Iconic NYC view of Central Park and the Upper West Side skyline
When perusing real estate listings in more established New York neighborhoods, two terms tend to come up often: “New York City landmark” and “historic district.” While the two may sound synonymous, there are some differences buyers should be aware of. As the Landmarks Preservation Commission (“Landmarks”) puts it, “Historic districts are collections of landmark buildings that, together, create a distinct sense of place.” As a result, these parts of New York look very similar to the way they did decades ago. With the exception of ordinary repairs and maintenance, any work on buildings in these areas must be approved by Landmarks. New construction is permitted in historic districts, but Landmarks must determine whether the design is compatible with the neighborhood.
While there is definite overlap between the two, it is important to note that not every building in a historic district is a New York City landmark. That honor goes to individual buildings that have, in Landmarks’ words, “architectural, cultural, or historical significance.” These buildings are typically more than 50 years old, though younger buildings have been designated. In these cases, the buildings must be kept in good repair and cannot be altered in a way that detracts from the special qualities that led to the designation as a landmark. As with historic districts, any alterations or demolitions must be approved by Landmarks.
Hundreds of multi-family residential buildings are designated as individual landmarks or found within the city's expansive historic districts, making living in a piece of New York City history very possible. While much of the recent discussion surrounding real estate is about building tons of new housing, New Yorkers should not forget the importance of living in beautiful, liveable urban environments. Below we look at listings in New York's most elegant landmarked residential buildings.
While there is definite overlap between the two, it is important to note that not every building in a historic district is a New York City landmark. That honor goes to individual buildings that have, in Landmarks’ words, “architectural, cultural, or historical significance.” These buildings are typically more than 50 years old, though younger buildings have been designated. In these cases, the buildings must be kept in good repair and cannot be altered in a way that detracts from the special qualities that led to the designation as a landmark. As with historic districts, any alterations or demolitions must be approved by Landmarks.
Hundreds of multi-family residential buildings are designated as individual landmarks or found within the city's expansive historic districts, making living in a piece of New York City history very possible. While much of the recent discussion surrounding real estate is about building tons of new housing, New Yorkers should not forget the importance of living in beautiful, liveable urban environments. Below we look at listings in New York's most elegant landmarked residential buildings.
In this article:
145 Nassau Street
Built in 1886 | Converted in 1980 | Designated in 1996
Architect: N. G. Starkweather
41 Co-op Units | 11 Floors
"A glorious red terracotta confection of a very ornamental late 19th-century office building overlooking City Hall Park and Park Row with a rounded corner with a turret." - Carter Horsley
The Potter Building, #2D
$2,895,000
Financial District | Cooperative | 2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths | 2,470 ft2
The Potter Building, #2D (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
1 Central Park South
Built in 1907 | Partially converted in 2007 | Designated in 1969
Architect: Henry Janeway Hardenbergh
181 Condo Units | 21 Floors
"For those who enjoy luxury and legend – and being steps from Central Park – The Plaza is simply irresistible. - Carter Horsley
The Plaza, #10070908
$27,000,000 (-18.2%)
Midtown West | Condominium | 4 Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths | 6,084 ft2
The Plaza, #10070908 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
285 Central Park West
Built in 1906 | Designated in 1990
Architect: Robert T. Lyons
56 Units | 12 Floors
"The St. Urban evokes Parisian Beaux-Arts grandeur, but its heft displays a definite New York City eccentricity and a powerful personality. It offers great vistas of Central Park, fireplaces and an abundance of architectural details." - Carter Horsley
The St. Urban, #6N/E (Corcoran Group)
Built in 1907 | Designated in 1998
Architect: Cass Gilbert
410 Rental Units | 23 Floors
No Availabilities
"This architectural masterpiece in Lower Manhattan was designed by Cass Gilbert in 1907, several years before he designed the magnificent Woolworth Building " - Carter Horsley
(CityRealty)
2 Park Place
Built in 1913 | Upper floors converted in 2018 | Landmark designated in 1983
Architect: Cass Gilbert (Thierry W. Despont for 2018 conversion)
33 Condo Units | 60 Floors
"One of the world’s most distinguished and historic skyscrapers, the apartments offer spectacular views in most directions although there are some taller buildings, including the World Trade Center and the Four Seasons Hotel to the west." - Carter Horsley
The Woolworth Tower Residences, #46FL
$9,995,000 (-16.7%)
Tribeca | Condominium | 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths | 3,957 ft2
The Woolworth Tower Residences, #46FL (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Built in 1904 | Converted to condos in 1990 | Designated in 1972
Architect: Paul Duboy
462 Units | 18 Floors
"If you are looking for romance, history, exuberant architecture, convenience, and legends, look no further." - Carter Horsley
115 Central Park West
Built in 1931 | Designated in 1988
Architect: Irwin S. Chanin, Jacques Delamarre
234 Co-op Units | 30 Floors
"Across the street from the Dakota and from Strawberry Fields in Central Park, this very impressive, twin-towered, Art Deco-style apartment building is one of the major landmarks on the Upper West Side. Its apartments have great views and fireplaces." - Carter Horsley
The Majestic, #2F (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
344 West 72nd Street
Built in 1904 | Designated in 1984
Architect: John E. Scharsmith
99 Co-op Units | 13 Floors
"A very ornate and handsome, mid-rise apartment complex at the western end of 72nd Street that provides the anchoring base for the glories of Riverside Drive and its riverfront park." - Carter Horsley
The Chatsworth, #303
$5,400,000 (-6.8%)
Riverside Dr./West End Ave. | Cooperative | 4 Bedrooms, 3 Baths | 2,800 ft2
The Chatsworth, #303 (Levy Carol E)
Built in 2016
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron
145 Condo Units | 60 Floors
"A thoughtful, daring and ultimately dazzling new alternative - the iconic American skyscraper re-envisioned as a pixilated vertical layering of individually sculpted, highly customized, graceful private residences opening to the atmosphere" - 56 Leonard Development Team
56 Leonard Street, #PH53 (Compass)
625 West 57th Street
Built in 2016
Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
709 Rental Units | 41 Floors
VIA 57 West (Durst Organization)
"One suspects that this building is only for expert skiers. With three low corners and a hollowed-out core/courtyard, this building seems poised to lift off and fly away on its own magic carpet. The only negative is that it is not bigger." - Carter Horsley
Built in 1909 | Convered in 1988 | Landmark Designation in 1978
Architect: Hoppin & Koen
55 Co-op Units | 6 Floors
"New York City is full of surprises, but none more startling than this building. While the majestic building does not boast some modern conveniences, it does have some fireplaces, and, most importantly, a grandeur that rivals the best of the long-gone Millionaire's Row mansions of Fifth Avenue." - Carter Horsley
The Police Building, #3DE
$6,300,000 (-18.2%)
NoLiTa/Little Italy | Cooperative | 3 Bedrooms, 3 Baths
The Police Building, #3DE (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
145 Central Park West
Built in 1930 | Landmark designated in 1984
Architect: Emery Roth
136 Co-op Units | 27 Floors
"One of the city’s, and the world’s, greatest residential skyscrapers, the San Remo at 145 Central Park West is the city’s most beautiful apartment building and one of its most prestigious addresses." - Carter Horsley
The San Remo, #4C (Corcoran Group)
Built in 1931 | Converted in 2022 | Landmark designated in 2001
Architect: Ralph T. Walker of Voorhees Gmelin & Walker
566 Condo Units | 50 Floors
"One of the city's greatest Art Deco skyscrapers, 1 Wall Street is notable for its fluted limestone façades and its extremely lavish and colorful interiors. " - Carter Horsley
One Wall Street, #1011 (Compass)
781 Fifth Avenue
Built in 1931 | Converted in 1954 | Landmark designated in 1981
Architect: Schultze & Weaver with Buchman & Gross
165 Co-op Units | 38 Floors
"A strong argument can be made that the Sherry Netherland Hotel is the best building in New York with its magic combination of romance, originality, location, and drama.
Other buildings are larger, taller, more ornate, more complex, and have far more spectacular interiors, but the Sherry Netherland has drop-dead elegance and exoticism that is both flamboyant and reserved." - Carter Horsley
Other buildings are larger, taller, more ornate, more complex, and have far more spectacular interiors, but the Sherry Netherland has drop-dead elegance and exoticism that is both flamboyant and reserved." - Carter Horsley
The Sherry Netherland, #505
$5,875,000
Park/Fifth Ave. to 79th St. | Cooperative | 3 Bedrooms, 4 Baths
The Sherry Netherland, #505 (Sothebys International Realty)
Built in 1902 | Designated in 1974
Architect: James & Leo
60 Units | 12 Floors
The Dorilton
"The Dorilton is an outstanding example of French Beaux-Arts architecture in Manhattan" - Landmarks designation report
The Dorilton, #4DE (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Built in 1908 | Designated in 1966
Architect: Harde & Short
74 Co-op Units | 12 Floors
The Alwyn Court
"Few buildings like this have ever been built; there will never be another" - Landmarks designation report
The Alwyn Court, #2F (Compass)
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Built in 1912 | Designated in 1985
Architect: Raymond F. Almirall
99 Condo Units | 15 Floors
All images of 49 Chambers Street via Douglas Elliman
"The Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank has a special character, special
historical and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage, and cultural characteristics of New York City." - Landmarks designation report
49 Chambers Street, #15H (Corcoran Group)
Built in 2011 | Not yet designated
Architect: Frank O. Gehry
903 Rental Units | 76 Floors
"The building would have been an unquestioned architectural masterpiece if the south façade had continued the crinkling and if the base had continued the stainless-steel cladding. Even so, it is as majestic as its cross-town rival, the great neo-Gothic Woolworth Building" - Carter Horsley
Built in 1926 | Designated in 2002
Architect: Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings
142 Units | 42 Floors
Ritz Tower
"The building's sumptuousness, as well as its location on the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street, one
of the city's most elegant addresses, helped to attract many wealthy and famous residential and
commercial tenants" - Landmarks designation report
Ritz Tower, #409 (Sothebys International Realty)
Built in 1884 | Designated in 1969
Architect: Henry J. Hardenbergh
103 Co-op Units | 10 Floors
All images of The Dakota via Douglas Elliman
"Clearly unique in its architectural character in New York, the Dakota, the city's first luxury apartment house, continues to be a conversation piece." - Landmarks designation report
From the listing:
Grand-scale living at the Dakota. Rare opportunity to own a massive sun flooded meticulously maintained, 4,500-square-foot, 11-room residence with a flexible layout comprised of 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, an expansive double-living room, library, formal dining room, den, windowed eat-in kitchen, and separate staff room or office. Noteworthy features include 12' soaring ceilings with original restored moldings, wainscoting, seven stunning and ornate wood-burning fireplaces, hardwood floors, large proportioned rooms, oversized windows with open north, south, east, and west exposures and historical details throughout. See floor plan and full details here.
Grand-scale living at the Dakota. Rare opportunity to own a massive sun flooded meticulously maintained, 4,500-square-foot, 11-room residence with a flexible layout comprised of 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, an expansive double-living room, library, formal dining room, den, windowed eat-in kitchen, and separate staff room or office. Noteworthy features include 12' soaring ceilings with original restored moldings, wainscoting, seven stunning and ornate wood-burning fireplaces, hardwood floors, large proportioned rooms, oversized windows with open north, south, east, and west exposures and historical details throughout. See floor plan and full details here.
Built in 1894 | Designated in 1999
Architect: R.H. Robertson
125 Condo Units | 23 Floors
150 Nassau Street
"It is one
of the earliest, as well as one of the earliest extant, steel skeletal-frame skyscrapers in New York, partially of curtain-wall construction. This was also one of the
world's tallest and largest skyscrapers upon completion." - Landmarks designation report
American Tract Society Building, #2A
$2,350,000
Financial District | Condominium | 2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths | 1,711 ft2
American Tract Society Building, #2A (Compass)
Built in 2017 | Not Yet Designated
Architect: Dame Zaha Hadid
39 Condo Units | 13 Floors
"Like all designs by Zaha Hadid, this swoosh structure by the High Line is dizzying and dramatic and aerodynamically a bit tipsy with rounded glass balcony railings in two wings that differ in height." - Carter Horsely
520 West 28th Street, #22 (CORE Group Marketing LLC)
440 Riverside Drive
Built in 1910 | Converted in 1979 | Designated in 2017
Architect: Schwartz & Gross
106 Co-op Units | 13 Floors
"One of New York City’s greatest apartment buildings, it is the portal to Claremont Avenue and the premier residential building in the Columbia University neighborhood." - Carter Horsely
The Paterno, #97 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Built in 1931 | Designated in 1993
Architect: Schultze & Weaver
375 Condo Units | 52 Floors
All images of The Towers at the Waldorf Astoria via Noe & Associates with The Boundary
"The Waldorf-Astoria hotel, continuing to serve as 'New York's Unofficial Palace,' remains one of the
city's great hotels and major social establishments, and among the handsomest, if most sedate, of
the city's Art Deco skyscrapers." - Landmarks designation report
The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria, #4106
$11,500,000
Midtown East | Condominium | 3 Bedrooms, 3 Baths | 2,529 ft2
The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria, #4106 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Built in 1925 | Designated in 2001
Architect: Warren & Wetmore
60 Condo Units | 91 Floors
All images of 111 West 57th Street via Douglas Elliman
"The style,
materials, setbacks and massing, picturesque towers, and decorative elements add distinction to the
building and make it a monumental architectural presence along the West 57th Street cultural
corridor" - Landmarks designation report
111 West 57th Street, #11A
$6,895,000 (-18.8%)
Midtown West | Condominium | 3 Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths | 3,596 ft2
111 West 57th Street, #11A (Corcoran Group)
Built in 1898 | Designated in 1987
Architect: Stephen D. Hatch and McKim, Mead & White
160 Units | 13 Floors
All images of 108 Leonard Street via Nest Seekers
"The former New York Life Insurance Company Building is a monumental
freestanding skyscraper in the neo-Italian Renaissance style" - Landmarks designation report
108 Leonard, #5N (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Built in 1931 | Designated in 1984
Architect: Emery Roth and Margon & Holder
208 Units | 30 Floors
All images of The Eldorado via The Corcoran Group
"The Eldorado is a fine essay in Art Deco design as expressed in the brickwork,
ornament, entrance, balconies, and windows" - Landmarks designation report
The Eldorado, #22D (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
135 Central Park West
Built in 1905 | Designated in 1990
Architect: Clinton and Russell
64 Rental Units | 13 Floors
"One of the most elegant apartment buildings along Central Park West, the Langham flaunts a roof with pyramids at its southeast and northeast corners. " - Carter Horsley
The Langham, #8N (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
320 Central Park West
Built in 1931 | Converted in 1971 | Landmark designated in 1990
Architect: Emery Roth
201 Co-op Units | 22 Floors
"This 22-story structure is dramatically different from every other Roth building that came before it, for there is no trace of historical styling in its rectilinear lines. The only precedent it recalls is the massing of a prehistoric Mayan temple." - Steve Ruttenbaum
The Ardsley, #6F (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
561 Broadway
Built in 1903 | Converted in 1903 | Landmark designated in 1979
Architect: Ernest Flagg
22 Co-op Units | 12 Floors
"An architectural masterpiece that combines considerable decorative ornamentation with broad glass expanses, this is one of the premier and most colorful buildings in SoHo." - Carter Horsley
Little Singer Building, #6 (Nest Seekers LLC)
151 Central Park West
Built in 1931 | Converted in 1958 | Landmark designated in 1990
Architect: Townsend, Steinle and Haskell
42 Co-op Units | 13 Floors
"This very handsome French Second Empire-style apartment building has a superb location, magnificent views of Central Park, and a very grand entrance flanked by banded columns." - Carter Horsley
The Kenilworth, #3C (Sothebys International Realty)
Built in 1931 | Converted in 2008 | Landmark designated in 1996
Architect: Townsend, Steinle and Haskell
736 Rental Units | 57 Floors
"Designed by Cross & Cross in 1931 for the City Bank-Farmers Trust, this limestone-clad skyscraper quickly became an important component of what would be the world's most romantic and famous skyline for several decades." - Carter Horsley
A photograph shows three buildings in New York decorated with window crosses for Easter in 1956. 20 Exchange Place in center.
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
Just complete the info below.
Or call us at (212) 755-5544
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
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