Two Manhattan landlords took an unusual — and illegal — route to double their rentable space: cutting their two condos in half horizontally so they could rent out 18 tiny apartments in their Lower East Side building, according to the New York City Department of Buildings.
"The ceiling heights were 4.5 feet to 6 feet tall on each level, depending on where you were standing," Department of Buildings spokesperson Abigail Kunitz said in an email to NPR.
quote:
The exterior of the condo building at 165 Henry St. in Manhattan's Lower East Side hints at the split-level apartments inside, as air conditioners (upper left) are positioned at both the upper and lower windows of the top two floors.
I am not generally claustrophobic, but I would be in a space like that! I couldn't live somewhere where I couldn't stand upright.
The point about having two exits, I wonder what the laws are in Japan such that capsule hotels are allowed. Because I know Japan has fairly strict fire codes, but I'm pretty sure those capsules only have one exit...
For such a small apartment, I wouldn't think exiting in a fire is a significantly higher risk. Given how small the apartment is, you'd get to the door pretty quickly, and you're advised to crawl to avoid the smoke anyway, right? I guess the question is whether, with a lower ceiling, the smoke would come down to the floor and increase the risk of smoke inhalation, even if you were crawling.
All of this is, of course, crazy speculation on my part.
