888 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 888 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This large and very handsome apartment building at 888 Park Avenue on the northwest corner at 78^th Street was erected in 1926 and converted to a cooperative in 1953.

The 14-story building has 48 apartments.

It was designed by Schwartz & Gross, whose other buildings on the avenue include 470, 525, 885, 910, 911, 930, 941, 970, 983, 1045, 1070, 1095, 1125 and 1165.

It was built by Julius Tishman & Sons.

Bottom Line

A very handsome pre-war with a very grand and long lobby in a prime location.

Description

The richly decorated, red-brick façade with rope quoins and an interesting cornice is one of the most attractive on the avenue. The building has a two-story limestone base and a very deep and impressive lobby and a canopied entrance.

It has a bandcourse above the third story and stringcourses above the 6^th, 9^th and 12^th stories and the top two floors have window surrounds. 

The building’s avenue frontage is notable for its two three-window bays, each with four stone piers that give the façade a rigorous and rhythmic verticality, reinforced by its corner quoins.

The building has an attractive rooftop watertank enclosure but no sidewalk landscaping, inconsistent fenestration and some protruding  air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a doorman.

Apartments

Apartment 10C is a four-bedroom unit with a 29-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 28-foot-wide living room with fireplace that connects to a 20-foot-wide library across from a 19-foott-lwide dining room next to a 13-foot-long pantry and a 16-foot-long kitchen with an 11-foot-wide dining alcove and two maid’s rooms.

Apartment 5C is three-bedroom unit with a 10-foot-long, curved entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long gallery that leads to a 28-foot-long living room with fireplace, a 19-foot-long library and a 19-foot-long dining room next to a 24-foot-long kitchen, a 14-foot-study, and a 9-foot-long staff room.

Apartment 4A is a four-bedroom unit that has a 24-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 30-foot-long living room with a fireplace and a 21-foot-long dining room next to a 14-foot-long pantry and an 18-foot-long kitchen and four maid’s rooms.

Apartment 7C is a three-bedroom unit  with a very long and large entry foyer that leads to a 28-foot-long  living room with fireplace that connects to a 15-foot-long library near a 16-foot-long dining room next to a pantry and a 14-foot-long breakfast area and kitchen and laundry and maid’s room.  The master bedroom has a 17-foot-long sitting room and the apartment also has a 17-foot-long study.

History

A September 5, 1942 article in The New York Times noted that Lieut. T. Suffern Tailer leased a penthouse in the building.

The  December 26, 1928  edition of The Times carried  an obituary on T. Suffern Tailer that noted that he was a “social and civic leader  of Newport, R.I., and widely known in both social and business circles in New York .”

It noted that he was “connected with the firm of Tailer & Co., New York bankers, and made his home during the Fall and Winter seasons at the Plaza Hotel in New York.”  “He was a particular devotee of coaching and, in earlier life, was well known as a tennis player.  He at one time held an indoor tennis championship.  In his efforts to popularize golf in New Port he established the Gold Mashie tournament, which annually attracts some of the country’s best players.  Among his other contributions to Newport was a polo field, which he built there some years ago,” the article continued, adding that his first marriage was to Maude Lorillard, daughter of the late Pierre Lorillard.

It said his survivors included a sister, Mrs. C. Whitney Carpenter, who had a son, Earl E. T. Smith, who married Consuelo Vanderbilt. It also said that one of his ancestors was an original incorporator of Harvard College. One his sons, T. Suffern Tailer Jr., married the daughter of George F. Baker, a leader of the predecessor of CitiBank.

A July 9, 1938 article in The Times noted that “Mr. and Mrs. T. Suffern Tailer were  hosts…at a dinner  in the gardens of their  home in the Lattingtown colony adjoined the Creek Club in honor of Mrs. Tailer’s brother, George F. Baker Jr., and Mrs. Frances  Drexel Munn.”  Guests included Mr. and Mrs. John M. Schiff, Mr. and Mrs. Angier Biddle Duke and Mr. and Mrs. Elbridge T. Gerry.”

A January 8, 1900 article in The Times noted that the Tailers were guests at a dance at Sherry’s given by Mrs. John R. Drexel in honor of her niece, Miss Ellen Drexel Paul.  Among the guests who supped on terrapin, hominy croquettes, duck and Moet & Chandon Imperial Brut, were Mrs. Pierpont Morgan, Mr. and Mrs. Stanford White, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Oelrichs, Mr. and Mrs. Bayard Cutting, Mr. and Mrs. Elbridge T. Gerry, Mr. and Mrs. Ogden Mills, Mrs. Orme Wilson, Mrs. and Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Harriman Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Townsend Burden and Mrs. Levi P. Morton.

Location

It is a block north of Lenox Hill Hospital across the avenue. It is also close to many boutiques and art galleries along Madison Avenue as well as many restaurants and cultural institutions in the area. A local subway station on Lexington Avenue at 77th Street. Cross-town buses run on 79th Street.