Shouldn’t Do This, but…

Any chance that you are in a 2 or 3 family house and are renting a created apartment? 
 

That would explain a common fuse box/ breaker panel in the basement and not one in your apartment.  
 

Lotsa luck with this one.  Good chance these were home done renovations without permits.  
 

Rich 

@rar1 The houses are Victorian. Twelve foot ceilings. Possibility they are knob and tube wiring as my previous apartment was wired this way when built in 1887.

Wow.  I would double down on my bet on electrical work either done by the owner or by some neighborhood guy.  Most electricians would either pull out the knob & tube wiring or disconnect it.  Doubt there were permits, if work were done.

No reason to aggravate your landlord any further with mentions of code.  He knows what he has.  Work with what you have, use well grounded power strips, be safe.  Furman and Tripp make some nice ones.

I could go on about a 100 year old two bedroom apartment I rented out 20 years ago.  One outlet per room.  A four fuse, fuse box.  Replete with dumbwaiter.  

So everything is all plaster & lathe, as well?

Rich 

It might be nice and perhaps of some comfort to know how many breakers are consigned to your 'unit' and their amperage.

One scenario we dealt with was the house we bought while in Houston.
2B-1Bth, a living room between the kit/dine with the previous outdoor 'porch' infilled to create a 2nd living room adjacent to the exist. living room that allowed for a fireplace.  Doing some reno to merge the 2 living rooms into one and connect the kitch and dine....

,,,,the entire house had a 'loop ground' for the 2 wire service...black hot+white grnd, and No green common ground.

All 2 prong plugs, water heater next to the 100 amp fuse box...knob and tube era stuff...

That got reno'd First.  The water heater (gas) got moved to the bed/bath side of the house was next...

Adventures in Renovationland...😏