1 East 66th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 1 East 66th Street by Carter Horsley

This quite attractive, yellow-brick apartment house has a prime Fifth Avenue location overlooking Central Park and was one of the first new apartment buildings to be erected on the avenue after World War II.

The 18-story building has a three-story rusticated limestone base and its fourth-floor has four limestone bandcourses between the windows that add considerably to its elegance.

It is also distinguished by its unusual façade, which has many angles that create many shallow indentations. It was built in 1947 and has 85 apartments.

The building's side-street entrance has a polished red granite entrance surround and a stainless steel marquee with a canopy and sidewalk landscaping. The building has spectacular views of Central Park, a doorman, consistent fenestration and some protruding air-conditioners. It has no balconies, no health club, no garage and no roof deck. It is just to the south on the avenue of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Yugoslavia to the United Nations that was designed in 1905 by Warren & Wetmore for R. Livingston Beekman. The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland is at 9 East 66th Street and the side-street also has the Religious School of Congregation Emanu-El, whose famous Temple is one block away on Fifth Avenue.

The handsome Lotus Club, designed by Richard H. Hunt in 1900 for William Schiefflin is at 5 East 66th Street and Ulysses S. Grant once lived at 3 East 66th Street.

This neighborhood has numerous restaurants, and many chic boutiques. There is cross-town bus service on 65th and 67th Streets and there is a subway station at 67th Street and Lexington Avenue. The Central Park Children's Zoo is one block to the south. There is considerable traffic, many parades and supermarkets are not nearby.