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232:, thousands of wood-framed multi-family tenements were built by the mill owners during the boom years of the 1870s to house their workers. Many more were built by private individuals who rented their apartments to the mill workers and their families. This style of housing differed greatly from the well-spaced boardinghouses of the early 19th century built in
92:, as a cheap means of housing the thousands of newly arrived immigrant workers who filled the factories of the area. The economics of the three-decker are simple: the cost of the land, basement and roof are spread among three or six apartments, which typically have identical floor plans. The three-decker apartment house was seen as an alternative to the
290:, with preference often varying regionally. For instance, hipped and gabled three-deckers are dominant in Worcester. In smaller cities, such as Lawrence or Albany, New York, two or two and a half story variants are common, while retaining a similar overall typology, with a bay window on the front, and prominent porches.
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style condominium or apartment buildings more typically associated with suburban areas. Boston's zoning regulations allow new three-family houses to be constructed in areas with existing three-deckers. However, building codes for the new buildings are far more stringent today, with requirements for
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on each floor. Utility porches are located in the rear, and typically not visible from the street. Some three-deckers feature a single front door that access all three units; others feature one entrance for the bottom floor and one that accesses the top two. While usually lacking the ornamentation
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In
Worcester, Massachusetts, sewer connection charges were based on street frontage, so builders favored houses with as little frontage as possible. This is one reason why three-deckers are often situated on narrow lots and are rectangular shape, with the smaller sides at the front and the rear.
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noted that "fire officials in
Worcester, Fall River, Brockton and New Bedford all say a disproportionate majority of their structure fire response involves the buildings." Other common contributors to the flammability of three-deckers include primitive electrical systems such as
182:) and Upstate New York, where they are commonly seen as far west as Utica. Three-deckers are also found in Canadian cities with strong ties to New England, particularly Halifax, though they are less ubiquitous. They were primarily housing for the
221:" as transportation systems expanded from the older, core sections of the city. Typically, the affordable three-decker homes attracted live-in landlords who would collect rent from the other two apartments.
162:, was the likely origin of the type, with Francis Gallagher (1830–1911) held to be the originator. Other cities make the same claim, and they can also be found in the former industrial cities of
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families, often in multiple rows on narrow lots in the areas surrounding the factories. They were derided as poor-quality buildings, shoddily constructed from flammable
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Three-deckers were built in large numbers, in some areas comprising entire neighborhoods, but by the 1950s, a number of them had been abandoned or razed because of
81:, where each floor usually consists of a single apartment, and frequently, originally, extended families lived in two, or all three floors. Both stand-alone and
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194:: a 1911 report by the Massachusetts State Housing Committee in Massachusetts decried the three-decker as "a flimsy fire-trap and a menace to human life".
355:. Their reputation as poor quality and dangerous persisted into the 1970s. Starting in the early 1980s, however, they became desirable again as older
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A different three-story style apartment house is also common in urban working-class neighborhoods in northern New Jersey (particularly in and around
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Various external features typify the three-decker. Windows are usually located on all four sides of the building, including a street-facing
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Recently, a new wave of three-decker apartment houses has been built in areas of Boston as an alternative to the
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During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tens of thousands of three-deckers were constructed, mostly in
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Since 1990, many three-deckers in
Worcester, Massachusetts, have been listed on the
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Three-deckers were most commonly built in the emerging industrial cities of central
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This article is about the apartment building. For the type of sailing warship, see
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Three deckers often account for a disproportionate number of structure fires.
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in the 1910s and 1920s. There they are locally referred to as "Three Flats".
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Three-deckers are usually defined by the style of their roofs, being either
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became more common, many were converted into individually-owned units.
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659:"Feature: Worcester's triple-deckers the 'backbone' of city's housing"
491:"Massachusetts triple-deckers can be full of fire hazards. Here's why"
621:"Saving the iconic New England three-decker from fire and bulldozers"
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A row of flat-roofed triple-deckers in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
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List of
Registered Historic Places in Worcester, Massachusetts
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appliances such as gas-on-gas stoves, and petroleum-based
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Three-deckers are constructed from wood and typically use
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between 1870 and 1920. There are large concentrations in
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were popular with the emerging middle class and became "
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201:had over 15,000 three-decker houses. Areas such as
677:"The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of the Triple Decker"
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258:Similar brick apartment buildings were built in
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527:"Experts agree: It was 'three' before 'triple'"
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367:the other two, thus helping them pay their
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69:, in the United States, is a three-story (
657:Campbell, Stephanie Jarvis (2018-11-29).
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746:Apartment buildings in the United States
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473:This Old House: The Jamaica Plain House
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544:Jacqui McEttrick and Philip Schneider
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380:National Register of Historic Places
571:, Dunwell, Steve, 1978, pp. 105–110
513:History of Worcester and its people
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49:Three decker apartment building in
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592:Bilis, Madeline (10 August 2016).
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619:Sperance, Cameron (2021-04-21).
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594:"The Anatomy of a Three-Decker"
100:during this period, such as in
79:light-framed, wood construction
741:Triple-decker apartment houses
681:New England Historical Society
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525:Smith, Jennifer (2018-05-03).
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694:Second Act for triple-deckers
638:Barnes, George (2018-12-20).
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394:systems and handicap access.
340:Triple-decker streetscape in
40:Three-decker (disambiguation)
298:found on other homes of the
228:In the textile mill city of
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716:Worcester Historical Museum
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34:. For the book format, see
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582:Christopher J. Lenny, 2005
489:Turken, Sam (2022-08-15).
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98:Northeastern United States
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726:Worcester's three-deckers
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230:Fall River, Massachusetts
96:built in other cities of
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266:Structure and variations
160:Worcester, Massachusetts
134:Double three-deckers in
51:Cambridge, Massachusetts
238:Lawrence, Massachusetts
644:Telegram & Gazette
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85:versions are common.
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38:. For other uses, see
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63:triple-decker triplex
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318:knob-and-tube wiring
683:. 28 November 2017.
640:"Historic concerns"
569:The Run of the Mill
531:Dorchester Reporter
430:List of house types
176:northern New Jersey
721:Sightseeking, 2005
699:2012-10-21 at the
663:Worcester Magazine
460:"Triplex: Stacked"
425:Affordable housing
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75:apartment building
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36:Three-volume novel
357:streetcar suburbs
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32:Three-decker
751:New England
440:Polish flat
351:growth and
322:natural gas
288:flat-roofed
249:Jersey City
172:Connecticut
148:New England
94:row-housing
90:New England
735:Categories
625:boston.com
604:16 January
515:, p. 473
446:References
295:bay window
203:Dorchester
387:townhouse
359:began to
114:Baltimore
697:Archived
495:GBH News
420:5-over-1
398:See also
369:mortgage
361:gentrify
349:suburban
312:GBH News
253:Paterson
211:Mattapan
260:Chicago
207:Roxbury
180:Yonkers
126:History
71:triplex
332:Legacy
245:Newark
234:Lowell
213:, and
199:Boston
170:, and
136:Boston
116:, and
106:Boston
371:. As
286:, or
280:gable
168:Maine
606:2023
365:rent
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