800 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 800 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This very handsome, brown-brick, 15-story apartment building at 800 Park Avenue on the northwest corner at 74^th Street is notable for its large, full-floor apartments, the spectacular window surround above its canopied entrance and its interesting brickwork.

It was erected in 1925 and designed by Electus D. Litchfield and Pliny Rogers on the former site of a stable and two tenement buildings.

It was built by the Starrett Brothers.

The building has 17 units.

Bottom Line

One of the avenue’s major pre-war buildings, 800 Park has a prime location and grand, full-floor apartments.

Description

The window surround above the entrance encompasses three windows behind a balustrade projecting sill with two Ionic columns and four Ionic pilasters surmounted by a large and broad entablature with four small escutcheons and three large ones, the center of which contains the buildings numeric address.

Some second floor windows have curved pediments and the top floor has arched windows in paired surrounds above a stringcourse and beneath the cornice.

There is a bandcourse below the 12^th floor and stringcourse above the 4^th, 6^th and 10^th floors.

It has sidewalk landscaping and some protruding and some discrete air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a doorman.

Apartments

The typical floor-through, five-bedroom apartment has a 27-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 17-foot-long library, a 26-foot-long living room with fireplace, and a 17-foot-square dining room near the 23-foot-wide eat-in kitchen, a 15-foot-long maid’s room and an 11-foot-long laundry room.

History

In the course of his career, Electus D. Litchfield, the building's architect, also served as a president of the Municipal Art Society and, at a different time, chairman of the planning and zoning committee of The City Club.