775 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 775 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

One of the few grand apartment buildings to take up a full blockfront on Park Avenue, 775 Park Avenue on the northeast corner at 72nd Street was designed by Rosario Candela, widely considered to be the finest designer of luxury apartment buildings. 

It was developed by Michael E. Paterno and completed in 1927, replacing 10 buildings on the site including the former residence of Alma Gluck Zimbalist at the 72nd Street corner. 

The supremely elegant, 14-story limestone and brick building, which is also known as 101 East 72nd Street, has only 47 co-operative apartments including several multi-level penthouses. 

Candela’s buildings, "it is said, were the grandest of the decade that was itself the greatest," wrote Elizabeth Hawes in her book, "New York, New York, How The Apartment House Transformed The Life Of The City (1869-1930)", published by Henry Holt in 1993. 

"He had a respect for privacy and an eye for significant detail. He was a complete thinker. He added duplicate water connections to street mains and multiple switches for ceiling lights as well as beautifully turned staircases and separate wine cellars. More significantly, he designed buildings from the inside out. He placed windows where they received light, balanced a room, or allowed a graceful arrangement of furniture…. Candela also invested unusual energy in the entry hall. In a typical apartment, he made it a full-sized room with rich views into the interior because he thought it was important to greet a visitor with a full sense of a home…. Candela liked puzzles. During the Depression, he took up cryptography, and during World War II, he broke the Japanese code," Hawes wrote. 

Born in Sicily, Candela came to the United States in 1909 and graduated from the Columbia School of Architecture in 1915. His other famous buildings include 834 and 960 Fifth Avenue, 720, 740, and 778 Park Avenue, and 19 East 72nd Street, all considered among the most glamorous addresses in the city.

Bottom Line

Although not as its rooftop is not as flamboyant as some of its peers on Park Avenue, this Italian Renaissance-style building designed by Rosario Candela is magnificent and has several maisonettes, several duplex penthouses, many spectacular apartments, high ceilings, and many fireplaces.

Description

Some elegant luxury apartment buildings have a maisonette, a ground-floor apartment with its own, separate entrance. 

This grand residential building has four, each with their own very impressive entrances on Park Avenue. 

The architect, Rosario Candela, designed them to make the full-block frontage on the avenue more interesting and the Italian Renaissance detailing is superb and very handsome.

The red-brick building has a two-story limestone base with four maisonettes with impressive broken-pediment surrounds and a canopied entrance on 72nd Street with sidewalk landscaping. 

The building has quoins, which are larger in the two-story base, a bandcourse above the second  floor, handsome angled and curved pediments above the 3rd and 12th floor windows, a bandcourse beneath the 11th floor windows and two stringcourse with balustrades beneath the 12th floor windows, a handsome cornice above the 12th floor and many plain and tall chimneys. 

Amenities

The building has a 24-hour doorman, a 24-hour concierge, a fitness center, and cats and dogs are permitted.

Apartments

775 Park Avenue's spectacular apartments have two to seven fireplaces, ceilings range from 10-feet-four-inches to 13-feet tall. 

Apartment 12C has a triplex with a large curved entry foyer with a grand staircase and it leads to a 29-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 20-foot-wide library with a fireplace and a 23-foot-wide dining room with a fireplace and a 21-foot-long, enclosed and windowed kitchen with an island.  The second level has a curved landing with a grand staircase, three bedrooms, each with a fireplace, and three staff rooms. The top level has a 23-foot-wide family room with a fireplace, two more bedrooms, one of which has a fireplace, a 9-foot-wide solarium and two long terraces.  

Penthouse ASR14 is a two-bedroom unit with an 11-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 29-foot-long living room with a fireplace and a 20-foot-wide dining room with a fireplace and a loggia, 14-foot-long kitchen, a pantry, a 14-foot-long maid's room and terraces on all four sides. 

Apartment 10/11C is a five-bedroom duplex with a 23-foot-long entry gallery with grand staircase to the upper level that has the bedrooms and a 10-foot-long office.  The master bedroom has a fireplace.  The lower level has a 31-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 23-foot-long dining room with a fireplace, a 19-foot-long library with a fireplace and a 28-foot-long eat-in, enclosed and windowed kitchen with an island. 

Apartment 6/7C is a four-bedroom duplex unit with an 8-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a curved 20-foot-long gallery with a grand staircase, a 32-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 17-foot-long library with a fireplace, a 23-foot-long dining room with a fireplace and a 20-foot-long enclosed and windowed kitchen with an island and an 11-foot-long breakfast room.  The upper floor has a 23-foot-long foyer with staircase, two staff rooms and four bedrooms, one with a fireplace. 

A maisonette duplex has a 23-foot-wide entry foyer with a staircase, a 20-foot-wide library with a fireplace and a 30-foot-long reception room with a fireplace on the lower level and four bedrooms, a 28-foot-long foyer, a 33-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 25-foot-long dining room next to a pantry and a 20-foot-long kitchen and a servants hall and five maid's rooms on the upper level. 

Apartment 8B is a four-bedroom unit with a 12-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 16-foot-long gallery that leads to a 32-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 19-foot-long library with a fireplace, a 25-foot-long dining room with a fireplace, and an enclosed and windowed 23-foot-long kitchen with an island, and a 13-foot-long staff room.  The 24-foot-wide master bedroom has a fireplace. 

Apartment 5A is a three-bedroom unit with a 13-foot-wide gallery that leads in one direction to a 26-foot-long living room with a fireplace next to a 20-foot-long library with a fireplace and in the other direction to a 19-foot-long media room, a 9-foot-long staff room, a 20-foot-wide dining room and an 18-foot-wide enclosed and windowed kitchen with an island. 

Apartment 5D is a two-bedroom unit with a 14-foot-wide entry foyer next to an 11-foot-wide sitting room/bar and a 27-foot-long living room with a fireplace.  It has a 19-foot-wide dining room next to a 16-foot-wide kitchen and a 13-foot-wide staff room.  It also has a 19-foot-wide library with a fireplace. 

Apartment 14A2 is a one-bedroom with a 12-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 25-foot-long living room with a fireplace and a 9-foot-wide enclosed and windowed kitchen. 

History

It replaced 10 buildings on the site including the former residence of Alma Gluck Zimbalist at the 72nd Street corner.

Born in Sicily, Candela came to the United States in 1909 and graduated from Columbia University's school of architecture in 1915. His other famous buildings include 834 and 960 Fifth Avenue, 720, 740, and 778 Park Avenue, and 19 East 72nd Street - all considered among the most glamorous addresses in the city.