Nowhere else on earth was the apartment building more necessary than in Manhattan. So
many people squeezed onto such a small island required a new way of living.
Just like everything else in Manhattan, the only way to go was up... up as in uptown
(however uptown was defined at the time), and up into the air.
Vertical living became a necessity for most Manhattanites, the rich and the poor. Today's
concept of the apartment differs quite a bit from that of well-to-do early twentieth
century New Yorkers.
Their idea was to literally build a house in the air. They wanted huge apartments with 15
to 20 rooms, servants' quarters and all the opulence they were accustomed to. Some of the
best of these apartment buildings were built in the Central Park West corridor.
How did the acceptance of apartment living change the lives of New Yorkers? Find out
by reading the stories of some of these apartment buildings listed on the upper right.
Apartment Buildings