54 photos of New York City microapartments show how tiny living can be glamorous — or disappointing

Even then, there's a problem: Microapartments are technically illegal under the city's 1987 zoning laws , which require dwellings to have an area of at least 400 square feet.

Those who require a small space must find an apartment built before 1987, or turn to one of the newer developments that have secured a special waiver from the city.

Despite their minimal square footage, these newer apartments offer innovative design features like hidden drawers and closets, along with luxury amenities like butler services and rentable ice-cream makers.

But for the thousands of residents who live in older microapartments, the lifestyle can be somewhat dismal. Take a look.

If space isnt an issue, microapartments can lend a more glamorous lifestyle at a lower price.

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Taggart Sorensen

This loft on the Upper West Side features multi-level platforms with a small bathroom hidden beneath the stairs.

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Taggart Sorensen

The loft is at the top of a six-story brownstone, with access to a rooftop garden.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Taggart Sorensen

The stairwell features built-in drawers and shelves, providing extra storage.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Taggart Sorensen

Despite its 25 feet of vertical space, the loft is tiny, at only 425 square feet.

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Taggart Sorensen

This $1.29 million apartment in midtown Manhattan is starved for storage, but it includes several crafty design elements, like a hidden pantry.

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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

The apartment was completely gutted and renovated to maximize space.

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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

A pullout cutting board has a hole to dispose of scraps in the trash can below.

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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

The bedroom has two shoe racks, which slide out from the bed frame.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

Other amenities are integrated in the units design. The kitchen counter, for example, has grooves for plates and cups to dry, so water flows right into the sink.

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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

In Manhattans West Village, a 242-square-foot studio is on the market for nearly $480,000.

Source: StreetEasy

The studios owner renovated the unit after purchasing it in 2011, and the apartment now includes a bed that folds into a storage space in the wall.

Source: Curbed

Carmel Place, in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, was the first New York building to exclusively offer microapartments.

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Julie Jacobson/AP

The 55 apartment units range from 260 to 360 square feet. When they opened, the monthly rent was $2,650 to $3,150.

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Julie Jacobson/AP

The apartments feature retractable beds that turn into sofas.

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Adam Banicki

Though the units are tiny, residents have access to housekeeping, grocery delivery, dry-cleaning pickup, and a gym in the building.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Kathy Willens/AP

The building is made of modular units that were prefabricated in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The pieces were then brought to Manhattan and assembled in Kips Bay.

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Kathy Willens/AP

Source: Narchitects

The Carmel Place design won a competition sponsored by New York Citys Department of Housing Preservation and Development in 2013.

Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, and Mathew Wambua, the former department commissioner, announced the design proposal in 2013, and the building was completed in 2016.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

Ollie, a service that curates furniture in some microapartments, decked out 17 studios in Carmel Place.

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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

Ollie included furniture, WiFi, a TV, cable, and a subscription to the butler service Hello Alfred.

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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

An apartment with Ollies amenities generally costs about $2,800 a month.

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AP/Julie Jacobson

Some units feature white desks that slide out into larger tables, as well as coffee tables that can be raised.

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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

An exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York several years ago was inspired by a contest for designing microapartments that can serve as affordable housing.

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Source: Museum of the City of New York

About 77,000 New Yorkers are homeless, and advocates say the city does not have enough quality homeless shelters.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

In Brooklyns Fort Greene neighborhood, another project from HPD features some of the tiniest legal units for rent in the city.

Caesura, a 12-story building, features 34 microapartments of no more than 384 square feet.

Source: New York Times

The building also includes a "lending library" for tenants to borrow ladders, sewing machines, guitars, and ice-cream makers.

Source: New York Times

Furnished units start at $2,588 a month for 314 square feet. Unfurnished apartments, which are at least 100 square feet larger, start at $2,360.

Source: New York Times

This 350-square-foot SoHo apartment, owned by the architect and entrepreneur Graham Hill, lists for $750,000.

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Flickr/Nicols Boullosa

The apartment is so small that about 7 1/2 could fit inside the average US home.

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Christopher Testani for LifeEdited

The units folding desk is designed to support a persons full weight.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Flickr/Nicols Boullosa

The concept behind the design is described as "less but better."

BusinessInsider USA Images

Flickr/Nicols Boullosa

All the furniture is designed to serve multiple purposes. Sliding "couch cubes" offer portable seating and can double as a queen bed.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Flickr/Nicols Boullosa

Source: Fair Companies

Hills first microapartment, a 420-square-foot SoHo property, had an asking price of $2,369 per square foot.

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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited

Source: 6sqft

The property has won awards and been featured in a TED talk.

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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited

Source: TED

It can be converted into two rooms one for the owner, and one for guests.

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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited

It even has a moving wall with its own digital projection screen.

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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited

Theres also a place to store chairs when theyre not being used.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Matthew Williams/LifeEdited

But its residents would have to be comfortable with their bathroom serving as a phone room or meditation area.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Matthew Williams for LifeEdited

Hill paid $287,000 for the apartment and spent an additional $78,000 on the renovations.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Matthew Williams/LifeEdited

Source: 6sqft

The unit is built to accommodate one of Hills inventions: an expandable bike that can collapse to 6 inches wide from 21 inches.

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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited

Source: Life Edited

Not all microapartments are as fancy as Hills designs. In fact, many are relatively bleak.

Heres what $600 a month can get you for a 300-square-foot apartment in Chinatown.

BusinessInsider USA Images

LivingBobby

This Chelsea apartment has no room for an office, so the bed doubles as a workspace.

Three years ago, Grayson Altenberg moved from a shared space in Brooklyn to a 100-square-foot apartment on the Upper West Side.

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Sarah Jacobs

The apartment cost him $1,100 a month for a main room and a bathroom.

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Sarah Jacobs

The space has no windows, stove, or kitchen sink.

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Sarah Jacobs

But its right by Central Park, which Altenberg described as his living room.

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Sarah Jacobs

One of the tiniest apartments in the US is a 78-square-foot space in Hells Kitchen.

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SPACEStv

Its convertible couch was built by its owner, a New York contract architect.

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YouTube/Kirsten Dirksen

Felice Cohen, a personal organizer, has written an e-book about living in 90 square feet, roughly the size of a Honda Accord.

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Flickr/Nicols Boullosa

Source: " 90 Lessons for Living Large in 90 Square Feet (...or More) "

While Cohen was living on the Upper West Side in 2010, the average rent for an apartment was $3,600 a month. She paid just $700.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Flickr/Nicols Boullosa

Source: FairCompanies

"The studio changed my life," Cohen told the New York Post in 2016. "It made me realize that I didnt want to waste money on stuff I had no place to put it."

BusinessInsider USA Images

Flickr/Nicols Boullosa

Source: New York Post

54 photos of New York City microapartments show how tiny living can be glamorous — or disappointing

If space isnt an issue, microapartments can lend a more glamorous lifestyle at a lower price.

This loft on the Upper West Side features multi-level platforms with a small bathroom hidden beneath the stairs.

The loft is at the top of a six-story brownstone, with access to a rooftop garden.

The stairwell features built-in drawers and shelves, providing extra storage.

Despite its 25 feet of vertical space, the loft is tiny, at only 425 square feet.

This $1.29 million apartment in midtown Manhattan is starved for storage, but it includes several crafty design elements, like a hidden pantry.

The apartment was completely gutted and renovated to maximize space.

A pullout cutting board has a hole to dispose of scraps in the trash can below.

The bedroom has two shoe racks, which slide out from the bed frame.

Other amenities are integrated in the units design. The kitchen counter, for example, has grooves for plates and cups to dry, so water flows right into the sink.

In Manhattans West Village, a 242-square-foot studio is on the market for nearly $480,000.

The studios owner renovated the unit after purchasing it in 2011, and the apartment now includes a bed that folds into a storage space in the wall.

Carmel Place, in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, was the first New York building to exclusively offer microapartments.

The 55 apartment units range from 260 to 360 square feet. When they opened, the monthly rent was $2,650 to $3,150.

The apartments feature retractable beds that turn into sofas.

Though the units are tiny, residents have access to housekeeping, grocery delivery, dry-cleaning pickup, and a gym in the building.

The building is made of modular units that were prefabricated in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The pieces were then brought to Manhattan and assembled in Kips Bay.

The Carmel Place design won a competition sponsored by New York Citys Department of Housing Preservation and Development in 2013.

Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, and Mathew Wambua, the former department commissioner, announced the design proposal in 2013, and the building was completed in 2016.

Ollie, a service that curates furniture in some microapartments, decked out 17 studios in Carmel Place.

Ollie included furniture, WiFi, a TV, cable, and a subscription to the butler service Hello Alfred.

An apartment with Ollies amenities generally costs about $2,800 a month.

Some units feature white desks that slide out into larger tables, as well as coffee tables that can be raised.

An exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York several years ago was inspired by a contest for designing microapartments that can serve as affordable housing.

About 77,000 New Yorkers are homeless, and advocates say the city does not have enough quality homeless shelters.

In Brooklyns Fort Greene neighborhood, another project from HPD features some of the tiniest legal units for rent in the city.

Caesura, a 12-story building, features 34 microapartments of no more than 384 square feet.

The building also includes a "lending library" for tenants to borrow ladders, sewing machines, guitars, and ice-cream makers.

Furnished units start at $2,588 a month for 314 square feet. Unfurnished apartments, which are at least 100 square feet larger, start at $2,360.

This 350-square-foot SoHo apartment, owned by the architect and entrepreneur Graham Hill, lists for $750,000.

The apartment is so small that about 7 1/2 could fit inside the average US home.

The units folding desk is designed to support a persons full weight.

The concept behind the design is described as "less but better."

All the furniture is designed to serve multiple purposes. Sliding "couch cubes" offer portable seating and can double as a queen bed.

Hills first microapartment, a 420-square-foot SoHo property, had an asking price of $2,369 per square foot.

The property has won awards and been featured in a TED talk.

It can be converted into two rooms one for the owner, and one for guests.

It even has a moving wall with its own digital projection screen.

Theres also a place to store chairs when theyre not being used.

But its residents would have to be comfortable with their bathroom serving as a phone room or meditation area.

Hill paid $287,000 for the apartment and spent an additional $78,000 on the renovations.

The unit is built to accommodate one of Hills inventions: an expandable bike that can collapse to 6 inches wide from 21 inches.

Not all microapartments are as fancy as Hills designs. In fact, many are relatively bleak.

Heres what $600 a month can get you for a 300-square-foot apartment in Chinatown.

This Chelsea apartment has no room for an office, so the bed doubles as a workspace.

Three years ago, Grayson Altenberg moved from a shared space in Brooklyn to a 100-square-foot apartment on the Upper West Side.

The apartment cost him $1,100 a month for a main room and a bathroom.

The space has no windows, stove, or kitchen sink.

But its right by Central Park, which Altenberg described as his living room.

One of the tiniest apartments in the US is a 78-square-foot space in Hells Kitchen.

Its convertible couch was built by its owner, a New York contract architect.

Felice Cohen, a personal organizer, has written an e-book about living in 90 square feet, roughly the size of a Honda Accord.

While Cohen was living on the Upper West Side in 2010, the average rent for an apartment was $3,600 a month. She paid just $700.

"The studio changed my life," Cohen told the New York Post in 2016. "It made me realize that I didnt want to waste money on stuff I had no place to put it."

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