COSTLY APARTMENTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3539, 1 June 1912, Page 6

COSTLY APARTMENTS.

Even niilionaires now-a-days contract the habit of living in flats. To meet the requirements of some of them a house which has a rental value of £60,000 a year has been erected in the “exclusive’ quarter of Fifth Avenue, .New York. It has two greatclaims to distinction in American eyes. It is situated near Mr Andrew Carnegie’s mansion, and it is believed to he “the most expensive, residential building in the world.” It is the first “apartment'’ house that has been •built in Fifth Avenue, and it is designed to accommodate eighteen tenants. They will share the burden of the enormous rental, paying on an average at the rate of £204 a year for each' room they occupy. \fhe rental seems ridiculous, even for American millionaires, but apparently money is no object in the case of the wealthy people who prefer paying rent to maintaining mansions of their own. All save one or two of the apartments were taken before the building was completed, among the tenants being Mr Levi P. Morton, who was VicePresident of the United States twenty years ago, and two prominent members of the Legislature, Senator Poor and Senator Guggenheim. Senator hoot, who is known to fame as a former Secretary of State, having held offics under Mr M’Kinley and Mr Loose volt, enjoys the distinction of paying a higher rental than any other tenant in the building, his hill, amounting to £SOOO ner annum. The

house is divided into “simplex” and “duplex” apartments, and Mr Root, of course, lias secured a “duplex" set, occupying two floors that are connected by private stairways. The “simplex” apartments boast one floor only. The descriptions of .the house that have been published by the newspapers in New York show <that the unhappy millionaires who are condemned to live “in rooms” will be able to obtain at least a measure of comfort. The kitchens and laundries are said to be the finest in New York, and all the rooms are to be cleaned by the vacuum process. It is really soothing to learn that this cleaning and the washing of the windows are included in the rental. The millionaire tenants must be quite economical persons.