Dag Hammarskjold Tower, 240 East 47th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 240 East 47th Street by Carter Horsley

The Dag Hammarskjold Tower at 240 East 47^th Street on the southwest corner of Second Avenue is a 43-story residential condominium tower that was built in 1984. 

It was designed by Gruzen & Partners for the R. H. Sanbar Group, which is based in Britain.

The tower has 133 apartments.

Bottom Line

One of the most handsome towers on Second Avenue and in the United Nations district, this condo is convenient also to Grand Central Terminal and public transportation.

Description

The tower has excellent proportions and a chamfered corner at 47rth street that has a center groove.  

The building has a bronze bust of Dag Hammarskjold, who was Secretary General of the United Nations and also has a large plaza named after him between Second and First Avenues on 47^th Street, at its entrance where there is a very handsome small triangular plaza with several small fountains. 

The building’s façade of preassembled brick panels is horizontal banded and it the light-colored panels and staggered on the top four floors with a black-glass top.  The building’s form is further modeled with two projected bays on the avenue and the 47^th Street that have discrete balconies. 

The overall effect of the design is bespoke as befits a building in a diplomatic area filled with consulates, which is to say that it has the air of a custom-made product for a natty client.  It is a smart and tidy building of considerable distinction. 

The center portion of the tower’s corner at Second Avenue rises somewhat like the prow of a ship and the building was described by Elliot Willensky and Norval White in their wonderful book, “The A. I. A. Guide to New York City Architecture, as “an understated tower with simple, faceted balconies.”

Amenities

The building has a rooftop indoor swimming pool, a children’s playroom, a bicycle room, a fitness center, balconies, basement storage, a garden, a penthouse Skyline lounge for residents and 24-hour concierge service.

Apartments

Apartments have windowed kitchens and bathrooms. 

Apartment 20F is a one-bedroom unit that has a 14-foot-long dining foyer next to a 12-foot-long enclosed kitchen and a 23-foot-long living room with an angled balcony. 

Apartment 16B is a two-bedroom unit that has a 9-foot-wide entrance foyer that leads past an 8-foot-long enclosed kitchen to a 23-foot-wide living/dining room with an alcove bar and an large bay window and an entrance to an angled balcony. 

Apartment D on floors 12 through 41 is a two-bedroom unit with an 11-foot-long entry foyer with an angled 12-foot-long kitchen that opens onto a 32-foot-long living/dining area with a corner bay window and a large balcony. 

Apartment 4C has a 8-foot-long foyer that passes a 14-foot-long angled enclosed kitchen to a 39-foot-long living room with an angled dining area.  There is also a 14-foot-long guest room and a 25-foot-long bedroom with sliding doors to the living room. 

Apartment 3DE has a large foyer next to a 15-foot-long angled enclosed kitchen next to a 20-foot-long living room that opens onto a 22-foot-long 10-sided, asymmetrical dining room.  The apartment also has a laundry, a 15-foot-foot-long home office and three-bedrooms.