1050 Fifth Avenue
1050 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028
Upper East Side
BBL 1014980001 · BIN 1046845
- Year built
- 1960
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 90
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Pet-friendly
- Financing
- Up to 50% financing permitted
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 2BR median
- $2.9M
- Recent range
- $2M – $13M
- Listing discount
- 0.7%
- Recorded transfers
- 80
1050 Fifth Avenue occupies one of the most precise pieces of Manhattan real estate: the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and East 86th Street, directly on Museum Mile and across the avenue from Central Park. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, and the Neue Galerie — the Georgian-style mansion on the adjacent corner that also protects the building's downtown light — are all within a short walk, an unmatched cultural concentration at the seam of Lenox Hill and Carnegie Hill.
The building rose in 1960 on a storied site: the 40-room Rovensky mansion (Guy Lowell, 1916) and the nineteenth-century townhouses at 1 and 3 East 86th Street were cleared to make way for it. Bernard Spitzer developed the project, with Melvin D. Lipman, to designs by Wechsler & Schimenti, and the lobby preserves a piece of the block's grander past — the iron doors, marble floors and columns, and the distinctive yellow-marble fountain salvaged from the Morton Plant mansion that once stood nearby. Few postwar buildings open onto so deliberate a sense of provenance.
What also sets 1050 Fifth apart is that it was conceived and sold as a cooperative from day one rather than built as a rental and converted later. That original co-op structure shows up in the apartments: generous room counts, formal dining rooms, and the kind of closet and service infrastructure developers built when they were selling, not renting. The 20-story scale and 90 apartments place it among the mid-sized Fifth Avenue postwar co-ops — large enough to carry a full staff and a deep amenity package, small enough to stay a recognizable, low-turnover community.
Architecture and unit composition
The exterior is characteristic of refined late-1950s/1960 Fifth Avenue construction: a beige-brick body on a limestone-trimmed base, with a clean, vertically organized facade that reads as quiet rather than ornamental. The design priority of the era — and of this building specifically — was the apartment interior and the Park view, not facade decoration.
Across the 20 stories, the 90 apartments span configurations from one- and two-bedroom layouts to substantial three- and four-bedroom homes, with the larger residences and the upper-floor Park-facing lines carrying the building's strongest value. Because the building was sold as a cooperative, many layouts retain formal dining rooms, defined entry foyers, and ample closet runs. Ceiling heights follow the postwar luxury norm — generally lower than the most generous pre-war apartments but paired with larger windows and more efficient room flow.
Fifth Avenue–facing apartments on the western flank look directly across to Central Park, with protected, permanent views over the Park's eastern edge; 86th Street and rear exposures offer cross-street and open-block light. The corner Park-facing residences command the building's clearest premium, and the shared roof deck delivers panoramic outlooks over the Park and the Carnegie Hill rooftops to every shareholder.
Building operations
1050 Fifth runs as a white-glove full-service cooperative with a 24-hour doorman, attended elevators, and a live-in resident manager. The amenity package is deeper than at most pre-war buildings of comparable scale: a fitness room, the roof deck, a bicycle room, central laundry, private storage, and an on-site garage in which every shareholder is guaranteed a discounted parking space — running roughly $320 to $400 per month, well below neighborhood market rates.
The building is pet-friendly and permits financing up to 50% of purchase price, positioning it as more flexible than the most restrictive Fifth Avenue tier-one cooperatives. Historically the building carried no flip tax; a 1% transfer fee has appeared in more recent marketing, so the seller-paid transfer cost is a point a buyer's team should pin down at contract.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $5,167/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $5
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2026 | 5D | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,552 sf | $3,625,000 | $2,336/sf | -0.7% |
| Mar 4, 2026 | 3E | 2 BR · 2 BA | $3,500,000 | +0.0% | |
| Nov 24, 2025 | 17D | 4 BR | $5,700,000 | -4.9% | |
| Oct 31, 2025 | 19BC | 4 BR · 3,995 sf | $13,000,000 | $3,254/sf | +0.1% |
| Oct 1, 2025 | 4D | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,900,000 | +10.5% | |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 15C | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,000,000 | -8.9% | |
| Aug 7, 2024 | 15D | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,600 sf | $2,840,000 | $1,775/sf | off-mkt |
| Nov 13, 2023 | 6F | 3 BR · 2.5 BA | $3,400,000 | -0.7% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $2,678/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 2.4% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 8, 2009 | 9 | $1,695,000 |
| Jul 29, 2003 | 15B | $1,350,000 |
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01498-0001) 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; square footage on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
What to know if you’re buying
The address is the asset. A Museum Mile corner directly across from Central Park is among the most durable value foundations in Manhattan, and the Park views on the Fifth Avenue line are permanent.
The original-cooperative origin is structural. Apartments were built to be sold, which tends to mean better room counts and layout quality than at rental-conversion peers of the same era.
The amenity package is unusually deep for the avenue. Guaranteed discounted garage parking, a roof deck, a gym, and live-in management distinguish 1050 from thinner-serviced pre-war neighbors.
The terms are relatively flexible. Pets are welcome and 50% financing is allowed — more accommodating than the strictest Fifth Avenue boards.
Underwrite the apartment, not just the building. With a wide configuration range, comparable analysis at the line and floor level matters far more than building-wide averages.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with location and provenance. Museum Mile, permanent Park frontage, the Morton Plant lobby fixtures, and the original-cooperative pedigree are concrete, marketable facts.
Price at the line level. Park-facing versus side exposure, floor altitude, and renovation history drive value dispersion; building averages understate the spread.
The amenity depth is a selling point. Guaranteed discounted parking, the roof deck, the gym, and live-in management beat the thinner staffing of many pre-war peers.
Closing timelines are co-op standard — generally 6–10 weeks from contract to closing, subject to board package and approval pace.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 1050 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 1025 Fifth Avenue — 1950s Fifth Avenue cooperative, immediate corridor peer
- 1035 Fifth Avenue — pre-war Fifth Avenue cooperative nearby
- 1040 Fifth Avenue — Rosario Candela's 1930 Fifth Avenue cooperative
- 1045 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue cooperative, neighboring block
- 1060 Fifth Avenue — Carnegie Hill Fifth Avenue cooperative peer
- 1080 Fifth Avenue — postwar Fifth Avenue cooperative, similar era and scale
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Fifth Avenue — read The Roebling Team Guide to Fifth Avenue.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
Considering a move at 1050 Fifth Avenue?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 1050 Fifth Avenue would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.