This very handsome, 16-story cooperative apartment building was designed by Emery Roth in 1929 and occupies a very prime location in the Carl Schurz Park/Gracie Square neighborhood.

It is the easternmost apartment building on 86th Street. It is across 86th Street from the very attractive townhouses of Henderson Place.

It is across East End Avenue from the main entrance to Carl Schurz Park. It is just to the north of 120 East End Avenue, the most elegant building on the avenue.

The building is notable for its symmetrical facade facing the park and the East River, its double bandcourses above the second floor, its double piers on the top three floors at the corners, its nicely sculpted watertank enclosure, its two-story entrance surround and, most particularly, its awnings above the center two window bays above the entrance. In pre-air-conditioning days, many luxury apartment buildings employed window awnings to reduce heat loads from the summer sun, but since the invention of air-conditioning units most such awnings have disappeared. They remain here, although they are rolled up above the windows.

The building, which is also known as 552 East 86th Street, has 48 apartments.

In 1931, Irving Berlin, the songwriter, moved into this building's penthouse.

The building has a canopied entrance, a doorman and very attractive entrance doors. It has discrete air-conditioners.

Although the neighborhood is relatively inconvenient for public transportation, its devotees swear by the very pleasant park and the celebrated nearby schools such as Brearley and Chapin.