2006 New York Code - Alcoves.

 
    § 32. Alcoves. 1. Every alcove, except a lawful cooking space, opening
  from  any  room in any multiple dwelling erected after April eighteenth,
  nineteen hundred twenty-nine, shall be separately lighted and ventilated
  as provided for other rooms in section thirty. It  shall  have  a  floor
  area of at least seventy square feet, a least horizontal dimension of at
  least  seven feet and an opening at least sixty square feet in area into
  the room which it adjoins.
    2. Except for cubicles permitted in lodging houses,  no  part  of  any
  room  in  any multiple dwelling erected after April eighteenth, nineteen
  hundred twenty-nine, shall be enclosed or subdivided at any time, wholly
  or in part, by a curtain, portiere, fixed or movable partition or  other
  contrivance  or  device, unless each such enclosure or subdivision shall
  contain a separate window as required for a room by section thirty and a
  floor space of at least seventy square feet.