1 Mount Morris Park West (The Mount Morris Park West Condominium)

The row is two speculative groups of the Harlem boom. Joseph M. DeVeau built Nos. 6–9 in 1891–92; Walter F. Kilpatrick followed with Nos. 1–5 in 1894. LPC records do not name an architect for either group. The designation report's list of architects working in the district — Lamb & Rich, George F. Pelham, James E. Ware, Thom & Wilson and others — should not be read as an attribution for these houses. LPC notes a 1950s alteration at No. 4.

Treat the fronts as partly reconstructed. Sources differ on what was lost around 1981. The Times account says three houses were demolished for the abandoned mental-health project; the development archive says three facades were removed. LPC still records nine houses on the lot, so the 2003 program rebuilt those fronts within the district. Which three is not documented in what we reviewed. Buyers who care about original fabric should ask the managing agent or check LPC permit history for the specific house.

The 36 apartments are numbered by house and letter. Apartment 5A is in No. 5, and each house has an A, B, C and D. PLUTO's floor area works out to roughly 1,100 gross square feet per apartment, on a 20-foot rowhouse floor. Layout, exposure and renovation vary by house and by level; front rooms face the park and rear rooms face the block interior. DOB filings from 2011 and 2016 show individual owners relocating kitchens and reworking baths, so the stock is no longer uniform. Whether the row has an elevator is not firmly documented in public records; assume walk-up until the managing agent confirms otherwise.

One condominium, nine houses. The houses share one declaration, one board, one budget and one BIN, and DOB treats them as a single building. Common charges therefore pay for nine roofs, nine facades and nine sets of stoops and areaways. On a landmarked row of 1890s masonry, that is the long-run cost to understand. Exterior work needs LPC approval. The row also has 180 feet of sidewalk and park-facing façade, and a City revocable consent on the sidewalk is recorded in the condominium's name. Ask for the reserve position, recent façade and roof work, and any planned assessment before contract.

J-51 — both parts have ended. The 2003 conversion earned a J-51 benefit, the City's tax incentive for rehabilitating residential buildings. The Department of Finance carried both parts on every unit lot:

• Exemption: the 14-year, non-government-financed J-51 exemption (DOF code 1920). Benefit start 2007, base year 2001. It had phased to zero by the fiscal 2021/22 roll and no longer appears.
• Abatement: a J-51 abatement at 90 percent of certified reasonable cost, over a 20-year window from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2026. On the unit lot we sampled it was worth roughly $1,600 a year off the tax bill. The fiscal 2027 roll carries no J-51 on any of the 36 unit lots.

A buyer comparing tax bills should use fiscal 2027 figures or later; earlier bills understate the current tax. Personal exemptions on individual unit lots, such as senior-citizen or veteran exemptions, do not transfer to a buyer.

Affordability program history. The 2003 program was State-sponsored, through HCDC and Empire State Development. It was not an HPD program or a Mitchell-Lama, and the condominium is not an HDFC cooperative. ACRIS shows resales at open-market levels starting in 2005. We found no recorded regulatory agreement or resale restriction against the unit lots. Any owner-occupancy or resale covenant attached to the original lottery sales would sit in the sponsor deeds or the offering plan, and none appears in what we reviewed. Have title confirm this for the specific unit.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01720-7501) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price.

Price the tax bill without the abatement. Listing records built on pre-2026 tax bills understate carrying cost. Ask for the fiscal 2027 bill for the specific unit lot.

Read the reserve study against the envelope. Nine 1890s houses with partly rebuilt fronts, in a historic district, make façade, roof, parapet and stoop work the main capital exposure. Ask for the last five years of board minutes and the current budget.

Confirm vertical access and laundry by apartment. Most units are walk-ups. Washer/dryer connections were installed at conversion, but whether a unit has a machine depends on the owner.

Check title for legacy lottery covenants. We found nothing recorded against the units, but the original sales ran through a State program. Your attorney should confirm the chain back to the 2003–2005 sponsor deed.

Use the right address. The same apartment may appear under 1, 1–9, or its own house number in listing and public records. The billing lot is block 1720, lot 7501, and your unit lot is in the 1001–1036 range.

Lead with the history and the frontage. The State-sponsored restoration of "the Ruins" in a 1971 landmark district, with park frontage on all nine houses, is a better story than any finish list. Tell it plainly.

Give buyers the post-abatement tax bill upfront. It removes a late-stage surprise and makes the carrying cost comparison with co-ops honest.

Price to the house and the level. Same-house comparables are the best evidence. Level, light and renovation quality separate apartments that are otherwise similar.

If you're considering 1 Mount Morris Park West, also evaluate:

• 3 West 122nd Street (Mount Morris Court) — 24-unit condominium two blocks north in the same historic district; elevator flats building rather than rowhouses
• 100 West 119th Street (The Normandie) — 2005 prewar condominium conversion a block south; the nearest conversion peer
• 309 West 118th Street (Brownstone Lane) — brownstone-scale condominium in South Harlem with a 421-a schedule rather than J-51
• 313 West 119th Street (Brownstone Lane II) — the companion condominium, with a recorded HPD enforcement mortgage; a contrast in affordable-program structure
• 1831 Madison Avenue (Madison Park Apartments) — 2001 HDFC cooperative near the park; a publicly sponsored homeownership project structured as an HDFC co-op rather than a condominium
• 1400 Fifth Avenue — mixed-income condominium with an HDC regulatory agreement and an occupancy covenant; a different kind of affordable-program legacy
• 1485 Fifth Avenue (5th on the Park) — full-amenity condominium at the park's northeast corner; the new-development alternative
• 10 Lenox Avenue — 2018 boutique condominium at Central Park North; new construction at a similar scale