1016 Fifth Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1016 Fifth Avenue by Carter Horsley

This very elegant, 15-story, pre-war apartment house at 1016 Fifth Avenue on the southeast corner at 83^rd Street is clad with pale beige brick above a four-story, rusticated limestone base. 

Its sidestreet façade is particularly handsome and well designed with a very impressive entrance and sidewalk landscaping. 

The building has 56 large apartments and was completed in 1926. 

It was designed by John B. Peterkin, who was best known for his very fine Art Deco-style Airlines Terminal Building of 1940 on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 42nd Street that was subsequently replaced by the headquarters building of Philip Morris. 

It was developed by Albert and Irving Sokolski, whose other buildings in Manhattan included 1136 Fifth Avenue, 29 East 64^th Street, 300 Riverside Drive and the Alrae Hotel at 37 East 64^th Street. 

Bottom Line

This building is one of the most nicely detailed pre-war apartment houses on the avenue with a very lovely entrance and lobby.

Description

The building has handsome decorative balconies on the fifth floor, rustication on some of the 14^th floor window surrounds and large pilasters between 2^nd and 4^th floors. 

This building, which has three arched windows on the third floor facing the avenue, has a prime and relatively quiet location along the avenue's "Museum Mile" across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Surprisingly, the building's rooftop watertank is not enclosed. 

An article in the January 20, 1999 edition of The New York Times noted that the penthouse windows “have been singled out for a Certificate of Appreciation for Unseen Excellence by the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts.’  The article quoted James Scott Weaver, the architect for the new window work at the time as describing the existing windows before the work began as “nasty, 70’s, retrofitted French doors, with big single planes of glass, very think and clunky.” 

The article said that “the doors, of glass and mahogany, have been redone in a ‘Georgian fanlight’ style’ and that “the mullions are three-quarters of an inch thick, instead of the usual one inch.” 

“Such details,” the article continued, “lend character to a historic district, said Jane Cowan, the preservation group’s executive director – especially since people facing the park usually favor modern, single-paned windows.” 

The building has a stringcourse above the 14^th floor, and large bandcourses above the 4^th and 12^th floors, a broad ornamental balcony on the sidestreet façade and an very articulated cornice. 

It has inconsistent fenestration and some protruding window air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a 24-hour doorman, an elevator operator and a fitness center. 

It is pet friendly.

Apartments

Apartment 4C is a two-bedroom unit that has a 10-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 25-foot-long living room with a fireplace and a 16-foot-wide formal dining room next to an 11-foot long butler’s panty and a 17-foot-long windowed kitchen with a 8-foot-long windowed breakfast room.  The apartment also has a 12-foot-long staff room. 

Apartment 15A is a two-bedroom unit that has a 27-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 19-foot-library and a 29-foot-long  living room with a fireplace and a 25-foot-long, enclosed dining room next to a 14-foot-long pantry, a 14-foot-long staff room and a 18-foot-long kitchen.  

Apartment 5A is a two-bedroom unit with a curved entry foyer that is 11-feet in diameter and leads to a 18-foot-long library, a 22-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 1 5-foot-long media room, and a 21-foot-long dining room next to a 13-foot-long pantry and a 16-foot-long kitchen, a 16-foot-long staff room and a 13-foot-long office/laundry. 

Apartment 7B is a two-bedroom unit with a 16-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 27-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 19-foot-long enclosed dining room, a kitchen that is 24 feet long and then has a 16-foot wide wing and a 6-foot-wide pantry.  There are two 12-foot-long staff rooms.