Architect Breaks Down 5 of the Most Common New York Apartments | Architectural Digest

3-Second Blueprint (English)

1. Mid-19th-century brownstone row houses used unified sandstone facades, four upper stories, and raised parlor-floor entrances.
2. Tenement housing reforms mandated narrow light-and-air shafts—creating 'dumbbell' floor plans—and shared indoor toilets.
3. Deindustrialization turned wide-windowed SoHo factory floors into artist lofts, while grand live-work studios shrank into one-rooms.