Setback in its own plaza, this rather grandiose but attractive, 22-story, red-brick apartment house was built as a condominium in 1986 with only 33 apartments.

It was designed by Costas Kondylis of Philip Birnbaum Associates.

It has a two-story limestone base with a two-story entrance with two large oculi, or rounded windows, on the second story. The entrance is flanked by lanterns but the midblock building, which has a concierge, numerous balconies and discrete air-conditioners, has no sidewalk landscaping.

The facade is punctuated by arched windows on the fourth floor and a very large arched, double-height window on the top floor.

In their excellent book, "The A. I. A. Guide to New York City, Third Edition" (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), Elliot Willensky and Norval described this as a building "with a pudgy Post Modern plinth that replaced a much beloved Trans-Lux neighborhood movie theater," adding that "Movies are more fun."

With its central Upper East Side location, the building is very convenient to many restaurants and good neighborhood shopping and there is good cross-town bus service, although the nearest subway station is several blocks away. The building is not too far from Sotheby's, the auction house, at York Avenue.

Carter B. Horsley