Many New Yorkers dream of living in a coveted stabilized rental apartment because it means that rent is often cheaper than market value..
Such is the case with Hattie Kolp, a 29-year-old special education teacher and part-time interior designer.
When Kolp and his parents moved into the 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom apartment in 2002, they were paid just under $ 1,000 a month. Thanks to rent stabilization laws that limit the amount the landlord can increase and entitle tenants to renew the lease each year, Kolp took over the lease after his parents retired in 2018. .
Today Kolp’s income is $ 1,300 a month. To put that in perspective, the average request to rent a two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side is $ 4,000 a month, according to StreetEasy data from February 2021.
“I’m infinitely grateful to have it,” Kolp says. “It’s the biggest blessing of my life because I couldn’t afford an apartment the size of my teacher’s salary.”
‘Space and charm’
The Kolp building was built in the 1890s, which means amenities are scarce: Kolp doesn’t even have a dishwasher.
“But that’s okay with me, because I’d rather have space and charm,” she says.
Hattie Kolp grew up in this stabilized two-bedroom apartment for rent in New York City.
Photo: Beatriz Bajuelos.
The unit is full of old-school touches, like a waiter, which is a small elevator used to transport food and dishes, a butler pantry that is separate from the kitchen, all original cabinets, some original moldings , pocket doors, a lobby and a long corridor separating the railway-style rooms.
“You really feel like you’re living in 1900,” Kolp says.
When it comes to any interior design project, Kolp aims to “preserve the history and character of this place,” he says. He often buys antique furniture on the east coast. His favorite piece of furniture is an old desk that was given to him by a friend of the family who died.
Kolp put wallpaper on the door and recently painted the lobby.
Photo: Beatriz Bajuelos.
“I describe my style because I’m very influenced by the architecture of my neighborhood, which is ornate, and I like Parisian apartments, just open spaces, intricate wall moldings, high ceilings, stuff like that,” Kolp says. .
From the children’s bedroom to the “Parisian library”
Kolp turned his children’s bedroom into a library during the pandemic.
Photo: Beatriz Bajuelos.
When Kolp took over the apartment, he turned his parents ’master bedroom into a guest room. “Before I had painted purple and pink curtains, pink, everything,” he says.
At first, living in her childhood home was weird: “I think there was probably an hour when I felt very lonely and weird just standing in an empty flat where I had grown up,” she recalls.
During the pandemic, the guest room did not work, so he invested that room in “a Paris-inspired library,” where he teaches at a distance, he says.
Creating a “home forever”
Kolp created a “gallery corridor.”
Photo: Beatriz Bajuelos.
While stabilized rental apartments are often difficult to abandon because they are hard to find and affordable, Kolp, who is a lifelong New Yorker, is often asked: why not buy a place?