Rather than living in a three floor apartment building, where there are renters living on each side, above and below your room, some buildings share the design of a house and an apartment. In the image, we see a four family multiple dwelling building.

In essence, there is a complete home with 1st, 2nd, 3rd floor and basement on the far left side. The floorplan is then mirrored at the center of the front porch. Then the pattern is repeated again in dwellings 3 and 4 in the building connected.