Show TWELVE STORIES Au Apartment House for tlic timltei Income Class New York Cor Philadelphia Record 1 Messrs Hubert Pirsson architects of this city have invented a plan which is gradually assuming a shape to be of benefit to the unhappy limited income class to which I have alluded These gentlemen are the inventors of the hom < clubs which are represented by some of the handsomest apartment houses in tin city But these home clubs are only adapted to people with comfortable fortune for-tune at least most of them The plan i is to form a stock company of tenants each stockholder subscribes from 10000 to 50000 and when sufficient money is subscribed sub-scribed the house is built and the apartments apart-ments are owned by the stockholders for life the same as they would own an ordinary ordi-nary house except that they pay much less for the privilege When Messrs Hubert Pirsson conceived this plan they were looking toward the accommodation of the limitedincome class but they found that that was impracticable at first for people with small means were more cautious about investigating than people with plenty money at their command In the latest built of the homeclub houses the Chelsea on Twentythird street Messrs Hubert Pirsson have come nearer their original idea than with any of their other houses The Chelsea is eleven stories high in front twelve stories in the rear but covers so much ground that it hardly looks its height from the street It costs 1000000 to build and the money was subscribed by the stockholders most of whom own and live in their apartments in this house Mr Hurbert being one of them He put in 5OQO I think it was and consequently con-sequently ovvhs his apartment but his percentage of the running expenses of the house comes to 150 a year that is all his rent In three or four years he will have nothing pay as the house will be selfsupporting Some apartments apart-ments in the house are more expensive otheis less so Three thousand dollars I believe is the lowest price for buying apartment and is for one of three rooms arranged with studio There are two rooms both on the eleventh story and a pretty little staircase runs up from the vestibule into an enormous room in the twelfth story which is the size of the two rooms below this is arranged with a skylight and makes magnificent studio The view from the twelfth story or even from the eleventh is a grand one You can see from the south windows the bay and Staten island in the distance From the west window you have a panorama pan-orama of the Hudson and of Hoboken with the dome of the Stevens institute glistening in the sun You are away above all the noise and din of the city and in summer you get as fine a breeze as you could find at a watering place You need feel no timidity at being up so high for the house is thoroughly fireproof fire-proof There is not a beam or a lath in it from garret to cellar Only the flooring is wood and that over iron girders The entrance to the Chelsea is the most attractive at-tractive of any apartment house that I know of in i New York As a rule you go into a hall in these apartment houses and find nothing in it but an elevator and possibly a chair You enter the main door of the Chelsea Chel-sea and you are at once delighted by the hospitable air of the place The hall is very large and is decorated in the most artistic manner with a great deal of ornamented or-namented woodwork and a tiled floor over which gorgeous rugs are spread At the side of the hall is an enomious fireplace fire-place with iron andirons and great logs blazing on the hearth A prettily carved settee is placed at one side of the fireplace fire-place and a number of antique chairs or modern copies from antique models stand around in front of the fireplace and on the rugs At the back of the hall is the office which is open all night and just out of sight of the main entrance are two elevators which run all night long At the right of the hall is a waitingroom furnished in exceptional taste and with five watercolor drawings hanging on the walls An advantage the Chelsea has over most apartment houses is that it is conducted con-ducted in the spirit of cooperation and accommodation ac-commodation You may have an apart ment without a kitchen and do light I housekeeping You may go out to your meals or you may take your meals at the restaurant of the house where they are furnished at 8 a week a head or you may take your meals in this restaurant at such times as you chose paying for what you eat If you prefer housekeeping you can do all your marketing without going out of your room You simply write your order send it flying down to the storeroom store-room on the dumbwaiter and whatever you want comes flying up to you and is charged on your account at wholesale rates and paid for at the end of the week Your letters are brought upstairs every time they are left by the postman and people are not trotted up to your apartment apart-ment door but instead unless they are intimate friends are left towait in the reception re-ception room while their cards are sent up for your consideration You have in the Chelsea all the conveniences ofa hotel ho-tel and the seclusion of a private house Indeed you have more seclusion than in many private houses for no one can reach II you that you do not wish to see I |