Benefits of Renting Historical Apartments

By: The Roe Team
Rendering of the church building at The Roe at Manayunk

New Apartment Buildings are often critiqued for “looking identical”. As buildings age and their use shifts over the generations, many are converting historical structures into other creative uses including apartments.

Historical buildings have become increasingly popular among renters for a variety of reasons.

Here’s a few:

  1. Loft Style Space – A lot of old buildings, especially warehouses, have high loft ceilings. Ceiling height is not only fun to have, but it makes your apartment home feel larger.
  2. Big Windows – Many historical buildings have large windows which can be great for natural sunlight. Just be sure that the exterior windows have been replaced with more sound-controlled and insulated windows, or your utility bills might be high.
  3. Unique Character – In a historical adaptive re-use, each apartment tends to have its own floor plan and sense of charm, style, and character.
  4. Unique Features – Historical buildings often have a variety of features that would be cost-prohibitive to replicate today, including arches, unique corners, mixture of materials, beams, and breathtaking masonry and woodwork.
  5. Great Locations – Many historical buildings are located in the central core of major cities, and can provide great locations.
  6. Sound Control – Usually older buildings have exterior walls made of brick and block, which by definition, can provide better exterior sound control. Having said that, between walls and floors, it’s important for the builder to add other good sound control features (to help with interior noise from other neighbors).
  7. Become part of history – If you have ever lived in a historical building before, you’ll notice there is something remarkable about walking into the building and feeling the beauty, serenity, and connection to the past.
  8. Sustainable Living – Rather than knocking a building down, the re-use of historical structures and materials is a model for sustainability.
  9. Improves Character of Neighborhood – Keeping historic buildings adds to the fabric of culture and society, and generally makes everyone feel connected to the past.
  10. Extra Space – In a new construction apartment building, you will usually get an apartment of a certain size and that’s it. However, with a historical building, you can benefit from weird quirky extra spaces like former attic turned into loft, or that extra corner which makes for a great closet.
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