walk-up apartments (neighborhood, living, zoning)

[r small]

Manhattan is famous for its' five story walk-ups. Are there any walk-ups of more than five stories? Are there any five story apartment buildings with elevators? I see nice looking buildings in the outer boroughs that are four or five stories and wonder if they have elevators. Living on the fourth or fifth floor of a walk-up has got to be a drag.

[Henna]

I believe that 6-story walkups do exist. The only one I think I remember being in was in Manhattan. In my neighborhood in Queens, the 6-story buildings tend to have elevators, but there are plenty of 4 and 5 story buildings that are walkups. And perhaps there are 6-story ones as well.

Here is a 4-floor walkup 37-17 84th St #31, Jackson Heights, NY 11372 | MLS# 2253486

and http://s95132759.onlinehome.us/vlad/.../GREYSTONE.jpg is a 5-story walkup

Here's a 6-story elevator building. http://s95132759.onlinehome.us/vlad/...EYBUILDING.jpg These are all in Jackson Heights.

[r small]

It's interesting that a neighborhood would have both five story walk-ups and six story elevator buildings. I assume the elevator buildings would be a good bit more expensive than the walk-ups.

[Henna]

Originally Posted by r small

It's interesting that a neighborhood would have both five story walk-ups and six story elevator buildings. I assume the elevator buildings would be a good bit more expensive than the walk-ups.

It might have to do with the year the buildings were built. The two walkups I linked to (Linden Court and Greystones) were built before 1920. I am not sure of the history of the residential elevator, but it was probably not til after that that they started to be built into apartment buildings. The elevator building I linked to (Berkeley) was built in 1938 or so.

[r small]

Thanks for the info. The reason I'm interested in this topic is I'm thinking of moving from the D.C. area to N.Y.C. in a couple of years and am curious about the various types of housing up there. I've seen some nice looking five story buildings using the google street view. But if they're all walk-ups I would rule them out as I'm past sixty and not too fond of stairs. Especially four or five flights of them. A six or seven story elevator building would be much preferable. N.Y.C. is the only city I've ever seen with five story walk-ups.

[=Lavender=]

I THINK the max is five floors for a walk up anything over requires a elevator.

[Kefir King]

I was going to post the SAME question. I have spotted whole blocks of housing on the EAST- UES with 6 stories above ground level, althought the bulk of them are 5 stories.
I even asked a couple residents leaving the buildings whether they had elevators...they laughed at the concept. One said "I WISH!"

Was there a certain time when 6 stories completely was the allowable limit and in the interests of sanity they changed the zoning laws to allow only 5?

[nybbler]

It appears that the previous rule (1968) was 75 feet. The current rule (as of 2008) appears to be that a 5-story or higher building requires an elevator.

[urbanintllctl]

By law, the maximum number of floors for a walk-up is six.

[r small]

Sixth floor walk-up. That's got to be a bear.