railroad apartment
Rooms in sequence
A railroad apartment is a residential layout where rooms connect directly to one another in a line, like train cars, without a hallway.
To reach the back rooms, you must walk through the front ones.
Common in older urban buildings, especially New York City tenements: The railroad apartment meant no privacy—you passed through the bedroom to reach the kitchen.
Multi-unit urban dwelling
- walk-upElevatorless apartment building
- brownstoneSandstone-faced urban dwelling
- prewarBefore a conflict
- cold-waterLacking thermal energy
rent-controlled · sublet · landlord · lease · walkable · borough · neighborhood · immigrant
Enclosed connecting walkway
- pass-throughTransferred without retention
- shotgunLong gun firing shot
- enfiladeFire along an axis
- sequentialOccurring in succession
linear · narrow · elongated · straight · single-file · galley · windowless · airshaft
Uncomfortably lacking space
- narrowOf small width
- tightFirmly stretched or fitting
- confinedKept within bounds
- snugComfortably close-fitting
shoebox · windowless · airless · dark · small · squeezed · cozy · intimate
Before a conflict
- immigrantOne who resettles abroad
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- vintageQuality from past eras
- dumbbellHandheld exercise weight
nineteenth-century · historical · original · preserved · landmark · classic · traditional · gaslight
tenement
Multi-unit urban dwelling
- walk-upElevatorless apartment building
- brownstoneSandstone-faced urban dwelling
- prewarBefore a conflict
cold-water · rent-controlled · sublet · landlord · lease · walkable · borough · neighborhood · immigrant · Lower East Side
corridor
Enclosed connecting walkway
- pass-throughTransferred without retention
- shotgunLong gun firing shot
- enfiladeFire along an axis
sequential · linear · narrow · elongated · straight · single-file · galley · windowless · airshaft · end-to-end
cramped
Uncomfortably lacking space
snug · shoebox · windowless · airless · dark · small · squeezed · cozy · intimate · efficient
prewar
Before a conflict
dumbbell · nineteenth-century · historical · original · preserved · landmark · classic · traditional · gaslight
- apartmentsstudio, flat, triplex, loft, penthouse
- small dwellingstiny house, tiny home, tiny homes, tiny houses, studio
- tenementscold water flat, walk-ups, walkup, walk-up, airshaft
- walk-upsbrownstone, tenement, cold-water flat, stairwell, staircase
railroad apartmentpenthouse
Top-floor luxury apartment
luxury apartment · duplex · townhouse · mansion · estate
railroad, railed, railing, railings, roadway, roadways, railroaded, railroading, railroads