railroad flat

noun

1. an apartment whose series of narrow rooms forms a more or less straight line.

Word History and Origins

Origin of railroad flat¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

That’s in part because Gelb, who has asthma, is loath to leave his East Village railroad flat or otherwise take risks with the coronavirus.

From New York Times

In New York, it’s the studio apartment — and its grittier cousin, the tenement railroad flat — that has sheltered generations of strivers and makers.

From New York Times

Shortly after Howe was born, in 1940, her family moved from Buffalo to a railroad flat near Harvard Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

From The New Yorker

In a good week, it’s a living — enough to pay the rent on his railroad flat in Harlem and put food on the table.

From New York Times

If you want blinds, he suggested using a bamboo one from Pearl River Mart, which he hung in his first apartment, a small railroad flat in the East Village.

From Seattle Times