1125 Fifth Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1125 Fifth Avenue by Carter Horsley

This elegant apartment building at 1125 Fifth Avenue on the southeast corner of 94th Street was erected in 1925 by Samuel Minskoff of the Sammis Holding Corporation. 

It was designed in Neo-Renaissance style by Emery Roth, whose other residential buildings on the avenue include 875, 993 and 1133. 

Mr. Minskoff originally was a plumber from Russia, and his sons, Henry, Jerome and Myron, headed Sam Minskoff & Sons whose other residential buildings included the Brevoort on Lower Fifth Avenue, 710 Park Avenue and 1 East 66th Street and such office buildings are 1 Astor Plaza on Times Square, and the MGM building in West 55th Street. 

This 14-story building contains mostly full-floor apartments and is in the Carnegie Hill Historic District.  

It was converted to a co-operative in 1951.  

Bottom Line

This elegant, 14-story apartment house has only one apartment per floor and is one of the most attractive in the very desirable and pleasant Carnegie Hill neighborhood.

Description

The building has a three-story, rusticated limestone base with lush landscaping and the top floor is also faced with limestone. 

The central fourth-story window on the Fifth Avenue façade is distinguished by an elaborately carved stone surround and a projecting, stone pseudo-balcony. 

The main entrance, on Fifth Avenue, is set in an embellished stone surround of pilasters supporting a broken pediment framing a window. 

Above the molded cornice of the base rise large, stone pilasters which are applied to the corners of the brick façade. 

Stringcourses span the façades above the eleventh and thirteenth stories. 

The  fourteenth-story bays are flanked by decorative panels, above which rises the balustered cornice. The penthouse is topped by a cornice with bold cartouches. 

Some of the original six-over-six double-hung wood sash windows survive. 

The building has a very attractive lobby. 

The building's handsome watertank enclosure has Italian Renaissance-style window surrounds and arched designs in brick on its façades. 

Amenities

The building has a doorman, a very handsome lobby, a gym, storage and fireplaces, but no garage.

Apartments

The four-bedroom penthouse was acquired by Bette Midler, the singer.  It has wood-burning fireplaces in the 27-foot-long living room and the 23-foot-long master bedroom.  The dining room is 20-foot-long and adjacent to the 17-foot-long kitchen that opens onto a 19-foot-long breakfast room.  The apartment also has a 15-foot-wide gallery and a 19-foot-long library and a 13-foot-long staff room.