What happened to the three-decker?

This thesis examines the three-decker, a type of small apartment house ("superposed flats") that is common in the Boston metropolitan region and elsewhere in New England. The three-decker is distinctive in two ways: its physical form, which is moderately dense and yet modest in scale; and its tenancy structure, which typically involves one household owning the entire building, while residing in one apartment and renting out the other two. This thesis poses three, interrelated questions: What is the origin of the three-decker? Why did it substantially disappear in the Boston area after 1920, and altogether by 1930? And what has kept it from coming back? In order to get at these questions, the thesis both examines the three-decker in its local context, and compares and contrasts it with similar building types in three other North American cities that have a rich tradition in them: Chicago, Montreal, and New York City. Chapter 1 introduces the topic and describes the three-decker and its counterparts elsewhere. Chapter 2 is a historical analysis that addresses the questions of the origins and decline of the three-decker.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Wegmann, Jacob (Jacob G.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sam B. Warner.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/37424
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/37424

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37424