111 West 57th Street (Steinway Tower)
111 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
- Year built
- 2021
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 59
- Floors
- 84
- Pets
- Permitted under condominium rules
- Subletting
- Permitted under the condominium declaration
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
111 West 57th Street — Steinway Tower — is the architectural achievement of the Billionaires' Row supertall era. JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group commissioned SHoP Architects to design what is now the thinnest skyscraper in the world: an 84-story tower with a footprint of just 59 by 75 feet rising 1,428 feet, a width-to-height ratio of approximately 1:24 that is, by a substantial margin, the most slender supertall residential building ever constructed. The structural engineering challenge alone is among the most consequential of the modern era; the architectural result is among the most visually distinctive on the Manhattan skyline.
SHoP's design philosophy organizes around two architectural arguments. First, the terraced south facade — the building's north face rises straight up, while the south face steps back as the building rises, producing a graduated silhouette that has earned the building its informal nickname "the Stairway to Heaven." Second, the materials posture: the building is clad in custom terracotta tiles with bronze accents, a deliberate move away from the curtainwall-glass standard of contemporary supertall construction. The result reads as architecturally serious rather than commercially generic — a posture SHoP has cultivated across their broader Manhattan portfolio.
The historic preservation move is unusual at this scale. At the base of the tower sits the preserved 16-story Steinway Hall, a 1925 Warren and Wetmore Beaux-Arts commission for Steinway & Sons that originally carried the 111 West 57th Street address. Steinway Hall is an individually designated New York City landmark; the development team chose to preserve and incorporate the building into the supertall composition rather than demolish it, producing 14 residential units within Steinway Hall and 45 in the tower above for a total of 59 condominium residences. The integration of Warren and Wetmore's Beaux-Arts vocabulary with SHoP's modern supertall is among the more sophisticated preservation moves in modern Manhattan development.
The building's small unit count (59) is its other defining structural feature. Where peer supertalls accommodate 100–180 residences (One57: 92, 220 CPS: 100, 432 Park: ~147 original, Central Park Tower: 179), 111 West 57th's 59-residence configuration produces a meaningfully more institutional building scale — closer to a pre-war tier-one cooperative than to a typical modern condominium. The implication for buyers: greater apartment privacy, more substantial floor-plate scaling on the upper floors (some configurations exceed 7,000 sf), and a buyer pool that is smaller and more committed to the building's specific architectural identity.
For buyers, 111 West 57th represents the most architecturally serious entry in the modern Billionaires' Row canon. The Pelli/Pelli supertalls (One57, Central Park Tower) optimized for view altitude and amenity package; the Stern composition at 220 CPS optimized for pre-war-styled architectural weight; the Viñoly grid at 432 Park optimized for reductive minimalism; 111 West 57th uniquely optimized for slenderness and the architectural integration of preservation with modernism. Each represents a different argument about what a Manhattan supertall should be.
Architecture and unit composition
The 59 condominium residences distribute as 14 units in Steinway Hall (the preserved Warren and Wetmore base) and 45 units in the SHoP-designed tower above. Configurations span:
- Steinway Hall residences (14 units): Pre-war architectural detail preserved within Warren and Wetmore's 1925 Beaux-Arts envelope. Apartments in this section retain the building's original architectural character with modern building systems and finishes.
- Tower residences (45 units, including 6 duplexes): SHoP-designed apartments with floor-to-ceiling glass, terracotta-clad exterior surfaces visible from within, and the building's signature elongated proportions reflecting the slender tower footprint.
The 6 duplex configurations in the tower are concentrated on the upper floors; the largest configurations exceed 7,000 sf and span multiple floors at the building's top.
Interior finishes were specified at the high end of 2020–2021-era new-construction Manhattan supertalls. Materials include limestone, oak, custom millwork, and the architectural integration of the building's terracotta facade as a visible interior surface in some configurations.
View altitude is exceptional — apartments at the top of the tower command unobstructed sight lines across Central Park to its northern boundary, the East River, the Hudson, and downtown. The slender footprint means most apartments occupy a full or substantial portion of their floor, with multiple exposures available even on the lower tower floors. View permanence is essentially absolute given the surrounding Billionaires' Row buildout.
Building operations
111 West 57th operates as a luxury condominium with full-time doorman, 24-hour concierge, valet parking, and the broader amenity package. The amenities include fitness facilities, pool, spa, residents' lounge, private dining and conference space, and a screening room.
Common charges and property taxes are substantial. A 4,000 sf tower 4BR carries common charges in the range of $7,000–$12,000/month plus property taxes that can run $5,000–$10,000/month depending on apartment specifics. Total monthly carry on substantial apartments can exceed $25,000.
The 2021 completion date places 111 West 57th at the most recent end of the Billionaires' Row supertall corpus. The building has had a relatively smooth occupancy history with fewer documented operational issues than 432 Park's well-publicized defect litigation, though the supertall-category risk profile applies to any building of this height and slenderness; buyers should review current building engineering reports, board minutes, and reserve studies during due diligence.
Recent sales
Last 5–10 closed sales at 111 West 57th Street (replace this section with current ACRIS data — pull at publication time and refresh quarterly):
[Recent sales table to be populated from ACRIS]
Sales context at 111 West 57th:
- Inventory turnover is slow given the 59-unit total and the relatively recent 2021 completion. Sponsor sales were ongoing through 2022–2024; secondary-market trades are still establishing.
- Pricing spans roughly $7M for the lower tower 2BRs to $50M+ for the upper-tower duplexes and combined configurations. The top-tier penthouse sponsor pricing reached the $50M+ range.
- A meaningful share of transactions occur through Compass private exclusive and private network outreach rather than public listing.
What to know if you’re buying
The slenderness is the building. Buyers attentive to architectural identity should weight the SHoP design and the 1:24 width-to-height ratio as the building's defining feature. The architectural posture differs substantially from peer supertalls.
The 59-residence scale is institutionally different. Smaller buyer pool, more intimate building culture, less public-amenity friction. Closer to a pre-war cooperative experience than a typical modern condominium.
Steinway Hall vs. tower configurations are structurally different. Buyers should understand which section they're acquiring — the 14 Steinway Hall apartments have pre-war architectural character; the 45 tower apartments have SHoP modernist vocabulary. View specific units in person.
Supertall-category due diligence applies. Review current building engineering reports, board minutes, and reserve studies. The 2021 completion means less occupancy history but also a more recent capital-improvements baseline than the 2014-era supertalls.
Condo flexibility is real. 30–45 day closings; foreign buyers welcome; pied-à-terre and investment use permitted under the declaration; subletting allowed.
Mansion tax cliff effects are major. At 111 West 57th pricing, multiple cliff thresholds ($5M, $10M, $15M, $20M, $25M) routinely apply. Run pricing through the Mansion Tax Calculator.
Carrying cost is material but contained. The smaller unit count produces a leaner common-charge structure than the larger supertalls; carrying costs on substantial apartments are meaningful but not at Central Park Tower / 220 CPS levels for comparable square footage.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing requires global reach and architectural literacy. The buyer pool is international and architecturally attuned. Listing copy should reference SHoP's design, the 1:24 slenderness ratio, the Steinway Hall preservation, and the terracotta cladding — these are the building's differentiators.
Pricing requires apartment-level context. The 59-unit inventory is small but heterogeneous. View altitude, exposure, duplex vs. simplex configuration, and Steinway Hall vs. tower placement all drive substantial pricing variation.
Closing timelines are condo-fast. 30–45 days from contract signing to closing.
The Roebling Team at Steinway Tower (also "the Stairway to Heaven" for the building's terraced south facade)
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Central Park West, the Upper East Side, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan trophy market — including the modern Billionaires' Row supertall corridor. We publish this building profile because trophy condo buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, operational reality, transactional mechanics, and the realities of pricing at the apartment level — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 111 West 57th, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point. We'll bring the full context this page provides plus the transactional specifics your situation requires — financial structuring, due diligence priorities, comparable analysis at the apartment level, and the pacing strategy that fits your timeline.