Look at most major skylines in America. There are scores of residential buildings recently completed or in the process of being finished. In some cities, like New York, they have become among the tallest buildings of any kind. These buildings offer smart apartments that have features like remote temperature controls, broadband wiring, energy-efficient lights and appliances, and security built around motion directors and cameras. For the most part, they are cheaper to heat and cool. Their large windows offer sweeping views of the places they are located, and sometimes beyond them.

Residential districts in many American cities still have many old buildings. Some are over 100 years old but continue to be infrastructurally sound and still make their owners money. They may be more expensive to maintain than newer buildings, but their construction was paid for decades ago.

RentCafe recently issued results of a study on the oldest apartment buildings in the United States that are still occupied by renters.

Longevity of buildings depends in part on the original construction. Kurt Walker, a real estate investor and real estate agent for Cream City Home Buyers, commented:

A building’s endurance and durability can be attributed to the materials used back in the day. Raw materials used to cost a fraction of what they do today. Materials can make a building last more, but they can also cause a structure to whither.

The RentCafe study found that the 20 oldest rental buildings in the country are at least 135 years old. The authors also looked at the average age of old buildings by city. These were defined as rental buildings opened before 1950. The city with the oldest average age was Boston, followed by Minneapolis, Springfield, Cincinnati, San Francisco and Manhattan.

The oldest building overall is The Pendleton in Cincinnati. It was built in 1850. It has only 78 apartments and covers about 55,000 square feet.

These are the 20 oldest apartment buildings in America:

Building	City	Built
Pendleton	Cincinnati, Ohio	1850
Cambridge Oxford	New Haven, Conn.	1860
Anthony Mill	Coventry, R.I.	1868
SilverBrick Lofts	Springfield, Mass.	1870
St. Martin’s Manor	New Orleans, La.	1872
234-238 East 33rd Street	Manhattan, N.Y.	1880
307-309 Mott Street	Manhattan, N.Y.	1880
9 Sewall Avenue	Boston, Mass.	1880
Euclid Block Apartments	Cleveland, Ohio	1880
Francis John	Buffalo, N.Y.	1880
Liberty View	Philadelphia, Pa.	1880
Malvern	Cincinnati, Ohio	1880
Massachusetts Avenue	Cambridge, Mass.	1880
The Massee	Macon, Ga.	1880
Northern Heights	Springfield, Mass.	1880
Phoenix	Holyoke, Mass.	1880
Wellington Community	Worcester, Mass.	1880
Bourne Mill	Tiverton, R.I.	1881
Newark YMCA	Newark, N.J.	1881
Stockbridge Court	Springfield, Mass.	1884

Click here to see which cities have the oldest homes.

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