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71-411: Riverside Apartments , also known as Shipyard Apartments, is a historic apartment complex located at Newport News, Virginia . It was built in 1918, and consists of two, four-story, U-shaped brick apartment buildings decorated with simple bands of sandstone. The buildings features some classically derived decoration around the portals and a few accents of the same type on the parapets. They were built for

142-510: A building may be called an apartment building , apartment complex , flat complex , block of flats , tower block , high-rise or, occasionally, mansion block (in British English), especially if it consists of many apartments for rent. A high-rise apartment building is commonly referred to as a residential tower , apartment tower , or block of flats in Australia. A high-rise building

213-578: A common vertical wall are known as semi-detached , or colloquially semis . This form of construction is very common and built as such rather than being a later conversion. This type of apartment developed in the USA during the middle of the 20th century. The term initially described a living space created within a former industrial building, usually 19th century. These large apartments found favor with artists and musicians wanting accommodation in large cities (New York for example) and are related to unused buildings in

284-414: A door in the front and another in the back, or from an underground or otherwise attached parking structure. Depending on the building design, the entrance doors may be connected directly to the outside or to a common area inside, such as a hallway or a lobby. In many American cities, the one-plus-five style of mid-rise, wood-framed apartments have gained significant popularity following a 2009 revision to

355-506: A floor-ceiling assembly. Duplex description can be different depending on the part of the US, but generally has two to four dwellings with a door for each and usually two front doors close together but separate—referred to as ' duplex ', indicating the number of units, not the number of floors, as in some areas of the country they are often only one storey. Groups of more than two units have corresponding names (Triplex, etc.). Those buildings that have

426-407: A garden apartment shares some characteristics of a townhouse : each apartment has its own building entrance, or shares that entrance via a staircase and lobby that adjoins other units immediately above and/or below it. Unlike a townhouse, each apartment occupies only one level. Such garden apartment buildings are almost never more than three stories high, since they typically lack elevators . However,

497-425: A high-rise apartment building. In Russia , a communal apartment («коммуналка») is a room with a shared kitchen and bath. A typical arrangement is a cluster of five or so room-apartments with a common kitchen and bathroom and separate front doors, occupying a floor in a pre-Revolutionary mansion. Traditionally a room is owned by the government and assigned to a family on a semi-permanent basis. A serviced apartment

568-476: A life estate. Many jurisdictions retain the possibility of creating a life estate , although this is uncommon. In the United States, life estates are most commonly used either to grant someone use of the property for the remainder of that person's life in a will, or by a grantor to reserve the right to continue using the property for the remainder of the grantor's life after it is sold. The right to ownership of

639-410: A luxury hotel, residents could enjoy the additional facilities such as house keeping, laundry, catering and other services if and when desired. A feature of these apartment blocks was quite glamorous interiors with lavish bathrooms but no kitchen or laundry spaces in each flat. This style of living became very fashionable as many upper-class people found they could not afford as many live-in staff after

710-420: A mid-rise as a building between 4 and 12 stories. In American English , the distinction between rental apartments and condominiums is that while rental buildings are owned by a single entity and rented out to many, condominiums are owned individually, while their owners still pay a monthly or yearly fee for building upkeep. Condominiums are often leased by their owner as rental apartments. A third alternative,

781-427: A negative connotation elsewhere. In India, the word " flat " is used to refer to multi-story dwellings that have lifts. Australian English and New Zealand English traditionally used the term flat (although it also applies to any rental property), and more recently also use the terms unit or apartment . In Australia, a ' unit ' refers to flats, apartments or even semi-detached houses. In Australia,

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852-604: A parcel of the land and grant it as a subordinate fief to his own sub-tenant, a process known as sub-enfeoffing or " subinfeudation ". The 1290 Statute of Quia Emptores abolished subinfeudation and instead allowed the sale of fee simple estates. William Blackstone defined fee simple as the estate in land that a person has when the lands are given to him and his heirs absolutely, without any end or limit put to his estate. Land held in fee simple can be conveyed to whomsoever its owner pleases; it can also be mortgaged or put up as security. Owners of real property in fee simple have

923-404: A public park, with a reversion interest in the grantor if the condition fails; this is a fee simple conditional . The word "fee" is related to the term fief , meaning a feudal landholding. Feudal land tenures existed in several varieties, most of which involved the tenant having to supply some service to his overlord, such as knight-service (military service). If the tenant's overlord

994-469: A residential building which is occupied separately, usually on more than one floor and having its own outside entrance." It differs from a flat in having usually more than one floor, with a staircase internal to the dwelling leading from the entrance floor to the upper (or, in some cases, lower) other floor. It is a very common arrangement in much post-war British housing (especially but not exclusively public housing) and serves both to reduce costs by reducing

1065-444: A residential unit or section in a building. In some locations, particularly the United States, the word connotes a rental unit owned by the building owner, and is not typically used for a condominium. In England and Wales, some flat owners own shares in the company that owns the freehold of the building as well as holding the flat under a lease. This arrangement is commonly known as a "share of freehold" flat. The freehold company has

1136-613: A shared bathroom. A bedsit is not self-contained and so is not an apartment or flat as this article uses the terms; it forms part of what the UK government calls a house in multiple occupation . The American variant of the bedsit is the single room occupancy . Merriam-Webster defines a garden apartment in American English as "a multiple-unit low-rise dwelling having considerable lawn or garden space." The apartment buildings are often arranged around courtyards that are open at one end. Such

1207-477: A single story. There are many names for these overall buildings (see below). The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing , to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium ( strata title or commonhold ) or leasehold , to tenants renting from a private landlord. The term apartment is favoured in North America (although in some Canadian cities, flat

1278-445: A tenant moves in with his own furniture. Serviced apartments , intended to be convenient for shorter stays, include soft furnishings and kitchen utensils , and maid service . Laundry facilities may reside in a common area accessible to all building tenants, or each apartment may have its own facilities. Depending on when the building was built and its design, utilities such as water, heating, and electricity may be common for all of

1349-633: A term denoting prestigious apartment buildings from the Victorian and Edwardian , which usually feature an ornate facade and large, high-ceilinged flats with period features. Danchi is the Japanese word for a large cluster of apartment buildings of a particular style and design, typically built as public housing by government authorities. See Housing in Japan . The smallest self-contained apartments are referred to as studio, efficiency or bachelor apartments in

1420-426: A term of years, a lease for a specified term, such as in an estate for years . A fee also could be limited through the method of its inheritance, such as by an "entailment", which created a fee tail . Traditionally, fee tail was created by words of grant such as "to N. and the male heirs of his body", which would restrict those who could inherit the property. If no heirs could be found, then the property would revert to

1491-533: A third storey are known as triplexes. See Three-decker (house) In the United States, regional forms have developed, see vernacular architecture . In Milwaukee , a Polish flat or "raised cottage" is a small house that has been lifted up to accommodate a basement floor housing a separate apartment, then set down again, thus becoming a modest pair of dwellings. In the Sun Belt , boxy small apartment buildings called dingbats , often with carports below, sprang up from

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1562-422: A view of and access to a garden or lawn", although its citations acknowledge that the reference to a garden may be illusory. "Garden flat" can serve simply as a euphemism for a basement. The large Georgian or Victorian townhouse was built with an excavated subterranean space around its front known as an area , often surrounded by cast iron railings. This lowest floor housed the kitchen, the main place of work for

1633-423: Is any-size space for residential living that includes regular maid and cleaning services provided by the rental agent. Serviced apartments or serviced flats developed in the early part of the 20th century and were briefly fashionable in the 1920s and 30s. They are intended to combine the best features of luxury and self-contained apartments, often being an adjunct of a hotel . Like guests semi-permanently installed in

1704-412: Is created when a grantor places a condition on a fee simple estate (in the deed ). When a specified event happens, the estate may become void or subject to annulment. There are two types of defeasible estates: fee simple determinable and the fee simple subject to a condition subsequent. If the grantor uses durational language in the condition such as "to A. as long as the land is used for a park", then upon

1775-414: Is defined by its height differently in various jurisdictions . It may be only residential, in which case it might also be called a tower block, or it might include other functions such as hotels, offices, or shops. There is no clear difference between a tower block and a skyscraper , although a building with fifty or more stories is generally considered a skyscraper. High-rise buildings became possible with

1846-517: Is generally used only in the context of a specific building. "Mixed-use buildings" combine commercial and residential uses within the same structure. Typically, mixed-use buildings consist of businesses on the lower floors (often retail in street-facing ground floor and supporting subterranean levels) and residential apartments on the upper floors. Tenement law refers to the feudal basis of permanent property such as land or rents. It may be found combined as in " Messuage or Tenement" to encompass all

1917-426: Is more generic and may also include luxury condominiums. In Japanese English loanwords ( Wasei-eigo ), the term apartment ( アパート apaato ) is used for lower-income housing and mansion ( マンション manshon ) is used for high-end apartments; but both terms refer to what English-speakers regard as an apartment. This use of the term mansion has a parallel with British English 's mansion block ,

1988-487: Is their use of two separate front doors onto the street, each door leading to a single flat. "Maisonette" could also stretch to cottage flats , also known as 'four-in-a-block flats', a style of housing common in Scotland. The vast majority of apartments are on one level, hence "flat". Some, however, have two storeys joined internally by stairs, just like many houses. One term for this is "maisonette", as above. Some housing in

2059-478: Is used for a unit which is part of a house containing two or three units, typically one to a floor ). In the UK, the term apartment is more usual in professional real estate and architectural circles where otherwise the term flat is used commonly, but not exclusively, for an apartment on a single level (hence a "flat" apartment). In some countries, the word " unit " is a more general term referring to both apartments and rental business suites . The word 'unit'

2130-505: Is what is owned rather than the land it represents. The fee simple estate is also called "estate in fee simple" or "fee-simple title", or sometimes simply "freehold" in England and Wales. From the start of the Norman period, when feudalism was introduced to England, the tenant or "holder" of a fief could not alienate (sell) it from the possession of his overlord. However, a tenant could separate

2201-499: The Classic Period Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan , apartments were not only the standard means of housing the city's population of over 200,000 inhabitants, but show a remarkably even wealth distribution for the entire city, even by contemporary standards. Furthermore, the apartments were inhabited by the general populace as a whole, in contrast to other Pre-Modern socieites, where apartments were limited to housing

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2272-537: The International Building Code ; these buildings typically feature four wood-framed floors above a concrete podium and are popular with developers due to their high density and relatively lower construction costs. The Puebloan peoples of what is now the Southwestern United States have constructed large, multi-room dwellings, some comprising more than 900 rooms, since the 10th century. In

2343-486: The United States , fee simple owners are usually subject to property tax and the revenue generated is directed to the municipality's general fund. Other local tax assessments called "special purpose taxes" may be assessed in addition to the property taxes for specific purposes such as infrastructure improvements. Real estate owned as a condominium is usually similarly owned in fee simple, but typically subject to rules in

2414-687: The United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation to alleviate the housing shortage created by an influx of workers into the Newport News Shipyards during World War I . Two of the four original buildings were destroyed, one in 1975 and the other in 1979. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. This article about a property in Newport News, Virginia on

2485-448: The cooperative apartment building (or " co-op "), acts as a corporation with all of the tenants as shareholders of the building. Tenants in cooperative buildings do not own their apartment, but instead own a proportional number of shares of the entire cooperative. As in condominiums, cooperators pay a monthly fee for building upkeep. Co-ops are common in cities such as New York, and have gained some popularity in other larger urban areas in

2556-578: The downtown (British English town- or city-centre area have the benefits of proximity to jobs and/or public transportation . However prices per square foot are often much higher than in suburban areas. Moving up in size from studio flats are one-bedroom apartments, which contain a bedroom enclosed from the other rooms of the apartment, usually by an internal door. This is followed by two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. Apartments with more than three bedrooms are rare. Small apartments often have only one entrance. Large apartments often have two entrances, perhaps

2627-514: The 1950s. In the United Kingdom the term duplex is usually applied to an apartment with two storeys (with an internal staircase), neither of which is located at ground level. Such homes are frequently found in low-cost rental housing, in apartment blocks constructed by local authorities, or above street-level retail units, where they may be occupied by the occupier of the retail unit or rented out separately. Buildings containing two dwellings with

2698-620: The First World War and revelled in a "lock-up and leave" life style that serviced apartment hotels supplied. Some buildings have been subsequently renovated with standard facilities in each apartment, but serviced apartment hotel complexes continue to be constructed. Recently a number of hotels have supplemented their traditional business model with serviced apartment wings, creating privately owned areas within their buildings - either freehold or leasehold . Apartments may be available for rent furnished, with furniture, or unfurnished into which

2769-459: The National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Apartment An apartment ( American English , Canadian English ), flat ( British English , Indian English , South African English ) , or unit ( Australian English ) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate ) that occupies part of a building, generally on

2840-404: The U.S. In British English & Canadian English the usual word is " flat ", but apartment is used by property developers to denote expensive "flats" in exclusive and expensive residential areas in, for example, parts of London such as Belgravia and Hampstead . In Scotland, it is called a block of flats or, if it is a traditional sandstone building, a tenement , a term which has

2911-430: The US and Canada, or studio flat in the UK. These units usually consist of a large single main room which acts as the living room, dining room and bedroom combined and usually also includes kitchen facilities, with a separate bathroom. In Korea, the term "one room" ( wonroom ) refers to a studio apartment. A bedsit is a UK variant on single room accommodation: a bed-sitting room, probably without cooking facilities, with

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2982-499: The United Kingdom , both public and private, was designed as scissor section flats . On a grander level, penthouses may have more than one storey to emphasise the idea of space and luxury. Two-storey units in new construction are sometimes referred to as " townhouses " in some countries (though not usually in Britain). " Duplex " refers to two separate units horizontally adjacent, with a common demising wall , or vertically adjacent, with

3053-399: The United States. To convey an estate in fee simple at common law, the deed or will must state "to B and his heirs". Anything short of those words transferred a smaller estate. Modern deeds usually follow a standardized form. There is a presumption that the testator intends to convey his or her property in fee simple unless the will indicates an intention to transfer a smaller estate, such as

3124-412: The amount of space given to access corridors and to emulate the 'traditional' two-storey terraced house to which many of the residents had been accustomed. It also allows for apartments, even when they are accessed by a corridor, to have windows on both sides of the building. A maisonette could encompass Tyneside flats , pairs of single-storey flats within a two-storey terrace . Their distinctive feature

3195-575: The apartments, or separate for each apartment and billed separately to each tenant. (Many areas in the US have ruled it illegal to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the premises.) Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in apartments. Telephone service is optional and is almost always billed separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities also cost extra. Parking space(s), air conditioning , and extra storage space may or may not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit

3266-430: The conveying document's language is unclear. The claim that no rent or similar obligations are due from the owner of property in fee simple is only partially true. For example, a rentcharge may exist requiring a freeholder to pay a fixed sum of money closely resembling rent, and many jurisdictions have created financial obligations that may be imposed on a freehold estate. England and Wales impose an estate charge . In

3337-455: The decaying parts of such cities being occupied illegally by people squatting . These loft apartments were usually located in former high-rise warehouses and factories left vacant after town planning rules and economic conditions in the mid 20th century changed. The resulting apartments created a new bohemian lifestyle and were arranged in a completely different way from most urban living spaces, often including workshops and art studio spaces. As

3408-415: The declaration of condominium or created by the condominium association, such as paying required monthly fees for maintaining the property's common areas; however, these are generally treated legally as covenants running with the land (contracts binding on the possessors of real property) imposing an affirmative duty to pay money rather than as rent for property held in fee simple. Fee – A right in law to

3479-452: The donor's lifetime. If previous grantors of a fee simple estate do not create any conditions for subsequent grantees, then the title is called fee simple absolute . A fee simple absolute is the highest estate permitted by law, and it gives the holder full possessory rights and obligations now and in the future. Other fee simple estates in real property include fee simple defeasible (or fee simple determinable ) estates. A defeasible estate

3550-548: The first "garden apartment" buildings in New York, US, built in the early 1900s, were constructed five stories high. Some garden apartment buildings place a one-car garage under each apartment. The interior grounds are often landscaped. In Chicago , a garden apartment refers to a basement apartment . The Oxford English Dictionary defines the use of "garden flat" in British English as "a basement or ground-floor flat with

3621-554: The first examples of apartments popularly named 'salon apartments', with the concept of spatial and functional organization later spreading to other larger urban centers in Yugoslavia. Maisonette (a corruption of maisonnette , French for "little house" and originally the spelling in English as well, but it has since fallen into disuse) has no strict definition, but the OED suggests "a part of

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3692-408: The grantor; this is a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent. In most jurisdictions in the United States these concepts have been modified by statute. Fee simple determinable was generally preferred by courts in the common law of the early United States. Recently, that trend has reversed, and most courts in the United States will find a fee simple subject to condition subsequent in situations where

3763-426: The happening of the specified event (in this case if the land is used for anything other than a park), the estate will automatically terminate and revert to the grantor or the grantor's estate; this is called a fee simple determinable. If the grantor uses language such as "but if alcohol is served", then the grantor or the heirs have a right of entry if the condition occurs, but the estate does not automatically revert to

3834-427: The invention of the elevator (lift) and cheaper, more abundant building materials. Their structural system usually is made of reinforced concrete and steel . A low-rise building and mid-rise buildings have fewer stories, but the limits are not always clear. Emporis defines a low-rise as "an enclosed structure below 35 metres [115 feet] which is divided into regular floor levels." The city of Toronto defines

3905-495: The land, buildings and other assets of a property. In the United States, some apartment-dwellers own their units, either as a housing cooperative , in which the residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or in a condominium , whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment denotes

3976-407: The lower class members of the society, as with the somewhat contemporary Roman insulae . Fee simple The rights of the fee-simple owner are limited by government powers of taxation , compulsory purchase , police power , and escheat , and may also be limited further by certain encumbrances or conditions in the deed , such as, for example, a condition that required the land to be used as

4047-567: The mailboxes or some other location accessible by outsiders, a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell ) may be available for each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or three-flats, or even four-flats, rubbish is often disposed of in trash containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, rubbish is often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding smoking or keeping pets in an apartment. In more urban areas, apartments close to

4118-623: The main house, or a free-standing structure in its grounds. Salon apartment is a term linked to the exclusive apartments built as part of multi-family houses in Belgrade and in certain towns in Yugoslavia in the first decades of the 20th century. The structure of the apartments included centrally located anteroom with a combined function of the dining room and one or more salon areas. Most of these apartments were built in Belgrade ( Serbia ), along with

4189-425: The maximum number of residents in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location accessible to the public and, thus, to the mail carrier . Every unit typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the carrier and provide mail-sorting service. Near

4260-508: The original grantor's heirs. Most common law countries have abolished entailment by statute. An estate in fee simple denotes the maximum ownership in land that can be legally granted; it is the greatest possible aggregate of rights, powers, privileges and immunities available in land. The three hallmarks of the fee simple estate are that it is alienable , devisable and descendible . Rules requiring words of general inheritance to create fee simple by conveyance have been abolished by statute in

4331-409: The owner's family member, the self-contained dwelling may be known as an "in-law apartment", "annexe", or "granny flat", though these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters rather than the landlord's relative. In Canada these are commonly located below the main house and are therefore "basement suites". Another term is an "accessory dwelling unit", which may be part of

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4402-402: The privilege of interest in the property during their lifetime and typically have a say in determining who gets to own an interest in the property after their death. Historically, estates could be limited in time. Common temporal limitations include life estate , a land ownership that terminates upon the grantee's (or another person's) death even if the land had been granted to a third party, or

4473-399: The property after the death of the life estate owner is called the remainder estate . In England and Wales fee simple is the only freehold estate that remains; a life estate can only be created in equity and is not a right in property. In the United States, retained life estates are often used by donors who intend to leave property as bequests to charitable organizations while retaining

4544-462: The right to collect annual ground rents from each of the flat owners in the building. The freeholder can also develop or sell the building, subject to the usual planning and restrictions that might apply. This situation does not happen in Scotland, where long leasehold of residential property was formerly unusual, and is now impossible. Apartment buildings are multi-story buildings where three or more residences are contained within one structure. Such

4615-476: The servants, with a "tradesman's entrance" via the area stairs. This "lower ground floor" (another euphemism) has proven ideal for conversion to a self-contained "garden flat". One American term for this arrangement is an English basement . Generally on the lowest (below ground) floor of a building. A unit in the attic of a building and usually converted from domestic servants' quarters. These apartments are characterized by their sloping walls, which can restrict

4686-399: The supply of old buildings of a suitable nature has dried up, developers have responded by constructing new buildings in the same aesthetic with varying degrees of success. [1] An industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly called a loft , although some modern lofts are built by design. A penthouse is an apartment usually located on the top floor of

4757-514: The terms " unit ", " flat " and " apartment " are largely used interchangeably. Newer high-rise buildings are more often marketed as " apartments ", as the term " flats " carries colloquial connotations. The term condominium or condo is rarely used in Australia despite attempts by developers to market it. In Malaysian English , flat often denotes a housing block of two rooms with walk-up, no lift, without facilities, typically five stories tall, and with outdoor parking space, while apartment

4828-411: The usable space; the resultant stair climb in buildings that do not have elevators and the sloping walls can make garret apartments less desirable than units on lower floors. However, because these apartments are located on the top floors of their buildings, they can offer the best views and are quieter because of the lack of upstairs neighbours. When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of

4899-400: The use of the property during their lifetimes. The donor receives a tax deduction for the gift of their remainder interest in the property, and at the donor's death, the property passes to the organization without being subject to probate . Retained life estate gifts often involve agreements about acceptable uses of the property, payment of real estate taxes, property maintenance, etc. during

4970-532: Was abolished, all fiefs became "simple", without conditions attached to the tenancy. In English common law, the Crown had radical title or the allodium of all land in England, meaning that it was the ultimate "owner" of all land in the past feudal era. Allodial title is reserved to governments under a civil law structure. However, the Crown can grant ownership in an abstract entity – called an estate in land – which

5041-426: Was the king, grand serjeanty , then this might require providing many different services, such as providing horses in time of war or acting as the king's ceremonial butler. These fiefs gave rise to a complex relationship between landlord and tenant, involving duties on both sides. For example, in return for receiving his tenant's fealty or homage , the overlord had a duty to protect his tenant. When feudal land tenure

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