Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1896 — HOMES HIGH IN THE AIR. [ARTICLE]

HOMES HIGH IN THE AIR.

A I.ITTLE VILLACE ON NEW YORK’S SKYSCRAPERS. How the Janitors of the Big Downtown Office Buildings Live-Curious Residences in the Metropolis. A thriving little village of one-story cotta gen has sprung up recently on lower Broadway. Xew York. Its population now numbers several hundreds. These curious little homes, says the Xew York Journal, have been built upon the roofs of the sky-scraping buildfugs which line Broadway. Some of them are set exactly on a line of the iwvements of Broadway, while others have been built a few feet behind neat little from gardens. Many of these quiet homes rest on foundations some fifteen or twenty stories in height, and are consequently quite free from damp cellars aud similar complaints. The highest homes in Xew York rent for a few dollars a month, which is very reasonable, considering the value of real estate on Broadway, on which they stand. They are inhabited by the janitors of the immense buildiugs which form the foundation of the modest cottages. Real estate on the lower end of Manhattan Island lias grown so enormously valuable that even the roofs of twenty-story buildings cannot he allowed to go to waste. These remarkable building sites are in many ways as desirable as any in the city. A'egetalile aud flower beds flourish on this Broadway real estate, and probably no other homes iu the city get so much fresh air aud sunlight. The architecture iu many of the small homesteads follows the style of the eighteen or twenty-story foundations on which they rest. In many cases the cottages have been constructed at a cost of many thousands of dollars. Some of them are built entirely of stoue or terra-eotta or other valuable materials. aud are elaborately decorated. The most picturesque of them all is located oil the roof the Produce Exchange Building. The- roof itself Is built of brick and terra-cottto. and ic adorned with a beautiful tower at one ; corner, also built of terra-cotta, and j profusely ornamented. A'iewed from ! the street the tower looks no larger j than a bandbox or chicken-coop. As a matter of fact, however, it is two sto- ; rles and a half in height from the roof up, and contains half a dozen comfortable rooms.

This little mansion is occupied by the janitor of the building and liis family of eight, not counting the (log. The roof of the building is carefully walled in by a high parapet. There are few houses in Xew A'ork which can noast.of so large a front yard. It is nearly a block in length, and quite as bright iu summer as any yard can be. Housekeeping goes on up near the sky much the same as on the solid earth ”<(0 feet below. The front yard is well supplied with clotheslines, on which the wash is regularly hung out to dry. The ground is covered with sand. There are no trees or grass growing there, to lie sure, but there are several flower beds arruuged in wooden lioxes. which add a very pleasant touch of color to the whole. A good-sized dog kennel stands beside the kitchen door, and its ooeupaut is allowed to roam about the roof. The dog has very little to occupy liis time, however, for there are no tramps tip there to drive away from the premises and no wagons to run out and bark at. The children who live in these high altitudes have carried their bicycles, wheelbarrows and other toys up with them, and have a playground all to themselves, which is not equalled by any millionaire's child's playground in the city. Just at present they are running up their sleds to enjoy the sledding in their playground on lower Broadway. The interior of this cosy little cottage is furnished very simply and comfortably. <tu the first floor is a neat little kitchen, a dining room and a parlor. The neatly curtained windows of the little rooms command a magnificent view of housetops and the harbor. In tlie little kitchen a tea-kettle sings away on a neatly blackened stove and a clock ticks quietly on the cupboard. In fact, t lie house is so far above Broadway that it is one of the quietest houses in the entire city, in spite of the rattle and roar of travel down below. The house is heated by stoves, aud tlie people who live there the year round say it is always comfortable. The windows and doors are built to stand the roughest weather which tlie exceedingly exposed position invites. It is never very hot up there, and often when tlie people on the pavements are sweltering with the heat, it is hard to keep one's luit on in the janitor’s skyscraping front yard. There is nothing whatever to break tlie wind, and to a casual observer these building sites seem better fitted for weather bureaus than homesteads.