1172 Park Avenue

Rosario Candela (1890–1953) emigrated from Sicily in 1909, graduated Columbia's School of Architecture in 1915, and by age 33 was the dominant designer of luxury apartment buildings on the Upper East Side. His Park Avenue body of work includes 720 Park Avenue (1929), 740 Park Avenue (1930), 775 Park Avenue (765 Park) (1927), 770 Park Avenue (1930), 778 Park Avenue (1931), 1021 Park, 1105 Park, 1172 Park (1926), 1192 Park (1926), and 1220 Park — ten commissions concentrated within a six-year window that produced the architecturally most consequential body of pre-war Park Avenue cooperative inventory.

Elizabeth Hawes's New York, New York: How the Apartment House Transformed the Life of the City (1869–1930) (Henry Holt, 1993) documents Candela's planning grammar: he "designed buildings from the inside out," placing windows "where they received light, balanced a room, or allowed a graceful arrangement of furniture," and "added duplicate water connections to street mains and multiple switches for ceiling lights as well as beautifully turned staircases and separate wine cellars." Hawes quotes Candela inverting the conventional design hierarchy: "Candela also invested unusual energy in the entry hall. In a typical apartment, he made it a full-sized room with rich views into the interior because he thought it was important to greet a visitor with a full sense of a home."

Michael E. Paterno — with Anthony Campagna and Vincent Astor — was one of the three dominant luxury apartment developers of 1920s Manhattan. Paterno's first Candela commission was 1105 Park Avenue (1923) — Candela's first Upper East Side apartment building, a 14-story Renaissance Revival with a "seven-room roof garden apartment" that was the first penthouse on Park Avenue. 1172 Park (1926) was the second Paterno / Candela commission; the firm's most famous subsequent collaborations — 720, 740, 778 Park, plus 834 Fifth Avenue — followed.

The architectural detail at the building exterior is structurally distinct from peer Candela work. The light tan brick body sits on a two-story rusticated limestone base. The canopied entrance is one step up with an arched surround, a sculpted tympanum, and large flanking light sconces. A bandcourse separates the rusticated base from the plain limestone third story; another runs beneath the top floor. The Carnegie Hill Neighbors Architectural Guide documents the cornice ornamentation with characteristic specificity:

"Close inspection — binoculars are suggested — reveals spouts with alternating lions' and rams' heads, guarding their turf at the top of the building."

The Twelve-Room Penthouse and Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst

James Trager's Park Avenue, Street of Dreams (Atheneum, 1990) records 1172 Park's original penthouse configuration and its 1927 sale:

"The twelve-room penthouse had fourteen-foot ceilings and a living room thirty-two feet long; its first owner, Mrs. William Amory, sold it in the spring of 1927 to Mrs. Leonard K. Elmhirst, the former Mrs. Willard Straight (née Dorothy Whitney, sister of Harry Payne Whitney, sister-in-law of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney)."

Dorothy Payne Whitney Straight Elmhirst (1887–1968) was the youngest child of William C. Whitney; she co-founded The New Republic magazine in 1914 with her first husband Willard Straight, and after Straight's 1918 death married Leonard K. Elmhirst in 1925. The couple purchased Dartington Hall — a 2,000-acre estate in Devon, England — and founded the Dartington Hall progressive school, which hosted lectures by Bertrand Russell and Aldous Huxley. Her son Whitney Straight became deputy chairman of Rolls-Royce Ltd.; her daughter Beatrice Straight won the 1976 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Network. Her New York Times obituary (December 16, 1968) described her as "considered a great beauty and a leading figure in the New York social world" who "led marches for women's suffrage" and as president of the New York Junior League "tried to keep alive in the privileged members of society the sense of responsibility for those less fortunate than themselves."

Current apartment composition

The 1172 Corporation's original 1926 plan held just 26 large apartments — most 11- or 12-room configurations with 5 baths. The 1956 cooperative conversion and subsequent reconfigurations expanded the unit count to 51 by 1965 and to approximately 46–52 today. Apartment-level features carry the substantial Candela planning grammar — long entrance galleries (Apartment 12B at 1192 Park parallel shows 42-foot entrance galleries; comparable scale at 1172), well-segregated formal-and-service circulation, generous room proportions, and wood-burning fireplaces in many units.

1172 Park operates as a full-service Carnegie Hill cooperative under the 1172 Corporation. The operational baseline includes:

• 24-hour doorman
• Live-in superintendent
• Fitness center
• Resident storage (rented separately)
• Bicycle room
• Two maisonettes / professional offices with entrances directly on Park Avenue — a structural commercial-revenue feature uncommon among peer Candela cooperatives
• In-unit washer/dryer permitted
• Protruding through-wall air-conditioner units permitted (one of the few exterior policy points where 1172 differs from peer Candela cooperatives)

The building does not carry an on-site garage, balconies, or roof deck.

Verified against the building's house rules and governing documents (last reviewed January 2022):

• Financing maximum: 65 percent — materially more permissive than the 50 percent standard at peer Candela cooperatives
• Minimum down payment: 35 percent
• Flip tax: 2 percent of gross sale price, buyer-paid at closing
• Tax deductibility on maintenance: 38 percent
• Pets: Permitted
• In-unit washer/dryer: Permitted
• Pied-à-terre: Affirmatively allowed — Compass policy block expressly lists "Pied-a-Terre Policy: Allowed." This is unusual for a Candela cooperative; most Candela buildings restrict pied-à-terre ownership to preserve primary-residence community character
• Subletting: Board approval required; standard Carnegie Hill duration limits
• Trust ownership: Subject to board approval with full beneficial-owner disclosure
• LLC ownership: Subject to board approval with full beneficial-owner disclosure
• Post-closing liquidity: Typical Carnegie Hill threshold (2x to 3x annual carrying costs); confirm specific board threshold at application stage
• Board interview: Required

The 35 percent down payment minimum combined with the affirmative pied-à-terre permission makes 1172 Park among the most structurally accessible Candela cooperatives — a positioning that reflects the building's smaller post-conversion average apartment scale and the broader buyer-pool diversification the board has chosen to support.

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 to date) cleared a median $2,323/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.0% 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 1-01504-0040). 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.

Ira Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007), the American novelist and playwright responsible for A Kiss Before Dying (1953), Rosemary's Baby (1967), The Stepford Wives (1972), The Boys from Brazil (1976), and the long-running thriller play Deathtrap, lived at 1172 Park Avenue.

The Observer's January 2010 reporting documents Levin's estate's sale of his 1172 Park apartment in early 2010, approximately two years after Levin died of a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment on November 12, 2007 at age 78 (per the New York Times obituary).

Levin's residence at 1172 Park overlapped with the most architecturally consequential period of his publishing career, including the Rosemary's Baby film (1968, Polanski, Mia Farrow / John Cassavetes) and The Stepford Wives film (1975, Forbes, Katharine Ross). The literary association — one of the most consequential late-20th-century American horror-thriller writers in a 1926 Candela cooperative across the street from the Russian Orthodox Synod headquarters — is the single most architecturally distinct cultural anchor for any building in the broader Carnegie Hill Park Avenue corridor.

In addition to the Levin residency, Trager's Park Avenue, Street of Dreams documents the 1927 acquisition of the twelve-room penthouse by Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst (the former Mrs. Willard Straight, founder of The New Republic, founder of Dartington Hall).

The Candela / Paterno architect-developer pedigree is structural. The second commission of the partnership that would produce 720 Park, 740 Park, and 778 Park; among the most consequential pre-war Park Avenue collaborations.

The 65 percent maximum financing is structurally distinguishing. Materially more permissive than peer Candela cooperatives; the broader transaction structure supports a wider buyer pool than peer trophy Park Avenue inventory.

The affirmative pied-à-terre permission is unusual for Candela. Most Candela cooperatives restrict pied-à-terre ownership; 1172 Park's permissive structure supports pied-à-terre buyers, international purchasers, and the broader buyer demographic that peer Candela inventory does not.

The Ira Levin literary anchor is real cultural history. Verified through the Observer and Levin's New York Times obituary; the literary association is a real institutional credential.

The block context is exceptional. Across East 93rd Street from the Synod of Bishops headquarters / George F. Baker Jr. House complex; the Walker & Gillette 1932 Adamesque mansion (Billy Rose's former residence, now Spence School); the dense Carnegie Hill institutional fabric.

The two ground-floor maisonette / professional offices produce structural commercial revenue. A structurally meaningful financial feature.

Verify operational specifics during due diligence. Specific board approval framework, sublet duration limits, post-closing liquidity threshold, current capital project pipeline, and the LL11 façade cycle on the 1926 vintage should be reviewed against current management documents.

Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Plan for 6–10 weeks from contract through board approval to closing.

Marketing should lead with the Candela / Paterno credential and the Ira Levin literary anchor. Both are structurally specific identity features documented in primary sources.

The 65 percent financing accessibility expands the buyer pool meaningfully. Materially more permissive than peer Candela cooperatives; marketing should reach the broader buyer demographic the policy framework supports.

The pied-à-terre permission is a real buyer-pool-expansion feature. Pied-à-terre buyers — international, second-residence, institutional — should be reached specifically.

Pricing should reference recent comparable closings. The building prices at the upper end of the peer Carnegie Hill cooperative set.

Closing timelines are cooperative-standard.

If you're considering 1172 Park Avenue, also evaluate:

• 740 Park Avenue — Candela / Cross & Cross 1930; trophy pre-war Park Avenue cooperative
• 720 Park Avenue — Candela 1929; trophy pre-war Park Avenue cooperative
• 770 Park Avenue — Candela 1930; pre-war Park Avenue trophy peer
• 778 Park Avenue — Candela 1931; pre-war Park Avenue trophy peer
• 775 Park Avenue (765 Park) — Candela 1927; pre-war Park Avenue peer
• 1175 Park Avenue — Emery Roth 1925; nearby Carnegie Hill peer
• 1185 Park Avenue — Schwartz & Gross 1929; nearby Carnegie Hill peer

Sources: The Roebling Research Library (offering plans, house rules, financial statements, board minutes, internal transaction records); NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers; publicly recorded NYC building data.