101 West 81st Street (The Endicott)

Angell's Romanesque Revival design is the building's defining feature — orange-toned Roman brick and terra cotta, projecting bays, and an arched, columned entrance that reads immediately as late-1880s Upper West Side. The seven-story massing is prewar in the truest sense: masonry-heavy, thick-walled, and detailed at the street.

The 146 residences reflect the building's hotel origins. Former hotel rooms were combined into studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms, with a smaller number of larger combined and top-floor units. Character details survive throughout — exposed brick, wood-burning fireplaces, and beamed or high ceilings in many apartments — alongside renovated kitchens and baths from the conversion and from individual owner improvements since. Select upper-floor homes carry private terraces or roof rights.

The cross-block site gives many apartments open exposures toward Amsterdam Avenue and the Museum park to the south, and toward the residential side streets. The building's placement across from Theodore Roosevelt Park means the southern light and outlook are unusually protected for a mid-block-scale corridor.

The Endicott operates as a full-service cooperative with a doorman, a live-in resident manager, elevators, and laundry on every floor. The building is managed for the Endicott Apartment Corporation, and shareholders own shares in the corporation with a proprietary lease to their apartment — the standard co-op structure.

As with any prewar cooperative created from an older building, maintenance charges cover the building's staff, heat, and the ongoing capital care of a nineteenth-century structure. Buyers should review the current maintenance level, any assessments, the reserve position, and recent capital work (façade, elevators, roof, mechanicals) during due diligence, and confirm current house rules and the financing and sublet policies with the board at offer stage.

Recent sales

Recent transfers at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.

Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,243/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01212-7501). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

This is a cooperative — plan for board approval. Purchases require a board application and interview, and the board sets financing, sublet, and occupancy policy. The board permits financing up to roughly 75% of purchase price; confirm the current figure, the sublet rules, and pied-à-terre policy in writing at offer stage.

Buy the architecture and the light, then the layout. The Endicott's appeal is its Romanesque Revival character, its fireplaces and exposed brick, and its protected southern outlook toward the Museum and Theodore Roosevelt Park. Prioritize floor, exposure, and condition — and see units at more than one time of day.

Underwrite the building, not just the apartment. As a converted nineteenth-century structure, the building's capital picture matters. Review maintenance history, assessments, reserves, and recent façade / elevator / roof / mechanical work.

Value is a per-room story. In a co-op, model maintenance and per-room pricing rather than fixating on price-per-square-foot. Run your all-in monthly carry (maintenance plus financing) carefully.

Mind the site facts, not the myths. The Endicott has a rich, genuine Upper West Side history as a grand hotel. It is not the building or diner associated with any particular television show — buy it for what it is: an architecturally significant prewar cooperative in a premier location.

Lead with the architecture and the address. The Romanesque Revival façade, the fireplaces and exposed brick, and the position across from the American Museum of Natural History and Theodore Roosevelt Park are the story. Marketing should foreground character and light.

Prepare the buyer for the board. Present the financing, sublet, and pied-à-terre policies clearly, and assemble a clean board package to keep approval smooth.

Price at the apartment level. Room count, floor, exposure, outdoor space, and condition drive value here more than any building-wide average. Comparable analysis should be apartment-specific.

Position against the neighborhood set. The right comparables are the character-rich prewar West 80s cooperatives near Amsterdam and Central Park West, not new-construction condominiums.

If you're considering 101 West 81st Street, also evaluate:

• 11 West 81st Street — prewar Central Park West-adjacent cooperative in the West 80s
• 15 West 81st Street — prewar West 81st cooperative near Central Park West
• 100 West 81st Street — full-service building on the same block, across Columbus
• The Beresford (211 Central Park West) — the trophy Emery Roth prewar cooperative two blocks east
• The San Remo (145 Central Park West) — twin-towered Emery Roth cooperative on Central Park West
• The Dakota (1 West 72nd Street) — the archetypal Upper West Side landmark cooperative