the Flatiron Building<\/a>, the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center and the Plaza \u2014 are often too iconic to let superstition interfere.<\/p>\nBut that\u2019s the exception, not the rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing\u2019s quite silly,\u201d said historian Andrew Alpern, \u201cbut from the landlord\u2019s point of view, it\u2019s very real.\u201d <\/p>\n
Otis Elevator once estimated that 85% of its elevators omit a 13th-floor button. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
In fact, among everyday residential buildings, skipping the 13th is practically policy. The Rushmore, 56 Leonard, 99 John Deco Lofts, One Madison Park, 515 E. 72nd St. and the Aldyn all skip it. So do Manhattan House, Trump Place and 20 Pine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere had to be someone who started it,\u201d Alpern said. \u201cMaybe a landlord discovered that people wouldn\u2019t rent an apartment on the 13th floor. So he cut it out. Then a second landlord copied him, and eventually it just became a custom \u2014 sort of like putting two potted evergreens by the front door or using a green awning. It\u2019s one of those New York things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Historically, this wasn\u2019t always possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, first, enough buildings had to get up to 13 stories before this could become a significant issue,\u201d Sam Hightower, director at the Office for Metropolitan History, told The Post. \u201cIn 1900, only two new building permits were filed for structures 13 stories or higher. In 1910, there were 16; in 1915, 28.\u201d<\/p>\n
High-rises that skip the 13th floor are far more common than you may think. lucasinacio.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Once buildings stretched high enough, the pressure to skip 13 wasn\u2019t far behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of Buildings didn\u2019t care about superstition. The 13th floors are labeled as such on architectural plans. But rental designations that omit the 13th floor can complicate matters. I was a mathlete and I still have to draw a diagram to keep it straight sometimes,\u201d Hightower said.<\/p>\n
The practice causes headaches not just for researchers, but sometimes for emergency responders or delivery services, who might struggle to reconcile the building\u2019s floor count with the elevator labels. In 2015, the Canadian city of Vancouver banned the practice altogether to avoid such confusion.<\/p>\n
For historians, it\u2019s simply annoying.<\/p>\n
\u201cEntirely superstition. Very frustrating for the historian,\u201d Professor Andrew Dolkart, who teaches historic preservation at Columbia University, told The Post. \u201cI count the number of floors in a building and it often differs from the official number because I count 13 and the building often does not.\u201d<\/p>\n
One Madison, located on 23rd Street across from Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District, has no 13th floor. Tupungato \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
The origin of the fear remains debated.<\/p>\n
Many point to Judas being the 13th guest at the Last Supper. Others cite Norse mythology or Hinduism.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that people have so much anxiety, like in general, about undertaking anything that might be considered bad luck with a real estate investment, that adding a single thing to that fear pile is never worth it,\u201d said Blumstein.<\/p>\n
Critics say skipping 13 can confuse emergency responders, but the fear of spooking buyers still wins out. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n
In truth, whether or not the number 13 appears in an elevator rarely impacts a deal. But why risk it at all?<\/p>\n
As one broker noted, even a whiff of unease might be enough to sink a sale.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople still see it as bad luck,\u201d Urban Pads agent Sam Hellinger once told StreetEasy, recalling a client who chose a second-floor unit over a 13th-floor listing with a better view.<\/p>\n
That lingering anxiety may sound foolish \u2014 but in a city where square footage can cost $2,000 a foot, developers aren\u2019t gambling on numerology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the whole thing\u2019s quite silly,\u201d Alpern said. \u201cBut from the landlord\u2019s point of view, it\u2019s very real. If he loses any potential renters, that could cost him money and he doesn\u2019t want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Superstition may be irrational \u2014 but in New York City, it\u2019s a bit of a tradition. Just ask…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":328880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,11096,2513,1121,38260,41310,2556,7642,6335,17810,133221,5418,5249,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,4329,10204,67,586,132,5230,163531,163532,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-328879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-apartments","10":"tag-architecture","11":"tag-brooklyn","12":"tag-co-ops","13":"tag-condos","14":"tag-development","15":"tag-elevators","16":"tag-exclusive","17":"tag-halloween","18":"tag-haunted-houses","19":"tag-luxury-real-estate","20":"tag-manhattan","21":"tag-new-york","22":"tag-new-york-city","23":"tag-newyork","24":"tag-newyorkcity","25":"tag-ny","26":"tag-nyc","27":"tag-real-estate","28":"tag-residential-real-estate","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-united-states-of-america","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","33":"tag-urban-legends","34":"tag-urban-nightmares","35":"tag-us","36":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115428651548183713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}