1140 Fifth Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1140 Fifth Avenue by Carter Horsley

This very elegant, pre-war, 15-story apartment building at 1140 Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner at 95^th Street was built and designed by Frederick Filmore French in 1922.

Mr. French’s other major projects in the city include Tudor City at the eastern end of 42^nd Street, the Fred F. French office building at 551 Fifth Avenue at 44^th Street and 1010 and 1160 Fifth Avenue and 15, 16, 17 and 55 Park Avenue.  He occupied this building’s duplex penthouse initially where he had installed a squash court.

The building was converted to a co-operative in 1972.  It has 43 units.

Bottom Line

This is one of the more distinguished pre-war apartment buildings on Fifth Avenue in Carnegie Hill.

Description

The building has a one-story rusticated limestone base with a canopied side-street entrance and sidewalk landscaping.  The 2^nd through the 4^th floors are limestone and the rest are light tan brick.

Some windows on the 5^th, 12^th and 13^th floors have classically inspired stone surround and the central window groupings on the 12^th and 13^th floors have two-story surrounds with columns supporting arches.

The building has an ornate cornice with modillions.

There are bandcourses above the fourth, 11^th and 13^th floors. 

The building has window and discrete air-conditioners and inconsistent fenestration.

The lobby was decorated by Ralph Lauren.

Amenities

The building has a doorman, a roof deck, a laundry and storage.  It is pet friendly.

Apartments

Most apartments have fireplaces and ceilings are almost 10 feet high.

Apartment 3A is a two-bedroom unit with a 15-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to the 24-foot-wide living room with wood-burning fireplace and the 19-foot-long dining room next to the large kitchen, a 12-foot-long maid’s room and a long service hall.

Apartment 1B is a two-bedroom unit with a 17-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 21-foot-long living room with a fireplace and a 17-foot-long dining room next to the 13-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 14B is a two-bedroom unit with an entry foyer across from the 13-foot-long kitchen, the 10-foot-long dining room, a 16-foot-long den, and the 24-foot-long living room with a fireplace.  The unit also has a 10-foot-long maid’s room.

Apartment 9C is a three-bedroom unit with a 12-foot-wide “dining foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long living room with a fireplace in one direction and a 12-foot-long enclosed and windowed kitchen in the other.

History

Over the years, the building has had some well-known residents including Francis R. Masters, who gave a large tract of land at Copake Falls, in 1924 that became the Taconic Park, whose commission he headed; Carter Burden, the husband of Amanda Burden; Mrs. John Philip Sousa; and Mr. and Mrs. John Jermain Slocum and Mrs. Alan Schumacher, her sister, who was president-general of the Colonial Dames of America and first directress for 12 years of the Home for Aged Indigent Respectable Females of the City of New York.