The American Architect and Building News, Vol. 27, Jan-Mar, 1890, page 49 by Various Authors
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eating, ventilating and hot-water supply apparatus, while in the "flat" this work is done for him; that in the "tower" wooden staircases and no elevators are used, while in the "flat" fireproof staircases enclosing elevators are provided; that in the "tower" the main partitions are often of wood while in the flat they are of brick a foot thick and each "flat" is separated from its neighbor by a brick wall a foot thick and all the floors are completely deadened against the transmission of sound; and finally that in the "tower" no external fire-escape is provided, while the "flat" has convenient external fire-escapes of iron. Otherwise the accommodations are in both cases precisely the same.
The total cost of this apartment-house, including the building-lot valued at, say, $5 a square foot, has been carefully estimated at $617,771.
This is the highest of two competitive estimates given by two responsible builders, and comprises general cooking-plant, electric-lighting, steam-heating and ventilating apparatus, iron staircases and fire-escapes, elevators, copper roofing, architect's commission, and, in short, everything required for occupancy and use except wall-paper.
The first floor contains 16,688 square feet of available room. (By "available" I mean room which is directly occupied by, and which must be separately provided for each owner. That is, it excludes staircases, furnace, laundry, etc., which might be used in common by many owners and therefore need not be duplicated for each, and which are only indirectly serviceable to each owner in contributing to the usefulness of those which are directly enjoyed.) The six floors above contain 23,288 square feet of available room each, making a total of 156,416 square feet. Adding 10,880 square feet for basement storage and trunk-room for the suites, and 2,000 square feet in the basement for barber's shop, apothecary, carriage and other offices along the street fronts, we have a total of 169,296 square feet of available room in the entire apartment