The Ramondo, 784 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 784 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This very elegant, 21-story cooperative apartment building at 784 Park Avenue on the southwest corner at 74th Street was erected in 1930. It was designed by Emery Roth with McKim, Mead & White acting as supervising architects.

It has 69 apartments and was converted to a co-operative in 1957.

Bottom Line

A very handsome building in the middle of Park Avenue’s finest stretch of impressive buildings.

Description

The beige-brick building has a three-story rusticated limestone base with a canopied entrance on the sidestreet with a revolving door and sidewalk landscaping.

The building has numerous decorative balconies and its tower has five setbacks. The first setback on the avenue has a pergola at its southern end.

The building has a handsome enclosed rooftop watertank.

Amenities

The building has a doorman, a gym, private storage spaces and a vaulted and large lobby.

It permits pets.

Apartments

The building has wood-burning fireplaces and formal dining rooms, high ceilings

Apartment 5E is a one-bedroom unit with a 10-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 21-foot-long living room.

Apartment 7A is a two-bedroom unit with a 22-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 26-foot-long living room with a fireplace and a 17-foot-long dining room next to a 17-foot-long pantry and a 16-foot-long kitchen and two maid’s rooms.

Apartment 4C is a two-bedroom unit with a 17-foot-long, “grand gallery” that leads to a 28-foot long living room, an 18-foot-square dining room next to a 20-foot-long eat-in kitchen and 8-foot-long staff room.  The apartment also has a 16-foot-long office.

Apartment 19C has a 13-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 24-foot-long living/dining room next to a 17-foot-long kitchen.  The apartment also has a 14-foot-long guest room and two bedrooms, one with a 15-foot-long angled terrace.

Apartment 14B is a duplex that has a large foyer with a staircase and leads to a 29-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 19-foot-long library, and a 19-foot-long dining room next to a pantry, kitchen, maids’ hall and three maid’s rooms on the lower level and three bedrooms on and a 15-foot-long storage room on the upper level.

Apartment 21/22C is a duplex penthouse that has a large entry foyer that leads to a 23-foot-long living room with a fireplace and an entrance to a 59-foot-long terrace and is next to a 16-foot-long dining room near the 18-foot-long eat-in kitchen and a bedroom.  The lower level also has two other wraparound terraces.  The upper level has two-bedrooms and a terrace.

History

A February 25, 2010 article in The New York Times by Vivian S. Toy said that the estate of Caral Gimbel Lebworth sold her 14^th floor, 11-room apartment for $5.5 million. She was the daughter of Bernard and Alva B. Gimbel and her second husband was Hank Greenberg, who played first base for the Detroit Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit a lot of home runs, and became general manager of the Cleveland Indians.

One of the building’s residents was Harold F. Guinzburg, the head of the Viking Press.

Location

The building is convenient to the Asia Society and the Whitney Museum of American Art and many boutiques on Madison Avenue.

There is cross-town bus service on 72nd Street and there is a subway station on Lexington Avenue at 77th Street.