Old Buildings, Radiators, and Getting With The Times

panorama of our living room

We live in a pretty old building - well, old by American standards, anyway - and we enjoy some amazing pre-war features in our apartment. All the units are spacious, with high ceilings, wide sash windows, practically noise-proof walls, and plenty of closet space. (You don't find those things in new apartment buildings, and definitely not under rent control!) My favorite feature of our home, though, is the radiators. They give our rooms so much character, and I just love the look of them!

Of course, the radiators mean that there's no central heat or air, which is why we have a window unit in the bedroom and another in the living room, and it's a good thing, on the whole, that our building's management is putting HVAC systems in every apartment in our building. I mean, I'm glad from a creature comforts point of view because modernity is awesome and it will be nice to have an extra few inches of space along the walls especially in the hallway off the kitchen and next to the sink in the bathroom. But aesthetically I'll be melancholy once the work is done and the radiators are removed. I've been preparing to miss them for weeks, ever since I asked if we could keep them just for decoration and management said no.

When management called me yesterday to say they'd moved up the timeline for the work - they'll start next week instead of later in September - I took to Pinterest and Apartment Therapy in a bout of masochistic pre-nostalgia for how great spaces with old-fashioned radiators can look. Aren't these gorgeous? Le sigh...

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