Apple Bank Building vs. The Apthorp: Two Historic Condo Conversions on the Upper West Side

Apple Bank Building at 2112 Broadway
If you like to set yourself apart from the crowd, the eight-story Apple Bank Building will be the apple of your eye from the eight-foot mahogany doors that mark the entrance to your home to the separate “pet showering area” for your four-legged companion.

Built in 1928 as the Central Savings Bank, this landmarked building was designed in an Italian Renaissance Palazzo style. Its top four floors were converted from offices to 29 residential condominium apartments in 2006. The building’s gym is housed in the massive vault of the former bank below. Each apartment has a different layout, all designed by SLCE Architects.

An available three-bedroom unit, priced at $6,750,000, has enough space at 3,017 square feet for a dressing room and a two-person office, in addition to three oversized bedrooms and several rooms for living, dining and entertaining.

The Apthorp at 2211 Broadway (390 West End Avenue)
If “The bigger, the better.” is your motto, this big-shouldered residence should more than fit the bill. Occupying a full block of the Upper West Side, the historic, landmarked Apthorp with its Italian Renaissance Revival architecture and private courtyard drive has been called the “handsomest, full-block courtyard building on the Upper West Side.” Designed in 1908 and built by William Waldorf Astor, it was, at the time, the most ambitious residential apartment project ever undertaken.

The Apthorp has not one, but four, lobbies that lead to the building’s 160 residences. Modeled after the Pitti Palace in Florence, the building’s iconic iron gates open to the east and west side of an expansive landscaped courtyard. The Apthorp doesn’t have a pet shower, but it does offer a full-service garage, a roof deck and a doorman in each of those four lobbies, in addition to a spa and a fitness center. A new, 6,500-square-foot “amenity suite” will include a top-of-the-line fitness center, entertainment rooms and a playroom.

The 3,069-square-foot three-bedroom unit currently on the market for $6,750,000 begins with a grand entry hall and contains three fireplaces, formal living and dining rooms and a library, as well as a state-of-the-art modern kitchen. There are also plenty of unique details like original herringbone wood floors, hand-cut mosaic tile entry foyers and hand-crafted ceiling moldings.