Nowadays, all urban cities have apartments or flats. Most of the people prefer apartments to live as it’s more feasible and takes less maintenance. The word apartment is derived from the French word appartement and the Italian word appartamento. Both these words have the same meaning; it means ‘ A separate place’.
Though there are many apartments in the same building, they are all separate places and apart from others. Since ordinary people cannot afford a separate piece of land to build a separate house, they prefer apartments.
Apartments are basically a few rooms that are located on the same floor at a height. They are called apartments in American English and flats in British English. Apartments in Chennai are usually given on rents, but there are a few apartments in Chennai which people actually own. Urban cities don’t really have sufficient land to build separate houses for each and everyone, and that’s why people came up with this concept.
The first apartment was built in 1830 in New York. Back then they were called railroad flats as the rooms, and the halls were narrow and tiny, and we’re arranged in a row. These early apartments were built after the French flats also referred to as Parisian apartments. Richard Morris Hunt was the man who built the first apartment. In India, the first apartment complex was built in 1974 in Malleswaram.
Though flats and apartments are used and judged in the same words, they are kind of different from each other. The word apartments are usually used in American English and flats are usually used in British English. Flats are generally one-storey units. Apartments are usually multi-storied. Apartments are luxurious flats and flats are referred to as low-quality apartments sometimes.
An apartment is a unit or a house owned and managed by a single entity, whereas condo units are owned individually and are managed under the Homeowner’s association HOA.Condos are usually rented to tenants who are liable to the house owners and require a lot of maintenance whereas in apartments no such maintenance is required.
Types of apartments:
- Studio apartments
- Alcove studio
- Convertible apartment
- Micro apartment
- Loft
- Duplex
- Triplex
- Co-op
- Garden apartment
- High rise
- Mid-rise
- Low rise
- Railroad apartments
- Walk-up
Studio apartments:
A studio apartment is a small apartment with a single room that combines the kitchen and the living room with another room entirely for the washroom. They are again subdivided into alcove studios and convertible studios or apartments.
Alcove studio:
An alcove studio is the exact same as the normal studio apartment. The only difference here is that the living room contains an L-shaped wall that provides more privacy.
Convertible apartment:
This is a bigger form of the normal studio apartment. Walls are built to show the separation between the bedroom and the living room.
Micro apartment:
These apartments are one-room apartments. These are located in areas where there is a lot of population, and the rent is too high.
Loft:
They usually have a large open space with high ceilings and huge windows.
Duplex:
These are multi-family units or houses in a single building. They usually have upstairs and downstairs. Both the units are similar in size.
Triplex:
They are three-storied apartments. All three units are of the same size and have their own entry and exit.
Co-op:
Cooperative housing apartments are apartments where one buys it to be a part-owner of the property.
Garden apartments:
These are usually located on the ground floors, where they have more access to the outdoors. These types of apartments usually have security issues.
High rise:
These are apartments that have multiple floors. They usually have access to a lot of elevators.
Mid-rise:
These are medium storied buildings. They too have access to elevators but not as much as high rise buildings.
Low rise:
They are usually apartments with less than four floors. These kinds of apartments may or may not have access to elevators.
These are apartments that are very narrow and are arranged in a row like boxcars.
Walk-up:
They are apartments where there are no elevators. People use only stairs. They are affordable but are less desirable.
The apartment is a lovely place to live in as we get to know so many people while we are at home; there is a lot of human interaction. In a few apartments, different cultural and social activities take place. People of different castes and creeds join together to celebrate festivals.
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