1049 Fifth Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1049 Fifth Avenue by Carter Horsley

Despite its address, 1049 Fifth Avenue is not a Fifth Avenue building. 

Incredibly, the Manhattan Borough President's office created this address to the delight of the developers, Jack C. Heller and Duncan Macaulay. 

This condominium apartment building is a renovation of the former Adams Hotel, whose address had been 2 East 86th Street. 

The conversion of this property was started by Gerald Guterman who encountered financial difficulties because of tax law changes in 1986 and then sold it, unfinished, to Jack C. Heller of Heller Macaulay Equities Inc., in 1990 for $38 million. The developer spent an additional $47 million on the renovation and conversion. 

The 23-story building originally had 54 apartments, only 4 of which are smaller than two-bedrooms. That figure has subsequently declined to 45. 

Costas Kondylis Architects designed the conversion. Cullman & Kravis did the interiors.

Bottom Line

The building lies in the Museum Mile area and is just south of the Carnegie Hill neighborhood that is one of the most desirable for families in the city because of its many fine schools, its numerous museums and its pre-war buildings with large apartments.

Description

The beige-brick building was given an elegant new entrance and its lower façade has been redesigned. Some nice gargoyles were kept higher on the façade. 

The building has several terraces and its western façade was significantly altered to provide picture windows for views of Central Park over 1048 Fifth Avenue, a mid-rise, setback building with a black-glass façade. 

It has an extremely handsome curved lobby that is paneled in dark wood. 

Amenities

The building has attended elevators. 

Although this building does not have a health club, pool or a garage, it does have elevator operators, a doorman, a concierge and refrigerator storage for deliveries. It also offers a storage room, a bicycle room, individual climate control, laundry facilities within the apartments and some fireplaces. 

It allows pets.

Apartments

Apartment 6A is a one-bedroom unit that has an entrance gallery that leads to a 20-foot-long living room with an 18-foot-long library alcove and an enclosed, 18-foot-long kitchen. 

Apartment 6B is a three-bedroom unit with a 25-foot-long living room and an enclosed kitchen. 

Apartment 4E is a three-bedroom unit with a 30-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 18-foot-long living room and an 18-foot-long dining room with a large enclosed kitchen. 

Apartment 14B has a 20-foot-long entrance gallery leading to a 28-foot-long living room and a 16-foot-long dining room with an enclosed kitchen and a 15-foot-long breakfast room. There is also a 19-foot-long library and a long gallery that connects to two bedrooms and a master bedroom with a 17-foot-long sitting room. 

Apartment 14A is a three-bedroom unit with a 10-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long corner living room with a wrap-around terrace and a 15-foot-long library. It also features a 14-foot-long dining room next to a 17-foot-long kitchen. A 42-foot-long gallery connects to the three bedrooms, two of which open onto a large wrap-around terrace. 

Penthouse 1 has a 29-foot-long living room that faces Central Park, a 16-foot-long den and an 18-foot-long media room that open on a terrace facing the park. The four-bedroom unit also has a 23-foot-long eat-in kitchen and a 17-foot-square dining room with flanking small terraces and a very long gallery that leads to the bedrooms, one of which has a terrace that faces east. 

History

According to Wikipedia, Heller, “heir to the capital of the of the Foreston Group, a family-owned conglomerate founded in 1906 that was the largest independent coal mining and distribution company” in the country, made a bid to purchase the adjoining mansion on Fifth Avenue but was unsuccessful.  Before this project, he developed a 23-story condominium apartment building, Le Chambord at 350 East 72^nd Street. 

When the apartments were first offered in the fall of 1991 they were priced at $1,200 to $1,500 a square foot, then reportedly the highest ever offered in the city. 

In 1994, the penthouse was acquired by Rush Limbaugh, the radio commentator, for almost $5.4 million. He sold it in July, 2010 for almost $13 million.

Location

The building is adjacent to the east to the very handsome and large mansion designed by Carrère & Hastings in 1914 at 1048 Fifth Avenue that was originally the William Starr Miller residence. It was then the residence of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt and then the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research and is now the Neue Galleries, founded by Serge Sabarsky and Ronald Lauder and specializing in German Expressionist art. 

It is adjacent to the west to the former beige-brick building Croydon Hotel that was converted to rental apartments and occupies the full blockfront between 86^th and 85^th streets on Madison Avenue, where one of its retail tenants is Dean & DeLuca, the food store. 

There is excellent bus service.