Sherman Avenue in 1906

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Back in 1906 the elevated IRT train (today’s one train) first reached Inwood.  With it came the first true housing boom the neighborhood had ever seen.  Seemingly overnight apartment buildings sprang up east of Broadway to house working class folks lured uptown by an affordable, and suddenly accessible, part of Manhattan. Below is a 1906 real estate ad for just such a building.

Hanover Apartments 127-135 Sherman Avenue, The Sun, Sept. 23,1906

Using an inflation calculator, $32.50 in 1906 would  equal about $770.00 in today’s economy.  But of course,  even in 1906 prices were known to fluctuate. By November of that year  the owners shaved $2.50 off the asking price for a top of the line apartment.

The same block today.
Hanover Apartments 127-135 Sherman Avenue, The Sun, Nov 11,1906

And while I’m not sure who would have qualified as a  “desirable tenant” in 1906, with a free month of rent and no mention of a broker’s fee,  I’m guessing it was  a renter’s market.

Today’s Inwood real estate scene.

2 COMMENTS

  1. I live in inwood From 1977 and know 2016. I have 3 children that were born inwood and 2 grand child too. I came from the Bronx in 1977.

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