ABSTRACT
Whereas ceilings in standard New York apartments were 8 feet high (and those in brownstones or luxury flats sometimes running as high as 11 feet), industrial ceilings customarily began at 11 feet and were sometimes as high as 14 feet or 16. This departure permitted the installation of levels, such as raising the floor of the kitchen area a foot or two or installing a balcony with only a bed-called, to no surprise, “a loft bed.” Raising the lavatory permitted the installation of plumbing under the new level, rather than digging into the base floor.
Indeed, most newcomers put their kitchen and bathroom near the exiting plumbing lines, because nothing was more expensive and problematic than moving city water. Renovation was customarily cheaper than building afresh, especially in New York City whose complex construction laws increase costs for new buildings needlessly. Renovations were also less visible to those on the street, while industrial buildings lacked residential neighbors who might complain to some city authority about something that upset them. Indeed, tenants residing illegally wouldn’t complain at all: You could bet your renovation on it.
