WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GARDEN APARTMENT AND A GARDEN HOUSE?
Garden apartments can refer to two different types of residences. Depending on whether you live in the suburbs or in the city, the usage varies. It also varies depending on where you are in the city. One definition may be used in more densely populated, centrally located neighbourhoods, while another may be used in peripheral communities with a different character.
1.) THE MOST COMMON APPLICATION OF “GARDEN APARTMENTS”
Listings for garden apartments in many places, mostly suburban, simply refer to a studio, one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartment within a garden apartment complex.
A garden apartment complex is characterised by a cluster of low-rise buildings on a single piece of property, usually no more than two or three stories high (but more modern complexes often grow to 4-5 stories). For these types of apartments, common areas include open lawns, landscaping, and paths, and some communities also offer amenities like pools, clubhouses, playgrounds, laundry rooms (sometimes multiple), and gyms.
In almost all of these instances, each building will have its own address. It’s customary to have a parking lot, or a collection of small lots scattered throughout the complex. Some neighbourhoods may provide a mix of covered and uncovered parking.
Both rents and condominiums are available in these buildings (and the occasional co-op as well). Each structure has a central entrance in certain designs, with internal passageways leading to the flats. Other layouts provide each individual with their own private entrance from the outside.
Patios are frequently found on first floor flats due to the low-rise nature of the buildings and the park-like settings. Private decks or balconies may be available on the upper stories. Many apartments, especially in newer complexes, are planned out in a multi-floor townhouse design.
While you might not think of a city like New York City as having garden apartments, they may be found in the boroughs outside of Manhattan, particularly in the Queens and Brooklyn neighbourhoods closest to Long Island, as well as areas of Staten Island and Riverdale in The Bronx.
Garden apartment complexes are more common outside of the city limits of Washington, DC, in places like Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia. In most regions outside of Downtown Los Angeles, garden complexes, both ancient and new, are peppered throughout the city’s enormous, sweeping neighbourhoods.
2.) APPLICATION OF THE TERM “GARDEN APARTMENTS” IN URBAN SETTINGS
In other cities, the other definition of a garden apartment is less frequent, despite the fact that the housing unit itself is significantly more popular. This definition of the phrase refers to any unit on the ground floor (or, in some cases, the basement) of an apartment building with direct access to an outside space, such as a backyard, garden, or patio.
Private garden space, no matter how small, is a pleasant relief from the never-ending concrete in heavily populated city areas. The tenant may have only a chair or two for lounging, or they may have room for a whole dining set, chaise couches, a huge grill, and more, depending on the size. Many residents, particularly renters who may not be allowed to plant anything in the ground, instal flower boxes or big pots with plants and/or flowers.
The term “garden apartment” is almost never used in New York City. They are, however, most commonly found in brownstones or townhouses. The size of the “garden” as well as the amount of actual vegetation present might vary dramatically. The flat will not be advertised as a “garden apartment,” but rather as having garden access or a private garden. Please keep in mind that a.) the term “garden” can refer to anything from a patch of grass to concrete with or without planters, and b.) the term “outdoor space” does not necessarily refer to a garden… it might refer to access to a balcony, roof deck, or other outside place.
In New York City, there are actually a lot more rental apartments with access to private garden area than one might imagine (though this does not mean that they are plentiful or inexpensive). Thousands of brownstones and townhouses (many of which contain flats) with gardens or yards in the back may be found in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Chelsea, Murray Hill, and Kips Bay, as well as the East Village and West Village.
Garden flats can also be found in abundance in Brooklyn. And in other parts of the borough, most notably Carroll Gardens, townhouses are set back 35 feet from the street, allowing for some very stunning gardens or nice little patios in the front, as well as traditional garden space in the back.
Other cities, such as Washington, DC, frequently utilise the term “garden apartments” in their property advertisements. It’s not uncommon to discover such places in our nation’s capital, particularly in neighbourhoods like Capitol Hill and Alexandria’s Old Town, both of which have a considerable number of historic (or, sometimes, just old) townhomes. If you read the ads closely, you can usually tell if they are advertising a single garden apartment or a complex of garden apartments.
While there are certain drawbacks to living on the ground floor (a lack of natural light is a common complaint), many people believe that having access to their own tiny patch of nature is worth it. Many tenants have retained their sanity by being able to go immediately outside their flat to rest and enjoy a small bit of nature in the middle of an urban jungle.