Blog about NYC real estate by NYC Broker Mitchell Hall. Homes, architecture, neighborhoods, new developments, market reports, trends and more...

Apartment Room Count

Updated: May 13, 2013

I'm often asked how to determine how many rooms an apartment has. There seems to be confusion about bathrooms and kitchens. The media is often wrong and some brokers misrepresent the amount of rooms in a listing. There is a method for determining the room count in a NYC apartment.

Jane Reilly Mount wrote in the NY Post's real estate section that a "classic six" apartment only has five rooms and reported that only the "classics" count the kitchen in the total count of rooms and other apartments do not. Since I'm a real estate broker, I know how to count rooms in an apartment. As a blogger, I would be remiss, if I did not correct the NY Post's error.
"Why is a "classic six" called that when it’s only five rooms? Shouldn’t it be a"classic five?" Oh clever mathematician ... right you are. "Classic six" isa term defining the type of layout often found in prewar buildings of thefancier sort common on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side. To qualify forthe moniker, the apartment must include two full-size bedrooms, a living room, aformal dining room and a maid’s room. Which makes five rooms! Oddly enough, only the "classics" count the kitchen in the total count of rooms, unlike all otherapartments, which brings it to six." Jane Reilly Mount The New York Post
Kitchens are always included in apartment room count except for a Pullman kitchen which is not a room. The number of baths are counted separate. Often the second bath in a classic six is the maid's bath. The formal dining room and maid's room make an apartment a "Classic"

 Classic Six Floor Plan

A "classic seven" has three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, maids room. For the record there is a classic five too. My favorite is the "Edwardian five." (one bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, maid's room) New Yorkers lived quite grand during the Edwardian era (circa 1900-1920) The Edwardian five was a great apartment for entertaining.

Today's residents often reconfigure the dining room and maid's room into a second and small third bedroom. The small maid's bath can be turned into a laundry room..

As a service to my readers, NY Post readers and Manhattan apartment buyers below is the recommended method of residential room count found in the Residential Guide devised by REBNY's Residential Brokerage Division. (Real Estate Board of New York)

Apartment Room Count:
1roomStudio with pullman kitchen
roomsStudio with pullman kitchen and alcove or dining area
2roomsStudio with separate kitchen
roomsStudio with separate kitchen and sleeping alcove
rooms1 bedroom with Pullman kitchen and living room
3rooms1 bedroom, living room, kitchen
rooms1 bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining alcove
4rooms1 bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining room - or -2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen
rooms2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining alcove
5rooms2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room
rooms3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining area
6rooms2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, maid's room
7rooms3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, maid's room - or -2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, 2 maid's rooms
8rooms3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, 2 maid's rooms
9roomsTypically 3 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 maid's rooms
10roomsTypically 3 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 3 maid's rooms
11roomsTypically 4 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 3 maid's rooms
12roomsTypically 4 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, either 4 maid's rooms or servant hall and 3 maid's rooms
13rooms4 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 4 maid's rooms and servant's hall
14rooms5 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 4 maid's rooms and servant's hall


4 comments:

  1. I love how everyone has a different room count; how cool of you to provide the correct guide! Here our biggest issue is people trying to say there is an extra bedroom when there isn't one...usually because there is no closet. I can't imagine not counting the kitchen lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Carole, I never heard of anyone not counting the kitchen. There are brokers that try to pass studios off for 1 bedrooms. A large studio with an alcove is sometimes called a junior 1. (meaning a junior 1 bedroom) it is only 2.5 rooms but they put it in the system as 3 rooms so it will come up on 1 bedroom searches. Another trick some brokers use is calling a regular apartment even a tiny studio a loft.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks so much for sharing Apartment Room Count related information. It's really valuable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is important to know that how everyone has a different room count. I have learned a lot of things through this post. Love it. Thank you so much for sharing Apartment Room Count related information.

    ReplyDelete

All related comments are welcome. Spam and spammy links will not be published and will be deleted.

Powered by Blogger.