board
and lodging alone. Such persons must pay extra for washing, and there
are many "incidentals" which add to the landlady's receipts.

For such a family, giving them two chambers and a parlor, the Fifth
Avenue Hotel charges $30 per day, or $10,950 per annum. The figures are
high, but "the Fifth Avenue" gives a fair return for the money. The
charges of the other hotels are in proportion. None of them will receive
such a family for less than $6000 or $7000 per annum.

Of late years, a new style of living has been introduced. The city now
contains a number of houses located in unexceptionable neighborhoods, and
built in first-class style, which are rented in flats, or suites of
apartments, as in the Parisian houses. The largest of these are the
monster "Stevens House," on Twenty-seventh street, fronting on Broadway
and Fifth avenue, Dr. Haight's House, on the corner of Fifth avenue and
Fifteenth street, and Mr. Stuyvesant's House, in East Eighteenth street,
the last of which was the pioneer house of its kind in this city. The
"Stevens House" was built and is owned by Paran Stevens, Esq., and is one
of the largest buildings in the city. It is constructed of red brick,
with marble and light stone trimmings, and is eight stories in height
above the street, with a large cellar below the sidewalk. The cost of
this edifice is to be one million of dollars. "The woodwork of the
interior is of black walnut; the walls are finely frescoed and
harmoniously tinted. There are, in all, eight floors, including the
servants' attics. Five stores occupy the lower tier. There are eighteen
suites of rooms, to which access is had by a steam elevator. The
building is heated upon the principle of indirect radiation, by forcing
steam-heated air through pipes into the different rooms. The main
staircase is of iron, with marble steps, and the main halls to each story
are tiled. The chief suites comprise parlor, dining-room, boudoir,
dressing-rooms, and butler's pantry; each principal suite comprehending
five commodious chambers on the first floor, and two at the top of the
house. Each kitchen is furnished with improved ranges. The roof is
supplied with water tanks, and, as a further protection against fire, the
second floor is supported by iron arched beams, filled in with concrete."

The Haight House is said to be the most thoroughly comfortable
establishment of the kind in New York. "It consists of five floors,
having twent