1080 Madison Avenue (The Residence on Madison)
1080 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10028
Upper East Side
BBL 1014937501 · BIN 1046689
- Year built
- 1981
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 29
- Floors
- 15
- Landmark
- No
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,733
- Listing discount
- 4.5%
- Recorded sales
- 35
- On record
- 2003–2025
The stretch of Madison Avenue between the Metropolitan Museum and Carnegie Hill is one of the most tightly held residential corridors in the country, and it is almost entirely pre-war cooperative. 1080 Madison Avenue is neither. It is a 1981 limestone building, and it is a genuine condominium — and on this avenue, that combination is close to unrepeatable.
The tenure point is not a marketing line, and it is worth being precise about, because Madison Avenue punishes assumptions. Buildings on this avenue are regularly described as condominiums in marketing material when the Department of Finance carries them as cooperatives, and the difference determines whether a purchase goes to a board with a package, a financial review and an interview, or through a right of first refusal on a fixed clock. At 1080 Madison the record is unambiguous in the other direction: the parcel is subdivided into thirty-three separately assessed unit tax lots, the Department of Finance carries the building in the condominium class, and forty-three years of apartment transfers are recorded as deeds. What buyers are told about this building on that point happens to be correct — but it is correct because the record says so, not because the marketing does.
The second thing to understand is the landmark position, and it also runs against expectation. The block is ringed by designation: twenty-one buildings on this tax block sit inside the Metropolitan Museum Historic District, three more inside the Park Avenue Historic District, and 998 Fifth Avenue — McKim, Mead & White, 1912 — stands at the block's western end inside the Met district. 1080 Madison is inside neither. The Madison Avenue frontage of block 1493 falls outside both boundaries. That is precisely why a fifteen-to-nineteen-story modern building could be put up here in 1981 at all, and it is why façade, window and terrace work at 1080 does not require Landmarks review while the same work two hundred feet west does.
The building itself is a quiet argument. It is clad in limestone, its balconies are inset into the base rather than hung off the façade, and its window frames are mahogany. Two residences to a floor with semi-private landings, ceiling heights reaching thirteen feet in some living rooms, and a resident staff that includes a live-in manager — the specification was aimed squarely at buyers who wanted the finish and proportions of the neighboring pre-war cooperatives with the flexibility of a deed. Forty-five years on, that is still the pitch, and it is still the reason the building trades.
The record does contain real errors, and they are worth carrying into any analysis. The city's story count is one of them: PLUTO and the Department of Finance both say fifteen stories, while the recorded unit schedule runs to an eighteenth floor, a nineteenth-floor residence and a penthouse, and Department of Buildings filings from 2003 onward say eighteen. Fifteen cannot be right. The unit count is another: the building was subdivided with thirty-two residential unit lots, combinations have reduced the working number to twenty-nine, and published descriptions putting the figure at thirty-five are not supported by anything in the recorded schedule.
Architecture and unit composition
The building occupies a fifty-one-foot Madison Avenue frontage on a shallow 4,893-square-foot lot, which is what produces the two-apartment floor plate. There is no third line and no interior unit; every residence in the stack has avenue or rear exposure, and the elevator landings serve two doors.
The A and B lines run from the second floor to the eighteenth, with no thirteenth floor, above which sit a residence numbered 19 and a penthouse. Listing records describe the penthouse level as a multi-level home with a long terrace and open views over the low-rise blocks around it — a rare condition on this avenue, where the neighboring pre-war stock builds to a consistent cornice line.
Combinations have reshaped the building over four decades. City and filing records show a two-apartment combination in 2003, a combination requiring a new interior stair in 2009, a duplex spanning the seventeenth and eighteenth floors renovated in 2010, and a sixteenth-to-seventeenth-floor combination in 2013. One unit lot is now carried under the designation 4B5AB — one home built out of three original apartments. The practical consequence for a buyer is that this building has no single representative floor plan. Two apartments on adjacent floors can be entirely different homes, and per-square-foot analysis has to be run line by line.
The commercial unit at the base, addressed 1078 Madison Avenue, is not part of the residential ownership. It is a separate condominium unit in class 4, sold out of the building's original ownership chain in 2004, and it has operated as personal-care retail through filings in 2004, 2015 and 2019. Retail turnover at the base of the building is therefore not something the residential board controls.
Building operations
The Residence on Madison runs as a full-service condominium: attended lobby with 24-hour door and concierge coverage, a live-in resident manager, a common garden, and a laundry room. There is no amenity program beyond that, which is normal and appropriate for a building of this size on this avenue — the operating budget goes into staff and the building envelope rather than into fitness and lounge space.
The envelope is where the money has gone, and the filing history shows it. Department of Buildings records carry façade repair work in 2000 and 2007, brick veneer replacement in 2007, concrete façade repair with masonry veneer reconstruction and temporary shoring in 2010, terrace-level pipe scaffolding in 2010 and 2011, a new gas boiler in 2008 and a boiler replacement in 2014, a cooling tower replacement in 2003, a full lobby renovation in 2008, and east-elevation limestone panel repair and replacement with a sidewalk shed in 2015. A limestone-clad building of this vintage will keep spending on its panels. Any buyer should ask for the current FISP cycle status, the most recent engineer's report, the reserve position, and whether an assessment is contemplated or has recently concluded.
The small J-51 abatement that appears in the historical Department of Finance file — initiated in 2011–2012 on a fourteen-year term against six unit lots — is consistent with a capital improvement of exactly this kind. It is small money and it is gone; the point is that the building has a documented habit of funding capital work.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium, confirmed structurally. Purchases pass through the board of managers' right of first refusal rather than a cooperative approval, which produces materially faster and more predictable closings than the neighboring co-ops.
Pets, pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC and trust ownership, minimum down payment, flip tax: Not documented in public records, and no offering plan for this building was located in either library. Condominium form makes the standard flexibilities likely, but likely is not a term of contract. Obtain the by-laws, the house rules and the current policy sheet from the managing agent before you rely on any of it.
Real estate taxes: No abatement available to a private purchaser. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit against the current bill.
Landmarks: No Certificate of Appropriateness required. Window replacement, terrace work and façade alterations here are governed by the by-laws and the Building Code, not by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $14,715/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $42
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →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.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
1080 Madison has traded continuously since its 1982 sellout, and the arc of its ownership is itself informative. The original sponsor sale went heavily to offshore holding companies alongside individual purchasers, a common structure for early-1980s Manhattan condominium sellouts. Two unit lots passed to the City of New York through the Commissioner of Finance in 1989 and 1993 — tax proceedings in the early-1990s downturn — and both returned to private ownership. Since the mid-1990s the building has traded as a conventional, liquid Upper East Side condominium, with recorded transfers in every recent year including 2024 and 2025.
Pricing here is a dollars-per-square-foot conversation, and the correct comparable set is narrow. The pre-war cooperatives that surround it — on Madison, on the side streets and on Fifth — have different economics, different financing rules, different buyer pools and a board. The right peers are the small number of Upper East Side condominiums, and the premium 1080 Madison commands over the co-op stock is a tenure and liquidity premium, not a finish premium.
Within the building, floor and line drive everything, and combinations mean square footage varies far more than the A/B plan suggests. The upper stack, the combined homes and the penthouse level are separate markets from the lower A/B floors and should be underwritten separately. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 25, 2025 | 6B | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,430 sf | $2,850,000 | $1,993/sf | -3.4% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | 5AB | 5 BR · 5.5 BA · 3,725 sf | $6,300,000 | $1,691/sf | -21.2% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | 4B5AB | 3,425 sf | $6,300,000 | $1,839/sf | off-mkt |
| Jun 18, 2025 | 16A | 2 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,100 sf | $1,780,000 | $1,618/sf | -3.8% |
| Apr 4, 2025 | 14B | 1,000 sf | $1,725,000 | $1,725/sf | off-mkt |
| Nov 14, 2024 | 12AB | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,200 sf | $3,760,000 | $1,709/sf | -6.0% |
| Sep 26, 2024 | 2A | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,350 sf | $1,935,000 | $1,433/sf | -3.3% |
| Feb 21, 2023 | 3A | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,350 sf | $1,999,950 | $1,481/sf | -23.1% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,733/sf across 4 sales. Median listing discount 4.5% 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.
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 1-01493-7501) 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; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
The tenure is real, and you should still verify it on your own deal. The Department of Finance class, the separately assessed unit lots and the recorded deeds all confirm condominium form here. On Madison Avenue generally, do not take tenure from marketing — check the tax lot structure and the transfer type.
Ignore the fifteen-story figure in city data. The recorded unit schedule reaches an eighteenth floor, a nineteenth-floor residence and a penthouse.
Ignore any "35 residences" description. The subdivision produced thirty-two residential unit lots; combinations have reduced the working count to twenty-nine.
There is no offering plan in either library. Every policy answer must come from the managing agent, in writing.
Ask for the limestone file. Repeated façade, veneer and panel work is in the record from 2000 through 2015. Get the FISP status and the engineer's report.
Underwrite full taxes. The only exemption on the roll belongs to a foreign government and does not transfer to you.
The landmark freedom is an asset — say so. No Landmarks review means window and terrace work here is a by-law question, not a two-agency question.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with tenure and location together. A condominium deed one block from the Metropolitan Museum, on Madison between 81st and 82nd, is the scarce thing. The finishes are not.
Correct the story count and the unit count in your materials. Both circulate wrong, and both invite a buyer to discover a discrepancy at exactly the wrong moment.
Price the specific home, not the building. With combinations spread through the stack, a building-average per-foot number is close to meaningless here.
Have the capital-work history ready. Buyers on a 1981 limestone building will ask. Answering with a documented, funded record of façade and systems work is a strength.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 1080 Madison, also evaluate:
- 998 Fifth Avenue — McKim, Mead & White's 1912 cooperative at the western end of the same tax block, inside the Metropolitan Museum Historic District; the same block, a different world
- 1114 Madison Avenue — 1938 building operating as a condominium with 56 residences; the closest condominium peer on the avenue by tenure
- 1009 Madison Avenue (Charles House) — 1956 condominium with roughly a hundred residences; the larger, older condominium alternative to the south
- 1033 Madison Avenue — Kenneth Murchison's 1925 cooperative at East 79th Street; the boutique pre-war co-op alternative
- 1040 Madison Avenue — 18-residence 1925 cooperative; the smallest-scale pre-war alternative nearby
- 1095 Madison Avenue — roughly 30 apartments in a 1912 building converted to cooperative
- 1115 Madison Avenue — 57-apartment 1963 cooperative; the post-war co-op alternative with large layouts
- 987 Madison Avenue (Carlyle House) — 1930 cooperative on the Carlyle block
- 1122 Madison Avenue — Studio Sofield and Hill West Architects new construction at East 84th Street; the current-generation condominium on the avenue, at a far higher tier
- 1230 Madison Avenue — Robert A.M. Stern Architects on the Guggenheim block, and a cooperative despite being marketed otherwise; read that page next to this one for the tenure contrast
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Upper East Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper East Side.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent.
Considering a move at The Residence on Madison; recorded and filed variously as La Residence and La Residence on Madison?
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 The Residence on Madison; recorded and filed variously as La Residence and La Residence on Madison 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.