580 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 580 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

There are surprisingly few apartment buildings on Park Avenue that occupy an entire blockfront and this elegant Italian-Renaissance-palazzo-style building at 580 Park Avenue between 63^rd and 64^th Streets is one of only three.  The others are 655 and 1185 Park Avenue.

Interestingly, these three buildings are very different from one another: 655 has a large garden and a major setback; 1185 is one of the city's few great remaining buildings with a very large central courtyard; and this building, which was erected as a co-operative in 1923, is a narrow slab.

It originally had 53 apartments and now has 60.

It was built by Dwight P. Robinson & Company.

This is one of the more attractive designs by J. E. R. Carpenter, the leading architect of luxury apartment buildings in the city of his generation. His other Park Avenue buildings include 550, 625, 630, 635, 640, 655, 812, 950, 960 and 1050. His Fifth Avenue buildings include 810, 825, 907, 920, 950, 988, 1030, 1035, 1060, 1115, 1120, 1143, 1150, 1165 and 1170 as well as 2 East 66th Street.

Bottom Line

This section of Park Avenue is very desirable because it has several very handsome low-rise buildings and churches that make it architecturally quite interesting and also provides more open views. It is also very close to midtown and convenient to many fashionable boutiques and restaurants along Madison Avenue and is not too far from Central Park.

Description

The 14-story building has a four-story limestone base with a large entrance surrounded flanked by fluted pilasters.

The ground floor other than the lobby has professional offices. The lobby has a marble floor, coffered ceiling and a few steps lead up to a balustraded hall.

The building has broad bandcourses above the 3^rd, 4^th, 8^th, 11^th and 13^th floors. The corners of the building have quoins and there are discrete air-conditioners.  There are window surrounds on the fifth floor.

The building has sidewalk landscaping.

Amenities

The building has a concierge and a doorman but no garage and no roof deck.

Apartments

Most apartments are 8 or 9 rooms and the latter have 14-foot circular foyers.

Apartment 12A is a three-bedroom unit that has an entry foyer to that leads to a 15-foot-long elliptical gallery that leads on one side to a 25-foot-long living room with a fireplace and on the other to a 20-foot-long dining room next to a 16-foot-long pantry and a 13-foot-square kitchen next to a 14-foot-long maid’s room.

Apartment 14C is a three-bedroom unit that has a small entry foyer that leads to a 27-foot-long gallery that leads to a 24-foot-long living room with a fireplace next to an 18-foot-long dining room next to a 10-foot-long pantry, two maid’s rooms and a 16-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 11C has a 28-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 24-foot-long living room with a fireplace and an 18-foot-long dining room next to a 13-foot-long pantry, a 16-foot-long kitchen and a large maid’s room.  The apartment also has a 19-foot-long library and two bedrooms.

Apartment 7C is a three-bedroom unit that has a 28-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 24-foot-long living room with a wood-burning fireplace, an 18-foot-long library and a 20-foot-long dining room across the gallery from a 13-foot-long breakfast area next to the 16-foot-long eat-in kitchen.

Apartment 9D is a three-bedroom unit with a 9-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 16-foot-wide curved gallery that opens onto a 25-foot-long living room with a fireplace on one end and an 18-foot-long dining room on the other that is next to a 19-foot-long, eat-in kitchen.  The unit also has a 12-foot-square laundry room and a pantry. 

History

Edward R. Murrow, the famed journalist, had an apartment on the 10^th floor.

According to James Trager, the author of "Park Avenue, Street of Dreams," (Atheneum, 1990), "each apartment had a separate laundry-and-storage room in the basement, and there were thirty extra servants' rooms in the penthouse."

In his August 26, 2010 “Streetscapes” column in The New York Times, Christopher Gray noted that “the brochure for 580 Park Avenue shows photographs of furnished apartments, a rarity” and “also lists the shareholders, to give an idea of ‘the character of the owners.' "