A classic six is a pre-war apartment with six main rooms including a master bedroom,
a second bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, a dining room and a smaller maid's room.
Classic six apartments are relatively rare and can be found mostly in Upper Manhattan
neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side or the Upper West Side or even Morningside
Heights.
What a true classic six apartment looks like.
Below is a floor plan for a 1750 square-foot classic six apartment and a condo building
located on Park Avenue between East 95th Street and East 96th Street in the prestigious Carnegie
Hill neighborhood in Manhattan.
As you can see this well thought out layout features a master bedroom with an ensuite
master bathroom, a spacious second bedroom with adjacent access via the hallway to a
second bathroom, a living room, a dining room adjacent to a separate kitchen room followed
lastly by the maid's room at the far end of the apartment.
This exceptional floor plan allows for maximum privacy as not only do none of the sleeping
quarters share walls but the maid's room is farthest away from the master and second bedrooms
yet it is next to the kitchen quite convenient.
For context this lovely apartment was an estate sale in need of a gut renovation and was sold
as is by one of our partner brokerages in early March of 2019 for $2,000,000 exactly.
The original listing price chosen by the owner was 2,150,000 meaning only a 7% discount which
is quite a feat in a buyers’ market like today's
When an apartment is stretching to be counted as a classic 6.
Next up we have an example of a 1,100 square foot classic six apartment located in a co-op
doting and mourning Heights.
Keep in mind that in this example the sellers have marketed their apartment as a classic
six but it's certainly a bit of a stretch as most classic six apartments have at least
two full bathrooms and sometimes three bathrooms whereas this one only has one and a half baths.
Furthermore, in a true classic six configuration the living room is completely separate from
the formal dining room.
In this example however the living room and dining room is connected without a dividing
wall.
For context this still lovely apartment was sold out one of our partner brokerages for
$1,420,000 in mid-April 2018 above its asking price of $1,395,000 in NYC real estate.
Features of classic six apartments.
Classic six apartments are popular because of their many classic pre-war features not
commonly found in newer buildings today.
Classic six apartments are typically located in older sturdier buildings with “good bones”
which means essentially thicker walls, stone or brick construction, solid wood doors, original
moldings and cortices, real fireplaces, oak floors, high ceilings and bigger rooms.
An important feature of true classic six apartments is that they're large.
The 1750 classic six apartment located on Park Avenue that we showed above is a great
example of how a true classic six apartment should be.
Classic six apartments are usually larger than 1,500 square feet and smaller than 2,000
square feet though larger and smaller examples do exist.
Apartments this large that haven't been combined or that aren't priced extravagantly in a new
construction building for example are certainly hard to find in New York City.
The maid's room can be a third bedroom, three bedrooms are rare in New York City where most
of the condo and co-op inventory consists of Studios, one bedrooms or two-bedroom units,
the maid's room is typically smaller and located on the opposite end of the apartment from
the other bedrooms and thus if converted into a bedroom.
It can be quite popular for teenagers in particular.
Maid's room can also be used as a study or home office or even a nursery if a baby is
in the works.
Of course, you can use the maid's room for its original purpose but this article assumes
that having a live-in maid is the product of a long bygone era.
There's a formal dining room for dinner parties if you like hosting friends over for dinner
or having dinner parties then a classic six might be the perfect apartment for you given
how rare it is to see separate formal dining rooms and more modern layout so that you can
feel good about inviting your friends to sit down in your separate formal dining room when
they probably don't even have a dining table in their apartment.
History of the classic six apartment.
Classic six apartments become popular in the 1920s and were built mostly until World War
II broke out in the 1940s.
Hence, the reason the term “pre-war” is used to describe these buildings.
These apartments are located at due to demographic trends in NYC at the time wealthier people
who could afford to buy a classic six apartment usually lived uptown.
As a result, much of the inventory of classic six apartments are located in Uptown neighborhoods
such as the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Morningside Heights where Columbia University
is located now.
Imagine the apartment that Midge lives in on the Upper West Side in the show The Marvelous
Mrs. Maisel.
That show provides a wonderful context as to why classic six layouts were created and
that why they were so popular back then.
Labor was much cheaper and it was actually possible for families to hire live-in full-time
maids.
However, we must point out that the actual apartment Midge has in the show is much larger
than a classic six.
The apartment from the show is an in-line apartment located in 404 Riverside Drive.
It's located in an intersection with West 113th Street and Morningside Heights by the
way.
It's a 48-unit co-op building built in 1909 and the real-life apartment is actually 3,650
square feet and features ten rooms, including four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
And twelve in and the building recently sold for $5,900,000 on February 14, 2018.
What is a classic seven and a classic eight apartment?
Classic 7 or a classic 8 apartment is essentially a classic six apartment with one or two additional
bedrooms and sometimes an additional bathroom or two as well.
Therefore, a classic 7 apartment consists of a master bedroom, a second bedroom, a third
bedroom, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a maid's room.
As you might deduce a classic eighth apartment therefore consists of a master bedroom, that's
one, a second bedroom, a third bedroom, a fourth bedroom, a living room a dining room,
a kitchen and a maid's room.
Keep in mind there is no universal agreement on how many bathrooms a classic 6, 7 or 8
should have.
Many experts agree that a classic 6 should have at least two bathrooms while others believe
a classic 6 should have at least three bathrooms.
if you're lucky enough to find and buy a classic 7 or a classic 8 apartment then you're in
luck because these rare three- and four-bedroom apartments and homes are considered to be
trophy properties due to their rarity.
In fact, three-bedroom apartments are rare to begin with in NYC and four-bedroom apartment
are almost unheard of.
So be happy if you own one.
We hope you found this video helpful.
My name is Chris at Hauseit.
Hauseit is the largest For Sale By Owner and Buyer Agent Commission rebate company established
in 2014 in New York City.
Check us out www.hauseit.com, the spelling is below and of course if you want to learn
more about how to save up the 2% on your home purchase or save up to always 6% on your home
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