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An English basement is an apartment (flat in UK English) on the lowest floor of a building, generally a townhouse or brownstone, which is partially below and partially above ground level and which has its own entrance separate from those of the rest of the building. [1]
English basements are sometimes rented out separately from the main dwelling, either by a single landlord who owns both portions of the building or by a tenant of the building who sub-lets the English basement. English basements are most common in larger, older cities like London, Edinburgh, New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C. [2]
In other cities, such as Chicago and San Francisco, this space is referred to as a "garden apartment".[ citation needed ] The phrase "English basement" is mostly an Americanism. In Québec, in both English and French, this space is known as a "demi sous-sol," literally a "half-basement." In the United Kingdom, this style of apartment is usually known as a "garden flat" so long as it connects to a rear garden; the level of the property is referred to as "lower ground". The origin of the term "English basement" dates back to at least the mid-19th century. The earliest citation in the OED is 1853 ("1853 N.Y. Daily Times 8 July 5/3 (advt.) House for sale... A new three-story English basement house."). Some people refer to it as the "garden level". Building codes in most cities use neither of the phrases, stating that any floor partly below grade-level is simply a "basement" and a floor more than 50% below grade-level is a "cellar".[ citation needed ]
A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load.
An apartment, flat, or unit is a self-contained housing unit that occupies part of a building, generally on a single storey. There are many names for these overall buildings. The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium, to tenants renting from a private landlord.
A housing estate is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
A bungalow is a style of houses and architecture originating in the Bengal region of South Asia. It can be described as a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof, and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The style has evolved over time and is found around the world.
A terrace or terraced house (UK) or townhouse (US) is an architectural term for a form of medium-density housing that first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are known as row houses or row homes, commonly found in older cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Toronto.
Octagon houses are eight-sided houses that were popular in the United States and Canada mostly in the 1850s. They are characterized by an octagonal (eight-sided) plan and often feature a flat roof and a veranda that circles the house. Their unusual shape and appearance, quite different from the ornate pitched-roof houses typical of the period, can generally be traced to the influence of amateur architect and lifestyle pundit Orson Squire Fowler. Although there are other octagonal structures worldwide, the term octagon house usually refers to octagonal houses built in North America during this period, and up to the early 1900s.
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system are located; so also are amenities such as the electrical system and cable television distribution point. In cities with high property prices, such as London, basements are often fitted out to a high standard and used as living space.
A penthouse is an apartment or unit on the highest floor of an apartment building, condominium, hotel, or tower. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features. The term 'penthouse' originally referred, and sometimes still does refer, to a separate smaller 'house' that was constructed on the roof of an apartment building. Architecturally it refers specifically to a structure on the roof of a building that is set back from its outer walls. These structures do not have to occupy the entire roof deck. Recently, luxury high rise apartment buildings have begun to designate multiple units on the entire top residential floor or multiple higher residential floors including the top floor as penthouse apartments, and outfit them to include ultra-luxury fixtures, finishes, and designs which are different from all other residential floors of the building. These penthouse apartments are not typically set back from the building’s outer walls, but are instead flush with the rest of the building and simply differ in size, luxury, and consequently price. High-rise buildings can also have structures known as mechanical penthouses that enclose machinery or equipment such as the drum mechanisms for an elevator.
A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling,single-family residence (SFR) or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling.
A split-level home is a style of house in which the floor levels are staggered. There are typically two short sets of stairs, one running upward to a bedroom level, and one going downward toward a basement area.
A duplex house plan has two living units attached to each other, either next to each other as townhouses, condominiums or above each other like apartments. By contrast, a building comprising two attached units on two distinct properties is typically considered semi-detached or twin homes but is also called a duplex in parts of the Northeastern United States, Western Canada, and Saudi Arabia.
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a sky parlor or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the top floor of a building and the slanted roof, they are known for being awkwardly shaped spaces with exposed rafters and difficult-to-reach corners.
Multifamily residential is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units can be next to each other, or stacked on top of each other. A common form is an apartment building. Many intentional communities incorporate multifamily residences, such as in cohousing projects. Sometimes units in a multifamily residential building are condominiums, where typically the units are owned individually rather than leased from a single apartment building owner.
The Investment Building is a high-rise office building in Washington, D.C. The building rises 13 floors and 154 feet (47 m) in height. The interior renovation and redesign of the building was by architect César Pelli; Pelli also designed the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The renovation was completed in 2001. As of July 2008, the structure stands as the 32nd-tallest building in the city, tied in rank with 1310 G Street, 1430 K Street, 1875 K Street, the Westin Washington, D.C. City Center, the Executive Tower, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue the Capital Hilton and The Westin Washington, D.C. City Center. The building is composed entirely of commercial office space.
A storey or story is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people. Plurals for the word are storeys (UK) and stories (US).
The Suntop Homes, also known under the early name of The Ardmore Experiment, were quadruple residences located in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and based largely upon the 1935 conceptual Broadacre City model of the minimum houses. The design was commissioned by Otto Tod Mallery of the Tod Company in 1938 in an attempt to set a new standard for the entry-level housing market in the United States and to increase single-family dwelling density in the suburbs. In cooperation with Frank Lloyd Wright, the Tod Company secured a patent for the unique design, intending to sell development rights for Suntops across the country.
Residential buildings in Poland are fundamentally divided into two main categories: single-family buildings (houses), and multi-family buildings. The former are meant to house only a small number of people, either one or a few families, while the latter are built with larger amounts of people living in their own separate areas of the same building in mind. There are also a few sub-categories, like multi-family houses, which can house multiple families, but don't have separate flats inside, and don't usually have separate entrances to the building. According to a 2010 survey: 41% of Poles live in single-family detached houses, 40% live in multi-family blocks of flats, 9% live in multi-family tenements, 7% live in multi-family houses, 3% live in single-family terraced houses, and 1% live in other types of buildings.
The Butterworth Building or Butterworth Block at 1921 First Avenue in Seattle, Washington was originally built as the Butterworth & Sons mortuary, which moved into this location in 1903 and moved to larger quarters in 1923. Located on a steep hill, the building has only three stories on the First Avenue side, but five on Post Alley. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP); adjacent to Pike Place Market, it falls within the NRHP's Pike Place Public Market Historic District and the city's Place Market Historical District. Now owned by the McAleese Family since 2005.
The Emelie was built in 1902 by German immigrant Frederick Schmid and named for his wife. The building was saved and restored by Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects to serve as the company's corporate headquarters from 1987 to 2003. It is three stories, constructed of red brick and gray limestone. The building also includes a garden level. It is built in the German Renaissance Revival Architecture style. It has fine decorative detailing, totaling 35,000 square feet (3,300 m2). It has also served as an apartment building and commercial space.
The Portland Flats was the first luxury apartment building constructed in Washington, D.C. Construction of the elaborate building, designed by architect Adolf Cluss, was completed in 1881. It was built on the south side of Thomas Circle, a traffic circle and park where 14th Street NW, M Street NW, Massachusetts Avenue NW, and Vermont Avenue NW intersect. The triangular-shaped building's main architectural feature was the corner tower and dome, which resulted in the Portland Flats resembling an ocean liner sailing into Thomas Circle.
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