1170 Fifth Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1170 Fifth Avenue by Carter Horsley

This very attractive apartment building at 1170 Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner at 98th Street was designed by J. E. R. Carpenter, the foremost architect of luxury residential buildings in the city of his generation.

His other buildings on Fifth Avenue include 810, 825, 907, 920, 950, 988, 1030, 1035, 1060, 1115, 1120, 1143, 1150 and 1165 as well as 2 East 66th Street.

Erected in 1926 as a cooperative, the 16-story building has 61 apartments. It is almost a twin of 1165 Fifth Avenue and their entrances face each other across the sidestreet. 1165 Fifth Avenue was built as a cooperative in 1925 and converted to a cooperative in 1947 and has the same number of stories and apartments as 1170.

Bottom Line

An elegant, pre-war apartment building south of Mt. Sinai Hospital and north of the 96^th Street transverse road that is close to several museums and across from Central Park with large apartments.

Description

The brown-brick building has a three-story limestone base with limestone quoins, a bandcourse above the fourth floor and string courses above the 5^th, 8^th and 9^th floors, and the 12th and 13^th floors.

The third floor windows have arched window surrounds set in frames and lunettes above the fifth and 8^th floor windows.

The building has some discrete air-conditioners and inconsistent fenestration.  It has a large entrance marquee on the side-street and sidewalk landscaping.

Amenities

The building has a doorman and a live-in superintendent, a gym, a bicycle room and a laundry and it permits pets.

Apartments

Apartment 6B is a four-bedroom unit with a 22-foot-long entrance gallery that leads in one direction to a 24-foot-long living room with a wood-burning fireplace next to an 18-foot-long library and in the other to a 17-foot-long formal, windowed, dining room next to a 12-foot-long pantry and an 17-foot-long, eat-in kitchen with an 18-foot-long service area and a 11-foot-long staff room and laundry.

Apartment 2B is a four-bedroom unit with a 23-foot-long marble gallery that leads to a 24-foot-long living room with a wood-burning fireplace next to a 19-foot-long library in one direction and a 17-foot-long dining room next to a 17-foot-long kitchen a 10-foot-long breakfast room and a 12-foot-long maid’s room in the other.

Apartment 15C is a two-bedroom unit with a 12-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a  21-foot-long living room with  a fireplace and a 15-foot-long dining room and an 11-foot-wide kitchen and an 11-foot-wide staff/guest room.

Apartment 6C is a one-bedroom unit with a 20-foot-long entrance foyer that leads to a 22-foot-long living room next to a 17-foot-long library and a 13-foot-square bedroom in one direction and a 15-foot-long dining room, an 11-foot-long kitchen and an 11-foot-long office/guest room in the other.

History

Carpenter had built a similar set of "twins" just before this pair at 1115 and 1120 Fifth Avenue at 93rd Street. Needless to say, these "twins" are the epitome of "contextual" architecture and both have very large and handsome wrought-iron marquees above their side-street entrances.

Location

This and 1165 Fifth Avenue are one block north of the westbound Central Park transverse road at 97th Street and a block south of the large "campus" of Mt. Sinai Hospital. They are also quite close to a school and a church and many of the interesting cultural institutions along Fifth Avenue's "Museum Mile."

A local subway station is at 96th Street and Lexington Avenue and a large children's playground is just within Central Park on the south side of 96th Street.