. Watching this episode has truly reminded me why I’m so incredibly passionate and the deep history behind it. You’ve gained a new subscriber. You’ve taught me a lot today and I’m looking forward to satisfy this hungry brain of mine 🤓
I've heard that a reason that older apartments had fewer closets was that NYC and Brooklyn tax laws valuated properties partly based on how many closets they had. This didn't appear to affect Queens - I grew up in a seven-story pre-war co-op in Queens, and it had big closets in each bedroom and in the hallway.
Looking for the pen Michael Wyetzner uses? Pentel Sign Pens Fine Point 2.0 mm (Pack of 12): amzn.to/3zVvVdt
But he's holding a Lamy!
I was wondering why the pen was prominently featured in the video. After this pinned comment, I get it.
Can this guy do London houses please?
Great video except... I'm disappointed he didn't go into the details of a brownstone's interior layout.
Back in 1988 I worked & lived at 38W 88th St. Columbus Ave it's the Internation Student Centre in NYC. You only mentioned one basement, there was actually two. N.Y.C & Madrid are 43-45 degrees latitude it was so hot aircon was poor. We used to buy some ice cold Rolling Rock & climb the ladder, to the roof listen to the "hum of the traffic" & fall asleep up there.
Imagine living in a single closed bedroom with your entire family AND having 3 other families walk through your room to get to theirs. We have it so good😭
Was common in England where this design originally is from as are many of them including the brownstones which look identical to the houses in Chelsea, London, UK
Navy ships have 80 folks you walk thru
If you're in the city, you can go to the Tenement Museum and actually see restored apartments like those in the B/W photos. And yeah, it must have been rough living...
This was the least of their problems, imagine wanting to poo in the middle of the night in the winter.
@zaxmaxlax That was probably the case for most working class folks at the time. I've heard that some working class people in the Black Country, UK had outside toilets even in the 1960s.
I really love the way you pointed out "WHY" there was change in design, yet also explained why the change you see today.
The "Why" is because they planners decided to make everything ugly and inhuman because they hate beauty and us. It's all a scam.
same
Yes, and why the new laws destroyed a lot of living space in the city, since a lot of row houses had to be torn down.
I lkd the way you pointed out🤩
Because of changing tastes, changing needs, changing laws, etc.
I lived in NY for about ten years, and I laughed when you mentioned the "ample heat." It's quite common to look up and see apartment windows open during the coldest days of winter because the older, steam-heated apartments have two settings for the heat: off, and fiery depths of Hell.
It’s to help stop the spread of disease during influenza season. People can stay warm while having fresh air circulating
@MsNatiBug fresh air always 😊❤!! Agreed!
CACKLE 😂❤. THAT'S NC now‼️
I’m sorry, do you mean my complimentary sock warmer/radiator combo?
Doubles as a winter humidifier with a pot of water. So handy.
I wish that had been the case with any of the apartments I lived in during the course of 50 years. Not once did I live in a unit with steam heat.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a +100x ….if this guy writes a book, or starts a channel with longer deep dives on each building styles? I’ll subscribe or buy a book, whatever. He articulates SO well a topic I never knew I was so fascinated by.
same.
Really enjoyed this episode as it touched base on the evolution of architecture in New York and the motivation behind the different architectures, which is something most people do not consider or appreciate.
Yes, what a treat
NYC is very rich in architecture. Very informative. More like this please
Agreed! Do Chicago next!
Barry Obama yes very many
The only other city that has the same variety of buildings is Boston although square miles of land smaller.
My wife and I lived in a studio for over 20 years. As New Yorkers, we engaged in that favorite competitive sport, tracking real estate (both for sale and rentals). One day an ad appeared listing one of the studios in our line for sale, describing it as being "420 square feet". This surprised me so I got out my tape measure and measured every square inch of our apartment and calculated the actual square footage. This led me to the conclusion that in addition to both English and Metric measurements, there is a "Manhattan Real Estate Measurement". Specifically, according to my calculation, a Manhattan Square Foot is approximately 9 inches by 9 inches.
hey,
Four different types of square footage,
Gross Square Footage - total sq.ft.
Net Square Footage - GSF minus walls, mechanical room, etc.
Net Assignable Square Footage - NSF minus footage not for purpose of the space.
Net Cleanable Square Footage - area that needs to be cleaned.
Probably, landlord is stating the Gross Square Footage from middle of wall to middle of wall between the exterior walls. Some include the patio space, fire escape, etc..
While the tenant at best is using Net Square Footage.
Basements although unlivable are included in Gross Square Footage.
There's other terminology that almost makes a used car salesman look human in comparison.
@vincentgoupil180 You forget that many just boldface makeup numbers. Otherwise known as liers.
The house I live in has a "mud room" on the back - tacked together, very poorly built, and not connected to the HVAC system (rain runs in across the old concrete patio under the floor). While local laws require all reportable/livable square footage to be conditioned spaces, my landlord counts that sizable, dank, musty space as part of the livable square footage on the property listing, but the lease says to "use at your own risk".
He also has the property listed with a storage building behind the house, but the lease agreement also states the building is "use at your own risk" because the roof has caved in and the walls are starting to buckle.
@firesurfer Liar liar pants on fire. I wonder how many landlords take this approach because a certain number of prospects viewing the space will think, I can make it work anyway. And I'd question whether the price per actual square foot measures up to the local standard or is the value reflecting an inflated number.
@mjinba07 Real Estate is based on what people will pay. So it doesn't matter anyway. Buyer beware.
Loved every minute of this video, I remember a teacher saying if you know what you’re teaching it’s never complicated. Anyone that complicates a subject doesn’t know it. This was fantastic……
" Ce que l'on conçoit bien s'enonce clairement. Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisement" Nicolas Boileau
Some things are complex. Not everything is easily digestible.
“ if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. “ was always one of my favorite quotes.
As both a new yorker and a lover of architecture, this is genuinely one of my favorite videos AD has ever produced. What a wonderful guest- I could listen to him for hours.
“I could listen to him for hours” were my exact thoughts as well. Such a pleasant, engaging voice and fascinating subject.
👍👍👍👍
These historic AD videos are my favorites.
The other videos are like updated "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" w/o Robin Leach. Meh.
This is incredible. After living in NYC for 10 years its so cool to learn the history behind all these types of buildings I lived in over the years!
WOW in 10 years you've lived in a railroad apartment, a classic 6, a Brownstone, AND a loft? You sure get around! Did you get your security deposits back? 😆
I hear you. I was born and raised in NYC since the 70s and there is not a shortage of history to learn!
@BradThePitts yea it’s called squatting. Lol
Go home
Dang, I'm living in a same Brooklyn apartment for 11 years already
So much important history in such a short video! Michael is so smart-- would love to see him discuss more about NYC architecture!
That's acquired knowledge...i.e. it was taught to him and learned via the discipline. It's different from being inherently (read: genetically) "smart" or intelligent. You can be both, or have one or the other, but acquired knowledge from the study of architecture, or any discipline, is different from being "smart" or intelligent.
@le_th_ you must be fun at parties
@le_th_ ... are you Eastern European?
😂 These comments crack me up.
@Lucy-cl2qk 🤣
It makes me sad realizing that there was a period in time (however brief in the grand scheme of things) when artists were taken so much more seriously than both before and after. Here in Sweden there was even the concept of "artist's pay" during much of the past century, which meant that artists could receive basic income simply for being an artist, as long as they went to speak with the proper authority and could prove that they were regularly producing art and that there was some sort of public interest in their works.
Umm
I like todays. If you are good, you are paid by customers. I do not believe in subsidizing.
@advancedchiropractic667 I am also typically not a fan of subsidizing, but plenty of really good artists go unpaid, or pay the bills with different work entirely. I hope you are not sincerely that obtuse.
@advancedchiropractic667 Exactly. If you are just starting out, you do it on the side of a regular job. If/when you become successful, you can go full time with the art.
Like every musician have to do.
still exists in France...
@thegoodgeneral It's a sign of entitlement to think you don't have to pull your own weight, if you are able. That the tax payers should pay for you. At least get yourself a whealty patron to pay for your upkeep.
My mother still lives in the railroad apartment I was raised in Williamsburg on the north side. We moved there in 1969 and at age 81 she still lives in the same rent controlled apartment. She pays $142 a montth and my son who is a nurse lives with her and takes care of her. He will inherit the aparartment along with the rent. She renovated it in the 1980s and the landlord let her do it thinking he would evict her and have a new apartment. She left the bathturb in the kitchen as it has always been because it was a large kitchen and did not want to box it in. She said it would be like taking a bath in the closet. Well the landlord was not able to evict her and he tried for 30 years with every lie under the moon. My mother had the same attorney all that time and knew all their tricks. I love the apartment. I bought a large apartment on the south side of Williamsburg when I was 21 and still have it. I have an unobstructed view of the Manhattan skyline from the 21st floor. I can tell every type of building there is in the area. It was a shame the "tin men" of the 50s and 60s convinced som many people to put aluminum siding on beautiful buildings and tear the original features off.
It’s this guy again. This guy needs to have his own show. I would watch it all the time.
He does have his own show right here on youtube.
I'm a small town boy living on an acre with chickens in the backyard, so this is as far away from my world as I can imagine. And I found it fascinating, explaining terms that I've heard on TV and in the movies for over 50 years without understanding. Thank you so much.
💚
nice (:
what would you prefer - an apartment in NYC, or the chickens in the back yard?
@mikeoglen6848 Backyard chickens, every time.
I really appreciate how he approached the changes of New York being caused by gentrification rather than just "things progressing". Humanizing and including marginalized people and financial insecurities in the conversation of housing is so important!
Totally agree
True, I was surprised by that!
Phr34ky PHY I don't understand your point about Japan not having these problems? Can you explain?
Phr34ky PHY lol Japan also doesn’t really care about immigration from other parts of the world. Ergo their declining population problem 🤷🏽♂️
Phr34ky PHY Homelessness exists in Japan. So does starvation.
As a Dutch person, I'd like to clarify that the Dutch word for stoop is 'stoep' and it does not mean staircase it means sidewalk or pavement. The Dutch word for staircase is called 'trap'.
I wonder if these staircases are called stoops because they are paved and one with the sidewalk.
I would love to see this done for other cities as a series!
Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston. Would be super cool and interesting.
New Orleans as well
Yes!
or Cities outside of the U.S. London, Paris, Hong Kong, Kairo ..... there are so many interesting cities to choose from.
Plus one for SF, PLEASE!
Totally agree!! Video was great
I've seen 3br apts with 2 baths in NYC where the smallest room had the dedicated bathroom. It didn't make sense to me but now I get it: it was the maid's room.
And did you see how the maid's bedroom led directly into the kitchen.
It’s kind of a nice compromise with roommates. You can choose the bigger room or you can choose to have your own bathroom
@ericalorraine7943lookup Priscilla Dearmin-Turner, this is her name online, she's the real investment prodigy since the crash and have help me recovered my loses
Despite the economic crisis and the rate of unemployment now is the best time to invest
Investment now will be wise but the truth is investing on your own will be a high risk. I think it will be best to get a professional👌
Mr Wyentzner is such a great presenter, and it's clear that he cares a lot about historic New York architecture and the people who have lived in it! Hearing about the technological innovations and social situations that lead to these different styles was extremely interesting and captivating, thank you!
I learned so much from this video
This is absolutely fascinating! When visiting NYC, I see many of theses buildings in specific areas and to have a their historical context laid out in this video is quite mind blowing. I love this video. Excellent content. I really appreciate it.
3:05 - instead of alleyways, get a recycling spot. where you put trashcans into containers. the garage is stored in sheltered containers instead of on the street like this.
exactly, it puts what you see in a much more knowledgeable perspective
You answered what I was going to say. I find it fascinating.
Okay 1:16
As a current NYC resident, this was very informative! I always wondered what was the logic behind most of these weird NYC apartments haha
New Yorker here as well and yes, some of these apt layouts kill me, especially for the price! I personally feel the worst are the railroad apts, the middle rooms never have any natural light. Plus it a nightmare when you have roommates, there’s no privacy.
Funny enough I have a friend on the LES who’s apt still has the tub in the kitchen and the toilet just has its own little room. It’s so odd, who wants to shower by their stove lol. He only took it because it’s rent stabilized lmao.
@suqarBoomBoom Wow! IT was terrible living back then, like the video shows, and terrible living now! 🤣
Some still seem like hell! Imagine 3 bedrooms nowadays. Our first apt was in a 4 floor walk up in West New York, N J . Talk about tiny.🙄great area.
@suqarBoomBoom My grandma's building was a dumbbell tenement what they did was split the apartment up into smaller 1-2 bedroom apartments and just added the kitchens and bathroom where they could. The building even had an old shaft in the hallway that was used to throw trash down. The bathroom was tiny, just the width of a bathtub and toilet right next to it and didn't have an actual shower.
Then you can imagine how interesting it was for me from South Africa
I have been noticing the layout of houses since I was 8 years old. I could draw you a floor plan of every house my friends lived in when I was a child. I loved this presentation. Thank you
Funny, I can too.
I did that with cars. Memorized car headlights. And could tell you the make, model, and approximate year of every oncoming car in the dark.
Weird skill I have since lost since so many newer cars are out.
And now you are an architect?
@awdadwadwad1723 Professional RUclips commenter.
Sounds as though you 're a builder.
This man just taught me everything I've ever wanted to learn about residential architecture in NYC. Thanks, Mr. Weytzner!
Meanwhile college is a joke
This was so interesting. I always heard these terms thrown around but never really knew what they meant. The origin of "stoop" being Dutch makes a lot of sense, because it's a weirdly specific New York City word. I had no idea the origin of "studio apartment" was so fancy! I think the pattern of artists going into an industrial area, living like pioneers, building something special only to be victims of their own success when they are priced out of the neighborhood, has repeated itself all around the world.
The Dutch word stoep means "sidewalk" and not stairs.
The term is not specific to New York City at all. In fact, I'd say it's most widely used (both as a term and as a sitting perch) in Baltimore and probably in Philadelphia as well.
@stephans1990: This term _stoop_ does not mean simply "stairs" either. It indicates the stairs in front of a building's main entrance. Sitting on the stoop, you're virtually sitting on the sidewalk.
I've heard it all my life and have never lived in the northeast.
And it's written as "stoep".
More. We want more of these. ❤️
Yes, more- we want more 👍
I also lived in a classic six on Clairmont Ave up by Barnard College and Columbia U on the top floor, and during the summer, it was brutally hot because of convection from the tar roof. I eventually noticed that the big clamshell windows in the living room and all the transoms had been painted over, and so one day I took a utility knife and opened all the transoms, and then the big windows. As soon as I opened them, the apartment cooled off by 30 degrees and a beautiful cool steady top-gallant breeze began blowing through the entire apartment. Pro tip: if you live in such an apartment with painted over transoms and windows, open them up!
Good advice.
The continuous hallway from the front to the rear of the building was designed to be a breezeway. Before air conditioning buildings were designed for cross ventilation both horizontally and vertically.
Nowadays with apartments being subdivided into smaller and smaller units blocking any ventilation they must be sweat boxes.
The Venturi Effect, similiar to use in a car carburetor, is to have a larger window or opening low on a wall in a room (could even be vents on the floor if a crawlspace is underneath) and a smaller opening higher up on the opposite wall. As hot rises through the higher opening because of the smaller area it is speeded up and a strong draft is created. It helps to have casement windows pivoting at its center to direct the airflow.
I went to college there and always admired those beautiful apartments! I’m surprised to hear they were still maintained as “classic sixes”. I would have thought landlords would want to subdivide them into more smaller units.
so you destroyed an apartment that was not yours.Typically a hick´s attitude.
Mm : I once heard the expression “that transom windows were the lungs of the building.”
I really want to see one of these breakdowns for each major city across the world. This was fascinating
OH I'd love to see one on Chicago.
Same! I'd love to see a video on Boston and the surrounding cities.
This was extremely informative and insightful. I was born in the Bronx in the early 80s and can remember some distinctive looks and feel of the buildings in New York. Great video.
It alarms me that I have known artists who rented a "sleeping space", beneath the floor of a loft apartment. The loft suite had really tall ceilings, so along the way a crawl space beneath the floor was created. It was only 5 foot tall,.....to gain access to it, there was 4 steps down. The dweller of such a room couldn't even stand up in it. They would have to move about their sleeping space on their knees. The larges rooms above it, have actual windows, in their floors, to allow for some (natural) light to penetrate into the crawl-space, sleeping room. That "crawl-space" bedroom rented for a high amount of money. The dweller of that bedroom was allowed to share the bathroom & kitchen of the larger loft space above it. Madness!
This is wild. I've seen interstitial crawlspaces like this in Argento's Giallo, as elements of horror, but I did not know it was a real thing.
Sounds like the super expensive over crowding of Hong Kong real estate.
Somewhere in my files is a photo of the clear plexiglass panels in the floors of the "loft space", with views into the "crawl space" sleeping quarters. I'm an artist and I know the friend & fellow artist of the person who rented the crawl space. With only minimal light coming in through the windows in the floor, there was also lighting down there as well. The occupant would move about in that space on their knees. There was a bed, a night stand, a small TV, and a computer connection.
this sounds like being john malkovich lol
@kyle6282 I wish this page had a way to post photos. I knew the friend of the artist who rented that "below the floor" room, and I have a photo of it.
I love it. I’m wondering if he can do the boroughs. Houses in each borough is interesting.
I love my railroad apartment, I’m the third floor, it’s so fun to decorate and such a unique living style, you can see in my floors the indent of the most popular path that people have used. Original floors from the early 1900s! so it really feels magical to think of all the people who have lived in it since.
wait that’s so charming!!
I love old buildings too. Think what it must be like to live in England where 400 year old houses are not uncommon.
@gabriellekelly3141 To her it is. I also find old apts very interesting too. Such a shame you have to post such an obnoxious comment.
@deeice5398 you misread that person's comment. They were paying a compliment
Hey I live on the third floor in a Queen Anne Victorian in Maine! Nice view.
I went to architecture school about 30 years ago and this presentation reminds me about how much enjoyment I received from listening to a good architectural history professor.
Yes he would have been my favorite professor had he been a professor of mine
I own a 6 fl brown stone in Baltimore. Built in the early 1800’s. It’s huge. After I bought it, I found an entire hidden room, 3 weeks after I moved in. My nephew said “Uncle Neal …. this isn’t a house … it’s a hotel !”
I loved it when I was younger but now it’s just too much space.
all that space just isnt ideal for one person , itll never go to big families either due to the way this system works lol
@Antigonex It depends on the individual. My 2Br apt is over 1400sq ft & it'sjust me. The rooms r massive & the ceilings r 12ft. When my family comes down 2 visit, every1 is comfortable. As far as the 6 story brownstone, I'd put 3-4 huge apts & hire a property manager 2 manage the building. I'd b a silent landlord & live n 1 of them.
Erin.-. it’s it exactly as I originally purchased it
As a lifelong resident of Los Angeles, I have often heard these terms bandied about in movies or television shows set in New York. It's very interesting to learn the history of the architecture and the terms used to describe the various types of apartments.
Thank you very much for making and posting this video!
As a native angeleno, I have never understood why anyone would want to even visit New York, tf 😑
@RogueReplicant I am confident that there are MANY things that you don't understand.
@markallen2984 Ah, the triggered New Yorker rears his rude and arrogant head. Go watch another rerun of that awful NY sitcom, Seinfeld or whatever it's called.
@RogueReplicant don't worry we all say the same things about LA
@rich-tp2dx Well, that's rich coz I hear transplanted NYers all the time. Easy to spot with the grating Nanny accent and the unfounded arrogance. Never met a transplanted Angeleno in NY.
Kudos to this gentleman for so eloquently stating the issues with public housing
Michael Wyetzner seems like a very likeable person. I imagine people enjoy spending time with him.
My mother’s family moved from the South in the early 1900s. My mother was raised in railroad apartments. Her wealthier aunt and uncle lived in the 7 room apartment, set up exactly as I remembered it. The kitchen was in the rear overlooking the back to gardens between the houses. There was a small maids room right off the kitchen with a bathroom. The family lived in the front rooms overlooking the street.
There is a book called Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments which follows the history of women like your grandmother who moved from the South to Manhattan in the 1900s. You might really enjoy it. It’s imaginative history as much documented family history was lost.
4:45 Back in 1975, I read a book called "The Good Old Days: They were terrible.", which described the conditions in these tenement buildings, including the trash piling up in ventilation shafts. It was quite revealing, but not really surprising. I later read something called "American Skyline" (written in the 1950s) which addressed a seeming paradox which had been bugging me for a while: how were there enough rich people in the 1800s to buy up all of the new, 5 or 6 story "brownstones" in cities like Boston and NYC. That's a lot of house, even for a very comfortable family. As the book described, these buildings were built in phases, with the newest streets being the most currently fashionable, and many of the houses in the streets that were more than a few years old became de facto rooming houses as the owners took in boarders to help pay the mortgage, then were subdivided not long after that. So the number of such buildings that were serving as individual residences at any given time was fairly low. In Boston, the leading edge of this wave was the newly created land from the gradual filling-in of the "Back Bay" saltwater swamp that originally surrounded the Charles River.
How do you find out about these books
Well, it was the choice of the adults to keep having kids. They love the stench,the rats and garbage, otherwise: why would they keep having kids if they are poor? Same applies nowadays,the poor keep having kids they can´t support. Apply EUGENICS!
Thanks Michael Wyetzner! That was a fun and informative video.
I love all his videos. I hope there will be more.
I learned so much about NYC that i never new before after many visits just from the first 3 minutes of this video!
The railroad apartment layout reminds me of the "shotgun" houses we have here in the south. I lived in a shotgun apartment for about a year ... one room lead to the next. But it was up to the person living there what to do with each room ... and there was generally only one bedroom.
Love how he knows so much about architecture and not just the technical terms but how they came about why they came about what type of people lived in them and the systemic issues that people faced and still do
you must have missed all those white people living in squalor at the beginning of the video yeah they weren't blacks and minorities they were white people
This was quite an interesting history lesson and I very much enjoyed this video. The architecture of NYC's apartments inspired multi-family housing in cities across the US; particularly during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Learning more about the original contexts in which they developed was enjoyable viewing. This was presented in a truly engaging manner, IMHO--thanks! :)
Michael Wyetzner, you did a wonderful job with this apartment breakdown. Watching it once was not enough. Thank you and cheers.
I've lived in NYC for 12 years now and this is the most comprehensive and insightful recap of architecture and history of the city I've watched. Learned so much!
I love these videos. Please keep them coming. Terrifically informative.
great video, next you should make one on the types of housing found in the outer boros (pre vs post war apartments, the projects, newer 5 over 1s and older 2-3 stories over store space, etc)
I love this! I appreciate you pointing out systematic issues surrounding funding which impacted how housing projects are not cared for. I also appreciate you pointing out that housing projects receive a bad reputation. A place and space that was built for the working-class people of NYC.
I live in a brownstone in Harlem that was built in 1910. I love how the bedrooms are in the back and there aren’t any alley ways. Makes things very private, safe, and quiet from the New York noises. And one newer thing that had grown in sound recently, fireworks. Anytime New Years or July 4th approaches, fireworks are nuts here in Harlem.
how much do you pay ? o.o
Is it haunted?
Are you sure those are fireworks?
@anthonyjesus6151 Bullets are expensive, only weekends for those.
@lexi7749 Nope :-)
Oh my gosh, I love this guy!! What a great teacher! He's so easy to listen to! This was SO interesting!!
I love Wyetzner's videos, he's so informed and interesting. I've only found a few other clips of him on AD-I wish there were more.
Could you do a video depicting architecture from the different boroughs of NYC?
No he is too old and has clearly eaten all of his hair
Brownstone does exist all across the city, but Idk about the other types of building that he mentioned here.
This is just such a well made video all around. Informative without any fluff just straight to the point, graphics and photos perfectly illustrating narration. It's 16 minutes long yet felt like 5 because of how well paced and clearly presented it is. RUclips randomly suggested it to me and I enjoyed every second of it. It should be a standard for educational videos under 20 minutes.
But what about people that like longer videos? 😁
I could watch this guy talk all day. Fascinating.
i wonder if he is single…
Wow, I've lived in nyc for a few years now and this was FASCINATING. To have been around so many of these places, and recognizing them in the video, but finally knowing the history. Really amazing, really appreciate it. I feel like Michael was super informative, talking about the good and the bad in what seemed to be a very leveled fashion. I'd love a tour from him!
Same, with the Brownstones I was immediately like, "Oh that looks like up around 88th St".
Who is the architect he’s amazing at explaining this in such an interesting way
it says in the desc
@blacknova5939 Hell, it's literally the first words of the video after "Hi", shown on screen and everything lmao
@ValkyrieTiara yes lol
Michael Wyetzner
It's a mystery that'll probably never be solved.
As a boy in the Bronx, we lived in what I always heard referred to as a Pullman apartment. It was like you described as a railroad apt with the full length corridor. Before that my dad was the super in a dumbbell building. We lived in the basement next to the boiler room.
I think Pullman makes sense when thinking about railroads because Pullman made/designed/built trains.
I grew up similar as my father was a Super and NYC Busdriver and because of All the Construction Trades I learned I can and have built many houses in my time as a Carpenter.
Did you have a bathtub in the kitchen?
@LauraKnotek No, it was in the bathroom 😁
I lived in a Pullman apartment on the north side of Chicago. It's now gone to make room for Loyola U expansion, so sad.
This is a really insightful video. I’m Australian and have never visited New York so it’s great to watch this video and learn all these new things. What a wonderful and historic city!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Something about the way this gentleman conducted himself in conjunction with the knowledge of his craft was just great
12:42 "All these artists have created amazing living spaces." These are very unique architecture that I saw for the first time.
Mr. Wyetzner was amazing, hope we get to see more videos like this, loved this episode!
Anyone who loves architecture needs to listen to this guy here.. thank you AD for these beautiful and informative videos. Keep it up!
I appreciate the discussion of socioeconomic class differences! So important to understanding housing
This guy is a freaking WEALTH of knowledge
These kinds of videos are so educational. I love that it really allows us to learn about the terms and feautures and I really admire these kinds of lessons. This one was absolutely amazing. It goes without saying that I want more videos like this one
I absolutely loved this video! I was born in NY and lived in Queens. When I grew up, I ended up renting a 4 room railroad room apt. building in Long Island City off of 51st Ave and Vernon Blvd. one entered into a large kitchen with a window and the washing machine was there as well and I would hang out my wash on the clothesline. The owner told me he cut out a tiny bathroom on one side of the wall. I swear it was only big enough to walk in one step and a sink was there. Turn to your,left side and the toilet was there and as you sat on the commode, the shower curtain touched your body. If I leaned forward while sitting on the commode, my head could rest against the door. The shower was only large enough to just step in. You could turn around but that was all! Then the next room was what I called my living room. It was 8 feet wide and perhaps 12 feet in length. Very much a rectangle. I had a wall unit on one wall and a couch and two end tables next to either end of the couch on the other side of the room. The center of the rectangular room was where you walked to get through that room to the next room! That room led to a tiny square of a room in which I had a single bed against one wall and a small dresser on the other wall. That room led into the master bedroom with two windows facing the front street. There was room for a double bed, triple dresser, nightstand, and desk. That was my first adult apartment and I lived there with my younger sister. My rent during 1984-87 was $400.00 a month.
I just moved out of NYC a few months ago after nearly 41 years living on 100th Street (at Riverside Drive). I lived in a building built in 1913. In its original form, it had huge, multi-room apartments, but they were all cut down into smaller units sometime around the WWII era. I had one of the smaller apartments in the building--a small kitchen, a small-medium sized bathroom, a large bedroom and a large front room, and a mid-sized foyer--but compared to so many apartments elsewhere in the city, it was reasonably spacious, helped by having 10-foot ceilings. And it was rent-stabilized! I never did install an air-conditioner unit, so it could be hot in the summer, but, as you point it, there was plenty of steam heat throughout the winter. I loved living there. (By contrast, a college pal of mine who moved to NYC a couple of years before me lived in a railroad flat on 5th St. at the corner of Avenue B. Yes, the tub was in the kitchen, with a water closet at the far end of the apartment, a narrow closet-like space with only a toilet (no sink). The toilet was flushed by pulling on a chain hanging from the ceiling. My friend later moved one block up to 6th between Avenues A and B, and much later, to a loft in DUMBO while it was still an artist's colony, and before it became the high-priced SOHO clone it is today.)
Alphabet City! The best Indian food! St Mark's place thrift stores! Back in the '80s I used to go to a club I believe it was called The Pyramid...
I lived 82nd and RSD. I loved it. I remember the police chasing the coyotes down the street that wandered out of the park. It was so quiet and interesting to walk thru.
I just love the way you explain stuff. So straight forward. Easy to understand
Love this series! So much info packed in each episode. Thank you for the amazing content 🙂
Wow, lived in NYC 20 years and never knew about these UWS 2 floor studios! Having a hard time believing they are still intact. Would love to see one. I lived in several kinds of apartments in my time there, ending up in a very non-luxe 250sf studio on the backside of a converted Brownstone in Ft. Greene. It was the quietest apartment I ever had, with a huge bathroom that was original, and 3 long windows. I loved living there. Now I live in a circa 1924 terracotta tile roofed apartment in Atlanta, which is also beautiful and interesting, with many windows and a crazy cross-breeze that would have been essential pre AC. Love historic buildings. This was great, thank you!
@cassaleelee Yea they look great.
Thank you for this, I found it very educational.
I love experts! Michael's knowledge and passion for his craft bursts through in this highly informative and educational video. Top shelf production!
Not all tenement apartments were railroads. I lived for 14 years (1976-1990) in what was then called a one-bedroom apartment in what was then known as the East Village. All the buildings in my immediate vicinity went up in the 1890s. My apartment measured 310 square feet. It had three rooms, all in a row, but you entered in the middle room. That was the bathe-in, eat-in kitchen (11' x 11') -- completely unrenovated -- with the original sink next to the bathtub, to which a previous tenant had added a hinged cover to create counter space. West of the kitchen was the living room (11' x 11') which I often used as a bedroom (my "living bedroom") and which contained a kind of closet with a toilet. East of the kitchen was the bedroom (7' x 8'), which I eventually turned into an office. Each of the three rooms had one north-facing window, and then the living room and the toilet-closet shared a fourth window, half in each space. There was a little storage space: cabinets above the bathtub, a tiny closet in one corner of the kitchen, and a very narrow built-in armoire in the living room.
The location was fantastic -- I was in the middle of a thriving art & social scene -- and the rent was affordable even for a starving artist -- $110 a month when I moved in, $265 a month when I moved out 14 years later. (Rent stabilization is what made that thriving scene possible!)
I didn't mind the primitive plumbing, but I often felt claustrophobic in that space. All the while I lived there I had a recurring dream in which I found a door in my apartment that led to a whole new room whose existence I'd never suspected. It made me feel ecstatic until I woke up and realized it was just that dream again. By now every unit in that building has been renovated, but they haven't gotten any bigger, so modern bathrooms now take up a lot of the former living space.
Since 1990 I've lived in Seattle, where apartments tend to be a lot bigger (though the newly built ones get smaller every year). Sadly, Seattle doesn't have any form of rent control or stabilization, and rents just keep getting higher.
Nice story, I think a lot that rent prices has taken out poor people out of art/culture scenes.
I think this video is about the most common architectural features. I'm sure there is more.
im so glad u addressed affordable housing. some people have so many nasty thoughts about it not knowing how neglected the families and the buildings are by the government
Why is it government responsibility to provide housing?
@gizzyguzzi Because government provides a common good. And if left to private entities, only the rich could live in cities and then cities couldn’t function.
@woodcider How about personal responsibility? Get a damn job! Pay your own damn rent! Governments tenements created nothing but hopelessness and despair. Then welfare destroyed the family. Now government cant fix drug addiction and homelessness. Its a giant tax suck industry of pain snd suffering Government ruins everything
@gizzyguzzi because it is the government??????????
@woodcider lol our current situation in america but no one realizes it
Apart from being an excellent professional, he’s a remarkably fun and passionate communicator. Great content!
At 7:00 you mention housing projects fell into disrepair due to dwindling funding. Actually is was a vicious circle of the tenants not even attempting to keep them clean or to report problems which led to reduced funding which led to more property abuse. Much of the damage was caused directly by the tenants - as many were given the housing rent free and they never felt any ownership. Just one type of damage is graffiti. It wasn't long before superintendents, landlords, and the city got tired (and wasted money) on repainting every few months. I once went into a high rise project building in downtown Stamford, CT in 1974, I think it was built in 1969 only 5 years prior. The walls were covered in graffiti, trash ever where, broken windows borded up, and one of the elevator doors was ripped apart. There were still people living there. I didn't stay long. So what leads to squalid conditions is a two way street. Tenants have the attitude: why respect it if is it is not mine. The landlords have the attitude: why keep it in repair if the tenants don't respect it. It's a recipe for disaster. These days, our democratic party is becoming more Democratic Socialists. Which is different from communism. But the end results would be the same... the entire population living in filthy broken down tenements. I saw it in Russia in 1999. But most people cared about where they lived and didn't abuse it. I saw no graffiti or vandalism there, but some disrepair to lack of captial.
I love learning the history of architecture for different cities. This man is very interesting and easy going, laid back. A great video of knowledge. ❤ We have a lot of this same architecture in Birmingham, Alabama.
Imagine comparing NYC to Birmingham lol. Derp. 🤦🏻♂️🤣
@ScottysHaze I did not compare. I said we have a lot of this same architecture. Take your insecurities elsewhere.
I could listen to Michael for hours and hours. He has the knowledge and a nice way to share it 🎩😊
Absolutely LOVED this. Fascinating explanation of why everything was used the way they were and how/why the architecture evolved.
Excellent video, very clear and informative
In the late 1970s I met some artists who rented on old, defunct bowling alley, in the city of Chicago. It had about 10 lanes, and the ceilings were very tall. They built a 2 story apartment over 6 of the 10 lanes, keeping the lanes intact, but covering them over. Outside of their apartment, were the original remaining 4 lanes. They kept them intact, the narrow alleys became places to set up chairs, & other furnishings,.....and guests could still bowl, though the mechanical ball return, was no longer there. It had been gutted out and sold for scrap. Pins could be set up and knocked down, but resetting them, was a manual affair.
how long did that last?
@marcialabrahantes3369 I don't know, I live in Columbus, Ohio, and saw it when I was visiting Chicago. At the time I visited a lot of cities to see where artists were setting up their studios, (and sleeping quarters) in unusual spaces. In Athens, Ohio,..in a defunct department store. In Cleveland, Ohio,....& Cincinnati in old factory buildings. One had been an old brewery. In most cases these were semi-illegal places, not zoned for living or even as art studios. Most cities had a surplus old buildings, and their owners were more than happy to find anyone willing to pay a low rent. They rented as: "As is" condition. meaning the renter took on all the expenses to make it workable and livable.
@Davett53 ❤ Ah, back when people dared to dream!
He draws very straight lines
I grew up in the housing projects in Bklyn. I don't know why I click on this but I did...and I am glad. This was VERY educational. Thank you for your work. You have gained a new subscriber.
As a non-American thank you for explaining the concept of blocks. We hear the term a lot on NYC shows but the scale doesnt make sense
I live on a small city 11000 people in Australia thanks for the chance to visit and learn about your city's architecture. Here we mostly live in single story houses the tallest building is only 3 stories tall. And it's a pub.
Would be really cool to see a video on the architecture of NYC housing projects.
why? do you like decay,rats,garbage,feces?
I love hearing this guy talk about the history of Architecture in the city! So knowledgable and interesting!
This guy is so easy to listen to, and his enthusiasm is magnetic.
I live in South Dakota, and yearn for New York City.
This video kind of takes me there.
Thank you.
I LOVE these presentations! I would love to walk many different neighborhoods with Mr.. Wyetzner, and just listen to him and ask all my questions.
History has always fascinated me and this was extremely informative. I appreciate his knowledge on NYC architecture.
This was fascinating. I’ve only been in NYC three days of my entire life, but I find myself very intrigued by the architecture and how people have come to live in such small (usually) and unique spaces. Never knew about the origin of the SOHO name.
As a former property professional worked more than 25 years in London and in Berlin, it was great to learn these details about the architecture of this amazing city I love and lucky to know. Thank you
For the brownstone: "Stoop" is not a Dutch word for staircase, "Stoep" means pavement, as the stairs are a continuation of the public street
In Amsterdam, the staircases of brownstone-like houses were called 'stoep'. The staircases were needed because the cellars couldn't be very low, because Amsterdam was build below sea level.
Stoep used to mean exactly what is shown in this video way back when New-York was still New-Amsterdam
@drfisheye today nyc has stoop; a set of stairs with a basement entrance below them typically. They vary from the original meaning where wide steps led to a roof covered outside area. This is more commonly referred to as a porch although the terms are commonly interchangeable. Then there are decks, witch are ubiquitous in suburban nyc. Often against building code as anything attached to the main structure needs to be on architecture plans and most are not . They are commonly private rear sitting areas w stairs to the house and ofter a set of stairs for egress.
There is also a patio; a flat stone or cement are w acces to the house. I mention this as is occupies the same area as a deck but requires no permits for doing the same thing but isn't supported above ground. Both of these lack a roof
As a native Brooklynite, we've always referred to any outside steps in NYC as stoops, especially in Brooklyn. I remember my friends great grandparents calling them by that name in the 50s!
Hello, Stoop Ball❣️🗽
Great times and memories.💕
In Afrikaans (which is derived from Dutch), stoep means porch.
My grandmother emigrated to NYC in the early 1910s and lived in one of those tenements in the LES and worked in a sweatshop. Great video, Michael.
You would probably love the Tenement House Museum there. They give wonderful tours.
I never knew about this channel until 30 min ago and I’m happy that I have. You sir have answered a lot of questions that werent answered until now. Such as the creation of brownstone houses and for whom. Such as the parlor floor elevated. When I was a kid I came across apartments that still have a bathtub in the middle of the kitchen and now I know why. I’ve been passionate about architecture since I was 10 years old and I was designing mansions, commercial buildings and I’ve also designed and built a hovercraft for a charity event in Junior HS. That success at the age gained attention and support from my principle. She didnt want to see my natural talent go to waste. She had surprised me with an offer from Cooper Union to attend and study there. I have a masters in Architecture today. Watching this episode has truly reminded me why I’m so incredibly passionate and the deep history behind it. You’ve gained a new subscriber. You’ve taught me a lot today and I’m looking forward to satisfy this hungry brain of mine 🤓
Discovered the channel 16 minutes ago (the length of the video) and I love it. Fascinating skills in story telling. Already Subscribed.
The host has such a great New York accent, I wouldn’t have the slightest clue how to imitate it but it’s so distinctive and interesting.
This kind of videos is why i subscribed to this channel.
These videos are so relaxing and calming. Mr wyetnzer is awesome.
I've heard that a reason that older apartments had fewer closets was that NYC and Brooklyn tax laws valuated properties partly based on how many closets they had. This didn't appear to affect Queens - I grew up in a seven-story pre-war co-op in Queens, and it had big closets in each bedroom and in the hallway.