Apartment Room Count

I read The New York Post's Saturday real estate section and their real estate blog online. I get it by email. Nobody does gossip better than The Post. They often write about mistakes they find in the paper of record (The NY Times) and the other NY tabloid The Daily News.

Since I am a Manhattan real estate broker I certainly know how to count rooms in an apartment. Now that I have a blog I can write about mistakes in the media too.

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.

"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" is
a term defining the type of layout often found in prewar buildings of the
fancier sort common on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side. To qualify for
the moniker, the apartment must include two full-size bedrooms, a living room, a
formal 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 other
apartments, 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.

For the record there is a "classic five" (two bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen) There is also a "classic seven" (three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, maids room)

My favorite is the "Edwardian five." (one bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, maids room) New Yorkers lived quite grand during the Edwardian era (circa 1900-1920) The Edwardian five was a great apartment for entertaining.

Today families reconfigure the dining room and maids room into a second and small third bedroom. The small maids bath can be used as a laundry room or powder 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:

1	room	Studio with pullman kitchen
1½	rooms	Studio with pullman kitchen and alcove or dining area
2	rooms	Studio with separate kitchen
2½	rooms	Studio with separate kitchen and sleeping alcove
2½	rooms	1 bedroom with Pullman kitchen and living room
3	rooms	1 bedroom, living room, kitchen
3½	rooms	1 bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining area
4	rooms	1 bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining room - or -2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen
4½	rooms	2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining area
5	rooms	2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room
5½	rooms	3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining area
6	rooms	2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, maid's room
7	rooms	3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, maid's room - or -2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, 2 maid's rooms
8	rooms	3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, 2 maid's rooms
9	rooms	Typically 3 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 maid's rooms
10	rooms	Typically 3 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 3 maid's rooms
11	rooms	Typically 4 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 3 maid's rooms
12	rooms	Typically 4 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, either 4 maid's rooms or servant hall and 3 maid's rooms
13	rooms	4 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 4 maid's rooms and servant's hall
14	rooms	5 bedrooms, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, 4 maid's rooms and servant's hall

For more information about Manhattan, NYC apartment and building terminology click below:

New York City Apartment Terminology A to Z

New York City Building Terminology

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