969 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 969 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This large and handsome pre-war apartment building at 969 Park Avenue on the northeast corner at 82^nd Street is nicely modulated by numerous stringcourses.

It was erected in 1912 and converted to a condominium in 1958.

The 13-story building has 76 apartments.

It was designed by Pickering & Walker and remodeled in 1941 by Emery Roth and S. R. Bishop. In the remodeling, the original 36 suites of nine to twelve rooms were converted to 76 suites of three, four, five and six rooms and there are also three penthouse apartments, two having four rooms and one having seven rooms.

Bottom Line

A large, pre-war apartment building with evenly spaced windows two blocks to the east of the main entrance of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one block east of P.S. 6.

Description

According to “Park Avenue, Street of Dreams,” a fine book by James Trager, the building has “a forbidding flight of stairs in the lobby,” adding that “even in 1912…, 969 was not the most posh of Park Avenue buildings.”

The building, which has a light-beige brick façade above a one-story granite base with granite window reveals, has a nicely rusticated base, a protruding and arched one-and-half-story limestone entrance that has two steps up into the five-step-up lobby.

The entrance is flanked by lanterns and the building, which has sidewalk landscaping, has a large, attractive cornice and six stringcourses.

Beginning around 2012, the building began a beautification program that included new sidewalks and tree beds, new elevators, new hallways, a new lobby and a conversion to gas heat.

In addition, it became to replace window air-conditioners upon the sale of apartments.

Amenities

The building has a 24-hour doorman, elevator operators, a live-in superintendent, a landscaped roof deck and a gym, but no garage.

Apartments

Penthouse B is a two-bedroom unit with a 12-foot-long entrance foyer that leads past a 9-foot-wide dining area next to an 11-foot-long, windowed kitchen to a 25-foot-long living room with a wood-burning fireplace.

Apartment 9D is a two-bedroom unit with a 12-foot-long entrance gallery that opens onto a 20-foot-square living room with a fireplace and a dining alcove next to a 12-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 2D is a two-bedroom unit with a 12-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long living room with a wood-burning fireplace and a 13-foot-long open dining area next to a 13-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 10E is a two-bedroom unit with a 17-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 23-foot-long living/dining room next to a 10-foot-long kitchen.

History

According to a November 23, 1941 article in The New York Times, “the alterations included new stairs from basement to the roof, the installation of an incinerator and oil burner in place of the coal-burning plant, terrazzo flooring in public halls, replacing the two-story granite façade with one of marble design only one story high, and new bronze entrance doors.”

“The lobby,” the article continued, was “completely renovated, represented the appearance of an old Louisiana garden with wrought-iron gates and fountain decorated by W. & J. Sloane.”

Location

The building is close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue and there are several schools and religious institutions in the area. There is good cross-town bus service on 79th Street.