Tenements were usually 5 storeys. On the one hand, landlords wanted to maximize profit and development density. On the other hand, buildings six storeys and higher required elevators, which were cost-prohibitive.
While in Manhattan I wanted to visit The Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, where my grandmother Vita Memoli grew up.
Nice restaurant-plus-parklet on Orchard Street
As we were approaching The Tenement Museum, I caught a snippet of conversation from a local: “…yeah, this is the most desirable neighborhood in the city now.” It affirmed what I have been telling my students for years now: if you take the basic building envelope of tenements and install modern amenities, these apartments might actually be very desirable today.
High-end new apartment building (right) across the street from The Tenement Museum. The public mural of Einstein had been turned into a private amenity for whoever can afford this apartment.The Tenement Museum describes the intense crowding my grandmother experienced, with her two parents and six siblings in a 350-square-floot flat. Yeah, that is dense in a way that only refugees experience today.But as the bumper-sticker on the fire-alarm box attests, times have changed.Parklets and other traffic-calming measures make these streets feel genteel.Sadik-Kahn implemented a massive increase in bike facilities and planning. In a city this dense, most of what you need on a daily basis can be accessed by non-motorized movement: walking and biking.For now, part of the Lower East Side still remains the Chinatown of New York City. Perhaps through rent-control, eviction-protections, and an organized community, this will remain.And as we move out of the pandemic lockdown, one of the greatest assets of NYC re-emerges: density means people and incredible diversity within close reach.
