New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments: With Original Floor Plans from the Dakota, River House, Olympic Tower and Other Great Buildings

This book provides a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era that actually lasted only a few decades, from say the 1890's to the 1930's.

This work is thoroughly enjoyable though somewhat demanding since it is essentially made up of not-so-large scale floor plans with only short written introductions. One is left to imagine the residents' lives before the Depression, with live-in servants and frequent parties, as well as their rather sudden demise that led to most apartments being broken up in the following decade into two, three or even four distinct units. Many buildings were actually completely gutted and some demolished.

A few floor plans of 1960's buildings are included however and comments provided have become quaint in their naïve appreciation of modernism.


Given the abundance of illustrations and the enormous research that was certainly required, this book is an incredible bargain at the price asked. It is very strongly recommended to anyone interested in New York and its way of life.

If you live in New York City, this is a great book to see what the building "insides" look like. Although I don't live there, I still enjoyed seeing the floor plans and getting a very brief descriptive of each building. Just a fun book to look at and imagine yourself living in one of the more grand one-floor coops or condos. Fun to dream! The only downside is that some of the floor plans were so small that I needed a magnifying glass to identify the room layout.

Originally published under the title 'Apartments for the Affluent,' this book is aimed at a very narrow audience indeed. Alpern takes us through 75 luxury Manhattan apartment houses in chronological order, from 1869 to 1974. Each building has a full-page b&w photograph, a diagram of a typical floor plan, and a quarter-page-or-so description. Alpern explains the reasoning behind the various room arrangements, and how that reasoning evolved over the years. I enjoyed this book immensely, but it's not for everyone. If you ever walked by an older high-rise apartment building and wondered how the rooms were arranged and why, this slender volume will fascinate you. Otherwise, you may prefer a book that's a more general survey of the topic (including some by the same author).

Finally I got a hold of this book! Great floor plans; but as usual, I would have liked more interior pics (hardly any).

This book provides excellent descriptions and floor plans of many of New York's finest apartments. It proved to be a great guide book on a recent trip to the city.