Apartments

With all this talk of new condo developments and the converting of older spaces… Coops in the 1800s. Condos in the 1960s.

History of Apartments

I’ll start with a simple and overly generalized statement – apartments are the result of high land values combined with a need for more affordable housing. This formula created the tenement slums as cities industrialized in the 19th and 20th centuries. Add neighborhood desirability to the equation and a transformation can occur from slum to a desirable middle-class/upper-class form of housing.

The modern concept of an apartment as a desirable form of housing came from 19th century Paris, Vienna, and London.

The rise of Tacoma coincides with the rise of apartments in America. New York City led the way.

Apartments rose at the same time as many of the houses. Natural evolution of a city. The later ones… a problem.