1050 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1050 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This nice, red-brick, 14-story apartment building at 1050 Park Avenue on the southwest corner at 87^th Street was erected in 1923 and converted to a cooperative in 1959 with 60 apartments.

It and its “sister” building at 1060 Park Avenue were designed by J. E. R. Carpenter and serve as “book-ends on the western corners of 87^th Street,” according to the “Carnegie Hill Architecture Guide” published by Carnegie Hill Neighbors.

Carpenter's other Park Avenue buildings include 550, 580, 625, 630, 635, 640, 655, 812, 950 and 960 and his buildings on Fifth Avenue include 810, 825, 907, 920, 950, 988, 1030, 1035, 1060, 1115, 1120, 1143, 1150, 1165 and 1170 as well was 2 East 66th Street.

Bottom Line

A pleasant pre-war in Carnegie Hill designed by J. E. R. Carpenter that has good public transportation and is close to a supermarket, churches and a school.

Description

According to the “Carnegie Hill Architectural Guide,” this building “sits on a base of rough marble blocks capped with a band course” and “Italianate urns and swags are the primary decorative motif throughout the building façade.”

“Above the third story,” it continued, “a glazed-terra-cotta frieze is topped with an egg-and-dart molding and a small cornice. Arched surrounds with prominent keystones set off the third-story windows. The unadorned midsection is of red brick, broken at the twelfth story by a band course below and a medallion frieze.”

The entrance on Park Avenue was removed in 2004 with new black-metal-and-glass doors with brass-medallion detailing and carved rough marble and egg-and-dart moldings frame the doors, which are topped with a small cornice supporting an iron balconette, the guide wrote, adding that “Carpenter gives the entrance importance by framing the second-story window with paired stone pilasters that support three rows of header bricks, creating an arch with keystone.”

“The tympanum displays swags cascading from an upright urn.  The grandest treatment is reserved for the final two stories: Brick patterns create double-height arches surrounding windows; spandrels with urns and swags appear beneath.  Arched lintels with a similar motif add large rosettes to top the fourteenth-floor windows.  A brick parapet and stone balustrades finish the building,” according to the guide.

The building has a two-step-up, canopied entrance with no sidewalk landscaping.

It has some protruding air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a doorman, a live-in superintendent and a gym.

Apartments

Apartment 12A is a three-bedroom unit that has a 16-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 28-foot-wide living room with a wood-burning fireplace that connects to a 20-foot-long dining room next to a butler’s pantry and an 18-foot-long kitchen with a 9-foot-long breakfast room and a 12-foot-long maid’s room.

Penthouse B is a two-bedroom unit that has an entry foyer that opens into a 17-foot-long living room with a fireplace that leads to a 13-foot-long dining room next to an 11-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 5C is a three-bedroom unit that has a 13-foot-wide entry foyer that opens onto a 25-foot-long living room with a fireplace and a 22-foot-long dining room across from an open 19-foot-long kitchen and a 13-foot-long maid’s room.

Apartment 14D is a two-bedroom unit that has a 12-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-wide living room that opens onto a 16-foot-square dining room across from a 10-foot-wide office, a 10-foot-square kitchen and a 19-foot-long hall.