By Carter B. Horsley
Just to the north of the Metropolitan Museum of Art across Fifth Avenue, this is one of the larger pre-war buildings on the avenue in terms of units. Erected in 1926 and converted to a cooperative in 1954, the 16-story building has 78 good-sized apartments.
It was handsomely designed in Italian-Renaissance-palazzo style by J. E. R. Carpenter, the architect also of 810, 907, 920, 950, 988, 1030, 1060, 1115, 1120, 1143, 1165 and 1170 Fifth Avenue among others. It has a very finely detailed, 4-story limestone base, extensive sidewalk landscaping, and an attractive balustraded top. Its canopied entrance leads to a large lobby overlooking a large garden.
It is on the former site of a 7-story building that was known as the Fifth Avenue Apartments. That building, which had a rusticated lower two floors and an arched two-story-high entrance, was considered "startling and unwelcome" when it was erected in 1890, wrote Jerry E. Patterson in his book, "Fifth Avenue, The Best Address," (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1998).
Above its limestone base, this building’s facade is mostly buff-colored brick but the over-all effect fits well and elegantly within the context of its all-limestone neighbors.
The sidestreet here is a busy entrance to the Central Park westbound transverse road at 85th Street so there is considerable traffic. The sidestreet of the building is very nice with a low ledge. Directly across the avenue, a large playground occupies the "island" between the east- and westbound transverse roads through the park. Cross-town bus service, obviously, is very convenient. Two supermarkets are nearby on Madison Avenue.
The building has very impressive sidewalk landscaping, great views, and is across from a limited Fifth Avenue bus stop. It has a doorman and a concierge, but no garage and no health club. It has an exposed rooftop watertank. In 1948, many years in the rear of the building were subdivided by architect Horace Ginsbern.
In 2006, the building's facade was cleaned.