A jr 1 bedroom apartment, also referred to as simply a junior 1, is a studio apartment with an additional space that is walled off and typically used as a sleeping area. This additional room often does not have a window or is otherwise too small to be considered a legal bedroom in NYC.
A junior 1 bedroom is not to be confused with an alcove studio, which is a L shaped studio with a small sleeping area or nook that is open to the main area.
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As you can see from the sample junior one bedroom floor plan we’ve included below, the sleeping area is walled off from the main studio living area.
However, because it does not have a window, it is not considered to be a legal bedroom per New York City building codes.
Keep in mind that more bedrooms doesn’t always mean a better or bigger apartment. Many of the most desirable neighborhoods such as the West Village or Soho in New York are known for having large, open floorplan lofts with very high ceilings.
In this example we used for a C line apartment at the Gansevoort Condominium in the Meatpacking District, you’d get soaring 13 foot ceilings and a wide open space if the dividing wall wasn’t there.
However, dividing up the studio space like this into a jr 1 bedroom apartment makes a lot of sense for most unit owners, as evidenced by the floorplans of the majority of the C line units in our example building.
After all, who wouldn’t want to be able to close the door to their bedroom when guests are over, or when hosting a small gathering for friends or a dinner party?
For open layout studio apartments with a separate space that can be divided with a wall that meets the dimensions for a legal NYC bedroom, then a good broker would put up two floorplans for the property, one as it stands and one with a hypothetical dividing wall put in, and market it as a 1 bedroom apartment.
If the sleeping area does not meet the requirements for a legal NYC bedroom, then it would be considered an alcove studio if a wall isn’t in place, or a jr 1 bedroom if a wall is in place.
Without any dividing wall in place, the apartment can only be considered a studio or an alcove studio depending on the shape.
While both would be correct, some brokers might prefer not to use the term alcove studio to describe an apartment as the sleeping area in an alcove studio is typically smaller than a legal bedroom.
Keep in mind that many public search websites don’t have property types as niche as a junior 1 or a junior 4 apartment. Therefore, even if you have an alcove studio or a jr 1 bedroom you might be forced to choose either studio or 1 bed as the property type.
