A “Classic Six Apartment” is a term commonly used in New York City real estate parlance to describe an apartment in a prewar building that has six rooms consisting of a kitchen, living room, dining room, two bedrooms and a maid’s room.
Classic Six Apartments
I am an architect in New York and I can tell you that in NYC real estate, there are lots of terms for different types of apartments. I refer to these terms as the “NYC Apartment Archetypes”. One particular archetype of New York City real estate is the classic six which is found in Pre War apartments.
A classic six is made up of six rooms: The living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and a maid’s room. The foyer and the bathrooms are not included in the room count. Usually, the maid’s room is noticeably smaller than the other rooms, has its own small bathroom, and is found off of the kitchen. Practically speaking, a classic six consists of three bedrooms in which the smallest room, closest to the kitchen, has its own bathroom. These unique apartments are found in pre war buildings.
Since the maid’s bedroom is smaller and near the kitchen, it is common to turn it into a laundry room or a home office. Nonetheless, it is still multi-functional and many people use it for a live-in nanny, guest room, or third bedroom.
The classic seven is another example of an apartment found in pre war buildings. It contains the same amount of rooms as the classic six, plus one bedroom. More specifically, the classic seven has a living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms, and a maid’s room.
Pre War Apartments
Pre War Apartments are in buildings built before World War II. This means anywhere from the late 1800s to 1939. These types of buildings have very specific architectural characteristics and come from a time when people lived a little differently than they do now.
These types of apartments usually have large rooms compared to many new buildings built today. They can have high ceilings and lots of historic architectural details such as crown moldings.
Thank You for Reading Our Blog Post on Classic Six Apartments
I hope this was helpful. If you would like to speak with an architect about a potential project you can contact us at Fontan Architecture directly.
This post was written by Jorge Fontan AIA a Registered Architect and owner of New York City architecture firm Fontan Architecture. Jorge Fontan has earned 3 degrees in the study of architecture including two degrees from the City University of New York and a Masters Degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. Jorge has a background in construction and has been practicing architecture for 20 years where he has designed renovations and new developments of various building types.
