- Year built
- 1930
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 42
- Landmark
- No
10 Gracie Square is among the most exclusive cooperatives in Manhattan — a 1930 Art Deco building at the eastern terminus of East 84th Street, perched directly above the East River in the small, quiet Gracie Square enclave. Built for a development group headed by John Drummond Kennedy and designed by Van Wart & Wein with Pleasants Pennington and Albert W. Lewis, the address is itself a credential: Gracie Square is a short, gated-feeling stretch where a handful of pre-war cooperatives face Carl Schurz Park, Gracie Mansion, and the open water, insulated from through traffic and the density of the broader Upper East Side.
The building's scarcity is structural. With only 42 apartments across 16 stories, 10 Gracie Square averages well over 5,000 gross square feet per unit — among the very largest per-apartment footprints of any building in this research set. These are not standard apartments; the building has long been known for sixteen-room layouts, duplexes, and triplexes of a scale that simply no longer gets built. That rarity, combined with the riverfront position, a through-block private driveway, and a porte-cochère arrival, places 10 Gracie Square in the top tier of pre-war Manhattan residential addresses.
The architecture matches the ambition: an unusual façade treatment and one of the more elaborate rooftop crowns on the East Side — a silhouette that reads clearly from the river and from Carl Schurz Park. For buyers, 10 Gracie Square represents a specific and rarely available proposition: enormous pre-war apartments, direct river frontage, a cloistered low-traffic setting, on-site parking, and the discretion of a very small, very selective cooperative.
Architecture and unit composition
The 42 apartments are defined by their scale. The building's long-standing reputation rests on its largest configurations — full- and half-floor layouts, duplexes, and triplexes with the kind of room count (libraries, formal dining, multiple staff rooms, river-facing entertaining floors) that characterizes the apex of pre-war Manhattan design. Even the building's smaller apartments are large by any contemporary standard.
Pre-war signatures throughout: generous ceiling heights, formal galleries, separated entertaining and private zones, substantial service infrastructure, and period detailing in varying states of preservation and renovation. The river-facing eastern exposures are the building's defining asset — open, permanent water views over the East River that no future construction can obstruct. The private through-block driveway to 83rd Street and the porte-cochère arrival sequence reinforce the sense of a self-contained, cloistered address.
Building operations
10 Gracie Square operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative at the highest staffing tier — full-time doorman coverage, attended elevators, and a live-in resident manager. The amenity set is distinctive: the private through-block driveway and porte-cochère, an on-site garage, a fitness center, a garden, private storage, and central laundry, with washer/dryers permitted inside apartments. Pets are permitted.
As a very small and historically discreet building, 10 Gracie Square reviews purchasers rigorously. Board review at buildings of this caliber is traditional and selective; prospective purchasers should expect a thorough approval process with attention to financial depth and primary-residence intent.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $18,697/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $37
Facade safety — Local Law 11
Safe to live in today — but the last inspection flagged repairs that are due on a deadline, so facade work and its cost are coming. Whether that’s a real concern depends on the scope, the timing, and how the building plans to pay for it — reserves or an assessment — which is exactly what we’d dig into for you.
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent). Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library.
See the full facade history →Recent sales
Sales context at 10 Gracie Square, kept general (the live, parcel-specific record is maintained on our sales page):
- Turnover is very low — with only 42 large apartments, a typical year may see only a small number of closings, and trophy-floor apartments can be off-market for long stretches.
- Pricing reflects the trophy character of the inventory: large pre-war river-facing apartments here transact well into the high seven figures and beyond, with the building's signature duplex and triplex configurations at the top of the Upper East Side range.
- Because so few apartments change hands, each trade is idiosyncratic; building-wide averages are of limited use.
These are cadence-and-range observations only — no specific trades are represented here.
What to know if you’re buying
Scarcity defines everything. With 42 apartments and very low turnover, inventory is intermittent and each opportunity is distinct.
The river frontage is the asset. Permanent, unobstructable East River views are the building's core value driver.
On-site parking and the porte-cochère are rare luxuries. The private driveway and garage set the building apart from nearly all of its pre-war peers.
Apartments are very large. This is a building of full-floor, duplex, and triplex residences; buyers seeking smaller formats will find essentially none.
Board review is rigorous. Expect a traditional, thorough approval process consistent with the highest tier of pre-war cooperatives; financial depth and primary-residence intent matter. Pets are permitted.
What to know if you’re selling
The address sells itself, but apartment specifics carry the price. Gracie Square, river frontage, the porte-cochère, and 1930 pedigree are the headline; floor, exposure, room count, and renovation history determine value.
Comparable analysis is bespoke. With so few units and so much variation, pricing relies on the rare relevant trade plus broader trophy-market context rather than dense internal comps.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. Plan on roughly 6–10 weeks from contract to closing, with allowance for a deliberate board process.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 10 Gracie Square, also evaluate:
- River House — the comparable trophy river-frontage pre-war co-op, Sutton-area
- 180 East End Avenue — large East End / river-adjacent building
- 60 East End Avenue — East End full-service building near the river
- 40 East End Avenue — East End pre-war peer
- 45 East End Avenue — East End cooperative
- 25 East End Avenue — nearby East End building
The Roebling Team at 10 Gracie Square
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Upper East Side, the East End / Gracie Square enclave, and the broader park- and river-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because buyers and sellers at addresses of this caliber deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, board culture, transactional mechanics, and pricing at the apartment level — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 10 Gracie Square, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
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