1049 Fifth Avenue

The building is a 23-story beige-brick pre-war tower whose architecture has always read as quieter than its address — the conversion rebuilt the entrance and lower facade, kept the gargoyle ornament higher up, and cut large picture windows and balconies into the western elevation to capture the park. The original 1928 architect is not reliably documented in public records, and we decline to guess; the architectural identity that matters to the market today is the Kondylis conversion.

The residences distribute at roughly three per floor: predominantly large two- to four-bedroom simplexes around 2,000–3,500 square feet, four penthouses up to approximately 4,600 square feet, plus the professional suites at the base and a floor of maids' and staff rooms that traded separately at conversion. West-facing apartments above approximately the seventh floor look over the low-rise Neue Galerie mansion toward Central Park and the Reservoir; the outlook depends on floor and position, and no view is protected without a recorded instrument.

Full-service condominium: 24-hour doorman, concierge, attended elevators, live-in resident manager, private storage, cold storage for deliveries, and bike room. In-unit washer/dryers run throughout the residences. There is no swimming pool, no roof deck, and no on-site garage; a fitness room appears in recent listing records but is inconsistently documented — verify current amenities directly. The offering plan, eleven amendments, by-laws, and recent audited financial statements are on file in The Roebling Research Library and available to clients during diligence.

Recent sales

Recent closings 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 to date) cleared a median $2,051/sf (floor-adjusted) across 2 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 5.6% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01497-7501; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). 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 from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.

• Hector Guimard — the French Art Nouveau architect lived his final years in the building (then the Adams Hotel) and died there in 1942
• Rush Limbaugh — bought a 10-room penthouse with four terraces in 1994; his 2009 vow to leave New York over the state tax surcharge, and the 2010 sale that followed, were covered by The Wall Street Journal and the broader press

The condo structure is the headline. Museum Mile pre-war scale with condominium transfer mechanics — no co-op board interview, no co-op-style financial disclosure to a shareholder board. For foreign buyers, trust and LLC structures, and pied-à-terre intent, this materially widens what is possible at this address relative to the surrounding cooperative inventory. Confirm specific structures with the managing agent and your attorney.

Park views are real but indirect. The building reads "Fifth Avenue" in name and view, not in frontage. Above roughly the seventh floor, west exposures clear the Neue Galerie to open park and Reservoir views; lower floors do not. Price the line accordingly.

Carrying costs are substantial. Large units carry common charges and taxes consistent with the trophy condo tier; recent penthouse listings have shown combined monthly carry north of $20,000. Run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator on the specific unit.

Verify the fee stack. The 2 percent purchaser-paid transfer fee documented in recent listings, the 20 percent minimum down convention, and current building requirements should all be confirmed against the by-laws and managing agent at offer stage.

Amenity expectations should be calibrated. This is a service building, not an amenity building — no pool, no roof deck, no garage. Buyers comparing against newer UES condos should weigh attended-elevator service and apartment scale against amenity-program breadth.

Market the scarcity. Large pre-war-envelope condominium residences with park views, steps from the Met and the Neue Galerie, are a thin market. The marketing should name the structural facts: condo mechanics, outlooks over a landmarked mansion, three-units-per-floor privacy, and the conversion's build quality.

Anchor pricing to line-specific comparables. The spread between park-view west inventory and mid-floor east/side exposures is wide. Building-average $/sf is not a useful anchor here; same-line history is.

Mansion tax cliffs apply at nearly every price point in the building. Run the Mansion Tax Calculator at the intended ask and understand how the thresholds shape buyer offers.

If you're considering 1049 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:

• 995 Fifth Avenue (the former Stanhope) — the most direct conceptual peer: another Fifth Avenue hotel conversion facing the Met, a few blocks south
• 1001 Fifth Avenue — 1979 cooperative with a Philip Johnson design, directly on the avenue
• 1009 Fifth Avenue — landmarked pre-war directly opposite the Met
• 1040 Fifth Avenue — Rosario Candela trophy cooperative nearby along Fifth Avenue; the co-op alternative with the deeper pedigree and the stricter board
• 1045 Fifth Avenue — immediate neighbor on the avenue
• Philip House (141 East 88th Street) — Carnegie Hill pre-war-to-condo conversion; similar proposition at a different price point
• 30 East 85th Street — post-war condominium one block east; the lower-cost condo alternative