521 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 521 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This impressive 12-story apartment house at 521 Park Avenue on the northeast corner at 61^st Street was designed by William Alciprhon Boring and completed in 1911 two years after he had designed 540 Park Avenue on the northwest corner at 61st Street, which has been described, according to James Trager, the author of Park Avenue, Street of Dreams," (Atheneum, 1990), as "the first of the high-class apartments to be built on Park Avenue."

This building was erected as a co-operative and has 27 apartments and was converted to a condominium in 1987. Amenities at this pet-friendly building include a 24-hour doorman, elevator, and fitness center. It is located at one of the city's most prestigious addresses, with Central Park and the finest Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue shopping a short walk away.

Description

Its few but bold and very attractive balconies contrast admirably with the building's finely detailed limestone façade, all well contained under a large cornice, a strong composition.

The building has a three-step-up entrance with a canopy and a two-story entrance surround with free-standing columns.

Very handsome long and narrow balconies are on the 4^th and 10^th floors.

The building has some discrete air-conditioners and no sidewalk landscaping and no garage.

Amenities

The building has a doorman.

Apartments

Apartment 4B is a two-bedroom unit with a 24-foot-long entry foyer that opens onto a 20-foot-long living room that opens onto a 23-foot-long dining room.

Apartment 4C is a three-bedroom unit with a narrow balcony that is accessed from two of the bedrooms and the living room.  It has a long entrance foyer that leads to a 17-foot-long living/dining room with a fireplace adjacent to an 11-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 8BC is a four-bedroom unit that has a 9-foot-quare entry foyer that leads t a 27-foot-long gallery that leads to a 24-foot-long living room with a fireplace that opens onto a 18-foot-long dining room next to a 17-foot-long enclosed kitchen and a 17-foot-long breakfast room.  The unit also has an 11-foot-long staff room.

Apartment 10A is a one-bedroom unit with a 24-foot-long living/dining room and a 15-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 10B is a two-bedroom unit with a 6-foot-long entry foyer that opens into a 20-foot-long living room with a 12-foot-long dining alcove next to a 17-foot-long kitchen.

History

Boring also was the architect for an apartment building at 520 Park Avenue, but it was demolished in 1932 and replaced by Christ Church. Boring would become the head of the School of Architecture at Columbia University.

An October 2, 1988 article in The New York Times by Richard D. Lyons noted that M. J. Raynes used air rights from this building, 107 East 60^th Street and 110 East 61^st Street to add 12,400 square feet of new space to 525 Park Avenue, a 15-story building undergoing condominium conversion.  “The result will be three new apartments of about 4,000 square feet each with terraces and balconies,” the article said.

With Edward Lippincottt Tilton, he designed the Federal Immigration Station at Ellis Island in New York harbor in 1897, which won a gold medal for architecture in 1900 from the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

Location

The location is wonderful, very close to midtown and many of the city's best boutiques and restaurants and excellent transportation.

It is directly across the avenue from the very attractive Christ Church and one block to the west of Bloomingdale’s.