91 Central Park West: Review and Ratings

Review of 91 Central Park West by Carter Horsley

This handsome 17-story apartment building at 91 Central Park West on the north corner at 69^th Street was erected in 1929.

It was converted to a cooperative in 1961 and has 92 apartments.

It was erected by Hugh E. Murray and designed by Schwartz & Gross.

In addition to its great views of Central Park, the building is close to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and many restaurants and stores. It is very convenient to excellent bus service. Subway stations are a few blocks away.

Bottom Line

This attractive pre-war building has a major penthouse once occupied by William Randolph Hearst and some other impressive large apartments and a prime Central Park West location.

Description

The beige-brick building has a two-story, rusticated limestone base and a very attractive roofline punctuated with a multi-story octagonal water-tank and penthouse enclosure and its roofline has some open-pediment window surrounds. The penthouse level and the setback tower have scalloped cornices and the highest one is also peaked.

The building has rope quoins, and sidewalk landscaping.  It permits protruding air-conditioners and has inconsistent fenestration.

It has stringcourses above the second and fourth floors and the two floors above the 13^th floor have two-story high window surrounds with columns in the center of the façade facing the park.

Amenities

The building has a 24-hour doorman, a live-in superintendent, a children’s playroom, an exercise room, storage and a package room. It has no garage.

Apartments

The penthouse duplex has four bedrooms, a 16-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 12-foot-wide gallery that opens into a 31-foot-long living room and a 15-foot-wide dining room and the 13-foot-wide, windowed kitchen.  There is a 1,600-square-foot terrace facing Central Park and a 15-foot-wide terrace in the rear by the kitchen.  The upper level has a 20-foot-wide, octagonal library with a wet bar and a staircase down to the entry foyer. An October 16. 2015 article by Vivian Marino in The New York Times reported that this apartment, which was once occupied by William Randolph Hearst, was bought by John J. Legere, the chief executive of T-Mobile for $18 million and had originally been offered for $27.5 million.

Apartment 12A is a three-bedroom unit with a 17-foot-long gallery that leads to a 25-foot-[long corner living room, a 23-foot-long windowed dining room, a 13-foot-wide pantry, a 14-foot-long, windowed kitchen and two servant’s rooms.

Apartment 15B is a two-bedroom unit with a 26-foot-long central hall that leads to a 27-foot-wide living room with a fireplace that opens to a 13-foot-long dining room that is next to the 8-foot-wide pantry and the 16-foot-wide windowed kitchen.  The unit also has a 15-foot-long, windowed, corner office.