1155 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1155 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This very attractive apartment house at 1155 Park Avenue on the southeast corner at 92^nd Street is in a prime Carnegie Hill location across the avenue from the very handsome Brick Presbyterian Church and just up from the large Louise Nevelson sculpture in the middle of the avenue near the crest of Carnegie Hill.

Erected in 1915, this 13-story building was converted to a cooperative in 1979 and has 50 apartments.

The building was designed for Bing & Bing by Robert T. Lyons, who also designed 955 and 993 Park Avenue. According to the Carnegie Hill Architectural Guide published by Carnegie Hill Neighbors, “set-back penthouses were added by Emery Roth in 1915 and 1922."

Bottom Line

An early and very handsome pre-war with large apartments and a canopied entrance across the avenue from the lovely Brick Presbyterian Church.

Description

This building has very attractive apartments with large rooms and an inner courtyard measuring 34 by 32 feet.

It has a two-story rusticated limestone base with a canopied entrance beneath a bandcourse.  There are also bandcourses beneath the 11^th floor and the 14^th floors. The roofline has no cornice but two gently curved “bumps” at the north and south ends on the avenue.

The center windows on the avenue on the 13^th floor are slightly arched and the avenue frontage has quoins in two bays at both the north and south ends, which add considerable elegance to the design.

Amenities

The building has a doorman, a gym, storage and a bicycle room, but no garage, no health club and no balconies.

Apartments

Apartment 12SE is a five-bedroom duplex  with a 20-foot-long entrance gallery on the 12^th floor that leads to a 27-footwide living room that opens onto a 21-foot-wide dining room that opens onto  a 21-foot-long breakfast with a staircase and a 16-foot-long kitchen.  The 12^th floor also contains a 17-foot-long library and a 18-foot-long master bedroom.  The 11^th floor contains four bedrooms, a 24-foot-long entertainment room, and two staff rooms.

Apartment 7SW is a five-bedroom unit with a 21-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 25-foot-long living room with a fireplace that opens onto a 24-foot-wide dining room across from a pantry and a 19-footlong kitchen and a 13-foot-staff/laundry area.

Apartment 6NE is a three-bedroom unit that has a 14-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 15-foot-wide library in one direction and a 21-foot-long living room in the other that opens onto a 22-foot-loong dining room next to two staff rooms and a 13-foot-wide kitchen.

Apartment 10NW is a four-bedroom unit that has a 30-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 19-foot-long living room with fireplace that opens onto a 19-foot-wide library and a 14-foot-long dining room near a pantry and a eat-in 26-foot-long eat-in kitchen. The master bedroom has a 12-foot-long dressing room and the apartment also has a 12-foot-long staff room.

History

In his fine book, "Park Avenue, Street of Dreams," (Atheneum, 1990), James Trager notes that Bing & Bing had acquired two three-story buildings at 109 and 111 East 91st Street as "light-protectors" for its new building and eventually those buildings were resold with restrictions and razed and replaced by a thirty-foot-wide house designed by S. Edson Gage for I. Townsend Burden.

Location

The neighborhood here is one of the most desirable in the city with many fine schools and cultural institutions.