I lived in a tenement museum..haha
I was reading an article this morning about the tenement museum that's located in the lower east side of Manhattan. I only noticed the article because someone had reposted it with the caption only a true New Yorker would look at an apartment in the tenement museum and think 'that's a great apartment, I could really do something with that space.' I laughed to myself because if they loved that apartment they would have loved the one I grew up in.
The apartment they spoke of was in a building that was built in 1863 and housed it's last occupants in 1935. As I poured through the pictures I was like,WOW that looks like the building I grew up in. The building I lived in was built in 1910 some of the apartments I saw in my building throughout years including my own,looked like they should have been apart of the tenement museum.
The building I grew up in was also located in the lower east side. My dad got the apartment after him and my mom split up. A year or so later when he got custody of me and my two brothers we moved in to that one bed room apartment with him. That was in the early 80's
The building was everything you'd expect a building built in 1910 to look like. The building hadn't undergone many renovations so most of the apartments were still very well preserved. I was really young when we moved in to the building. We lived on the 6th floor in a walkup. The handrail on the staircase was a mix of wood on top and I believe wrought iron in the middle. The staircase fascinated me because it was this big spiral of stairs in the center of the building that just seemed to go on forever. We lived on the sixth floor so it was a LOT of stairs to climb.
There were 24 apartments in the whole building,four on each floor.
Each floor also had these closets in the middle of each landing. They were always locked. I didn't know it at first but they use to be the bathrooms for the tenants of each of those apartment way back when the building was first built. The only floor that still had one of the working bathrooms was the 5th floor. The reason being was there was this old lady that lived on that floor, very sweet. I met her when I first moved in. She must have been 70-ish I really don't know for sure, but she had been living in that building she told me from the time it was first built in 1910. Her apartment had never ever been renovated so she was the only one in the whole build who still had no bathroom in their apartment. Her bathroom was in the hallway behind that door in the middle of the landing. It had a lock on it and she was the only one who had a key to it. Some years later when I got older I jimmied the door open with a butter knife to see the little bathroom. Was absolutely fascinating! Had a little window, an old style toilet with a wall mounted tank and a pull chin to make it flush. And a tiny little sink. As cute as it was I was happy I had a bathroom in my apartment and not in the hallway of the building. I lived in that building till about the early 90's so I did get to see a handful of the other apartment in the building.
It's kind of weird but I think because my building was one of the last rent controlled building in NYC so many of the apartments were in varying stages of renovation. Like I mention before the old lady's had no bathroom. And on one of the other floors there was a Puerto Rican family that was moving out and gave my dad some of their furniture that they weren't bring with them. I went with my dad to their apartment and they had an old style bathtub in the kitchen. Must have been the tub that came with the apartment in 1910. And then the apartment right across from ours was owned by a guy who at the time was subletting it to a woman who was an artist. I use to go over to her apartment once in a while to play with her cat and she had a window dead smack in the middle of the apartment. It was just this random window that was right above a counter that divided the kitchen from the living room. I loved it! I always felt gypped that our apartment had been more recently renovated so it didn't have that much old world charm that some of the other apartments in the building had. I wish I had pictures of the building and the apartments. I still have the pictures in my head but would be cool to see it again in person.
In my late 20's I went to the actually tenement museum with a tour group. Even though I grew up in an old tenement most of the apartments as I said before was in varying stages of renovation.So it was fun to go to the tenement museum and see the apartments completely untouched and with old furniture.
The apartment they spoke of was in a building that was built in 1863 and housed it's last occupants in 1935. As I poured through the pictures I was like,WOW that looks like the building I grew up in. The building I lived in was built in 1910 some of the apartments I saw in my building throughout years including my own,looked like they should have been apart of the tenement museum.
The building I grew up in was also located in the lower east side. My dad got the apartment after him and my mom split up. A year or so later when he got custody of me and my two brothers we moved in to that one bed room apartment with him. That was in the early 80's
The building was everything you'd expect a building built in 1910 to look like. The building hadn't undergone many renovations so most of the apartments were still very well preserved. I was really young when we moved in to the building. We lived on the 6th floor in a walkup. The handrail on the staircase was a mix of wood on top and I believe wrought iron in the middle. The staircase fascinated me because it was this big spiral of stairs in the center of the building that just seemed to go on forever. We lived on the sixth floor so it was a LOT of stairs to climb.
There were 24 apartments in the whole building,four on each floor.
Each floor also had these closets in the middle of each landing. They were always locked. I didn't know it at first but they use to be the bathrooms for the tenants of each of those apartment way back when the building was first built. The only floor that still had one of the working bathrooms was the 5th floor. The reason being was there was this old lady that lived on that floor, very sweet. I met her when I first moved in. She must have been 70-ish I really don't know for sure, but she had been living in that building she told me from the time it was first built in 1910. Her apartment had never ever been renovated so she was the only one in the whole build who still had no bathroom in their apartment. Her bathroom was in the hallway behind that door in the middle of the landing. It had a lock on it and she was the only one who had a key to it. Some years later when I got older I jimmied the door open with a butter knife to see the little bathroom. Was absolutely fascinating! Had a little window, an old style toilet with a wall mounted tank and a pull chin to make it flush. And a tiny little sink. As cute as it was I was happy I had a bathroom in my apartment and not in the hallway of the building. I lived in that building till about the early 90's so I did get to see a handful of the other apartment in the building.
It's kind of weird but I think because my building was one of the last rent controlled building in NYC so many of the apartments were in varying stages of renovation. Like I mention before the old lady's had no bathroom. And on one of the other floors there was a Puerto Rican family that was moving out and gave my dad some of their furniture that they weren't bring with them. I went with my dad to their apartment and they had an old style bathtub in the kitchen. Must have been the tub that came with the apartment in 1910. And then the apartment right across from ours was owned by a guy who at the time was subletting it to a woman who was an artist. I use to go over to her apartment once in a while to play with her cat and she had a window dead smack in the middle of the apartment. It was just this random window that was right above a counter that divided the kitchen from the living room. I loved it! I always felt gypped that our apartment had been more recently renovated so it didn't have that much old world charm that some of the other apartments in the building had. I wish I had pictures of the building and the apartments. I still have the pictures in my head but would be cool to see it again in person.
In my late 20's I went to the actually tenement museum with a tour group. Even though I grew up in an old tenement most of the apartments as I said before was in varying stages of renovation.So it was fun to go to the tenement museum and see the apartments completely untouched and with old furniture.
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