993 Fifth Avenue

Overview of 993 Fifth Avenue

993 Fifth Avenue stands as one of Manhattan's most distinguished prewar cooperatives, designed by renowned architect Emery Roth in 1930. This 19-story Italian Renaissance-style building features a striking limestone façade with elaborate architectural details, including a three-story rusticated base, ornate window surrounds, and a distinctive top with balustraded rooflines and decorative finials. The building contains only 17 apartments, making it exceptionally exclusive even by Fifth Avenue standards. Its impressive three-and-a-half-story decorative entrance leads to a handsome dark wood-paneled lobby that sets the tone for the building's refined character.

Perfectly positioned between 80th and 81st Streets, the building sits directly across from Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the museum's grand staircase entrance just one-and-a-half blocks north. Residents enjoy proximity to the Guggenheim, Neue Galerie, high-end shopping, and fine dining along the Museum Mile. The building offers full-service amenities including a 24-hour doorman, attended elevator, live-in resident manager, private storage rooms, and a fitness center. Pied-à-terres are welcome, though no financing is permitted and there's a 2.75% flip tax paid by purchasers.

The apartments at 993 Fifth Avenue are notable for their grand scale and classic prewar details. Many units occupy entire floors, with some spanning approximately 5,000 square feet and featuring private elevator landings. Most apartments include multiple wood-burning fireplaces, high ceilings exceeding 10 feet, herringbone floors, and expansive entrance galleries measuring up to 27 feet long. The layouts typically feature generous living rooms (some reaching 52 feet), formal dining rooms, libraries, and multiple bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. Kitchens are often eat-in style with adjacent pantries, and many units include staff rooms and laundry facilities.

The building has attracted notable residents throughout its history, including Broadway legend George M. Cohan, the "Yankee Doodle Dandy" song and dance man. Other prominent residents have included Arthur Altschul, a former Goldman Sachs partner and major art collector who owned a 12-room apartment on the 12th floor; Roy R. Neuberger, another prominent art collector; and Howard Rubenstein, the famous public relations consultant. The building replaced the ornate 1887 mansion of Louis Stern, founder of Stern Brothers dry goods store.

Architectural historian Steven Ruttenbaum praised the building's "lavishly executed" exterior styling, noting the entrance flanked by two-story pilasters and crowned with grand cartouches, classical balustrades, and ornate window surrounds with broken pediments. The building permits protruding window air-conditioners, unusual for such a prestigious address, and features sidewalk landscaping. Located in a landmarked historic district, 993 Fifth Avenue represents the pinnacle of prewar cooperative living, combining Emery Roth's masterful design with an unparalleled location and the ultimate in privacy and service.