1185 Park Avenue
1185 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10128
Carnegie Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1015220001 · BIN 1048384
- Year built
- 1928
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 164
- Floors
- 16
- Landmark
- Designated
- Subletting
- Restrictive
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2025
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 3BR median
- $4.4M
- Recent range
- $2.4M – $13.2M
- Listing discount
- 7.4%
- Recorded transfers
- 149
1185 Park Avenue is the only grand courtyard apartment building still standing on Park Avenue — one of a handful of luxury New York apartment houses ever designed around a central landscaped courtyard, alongside the Dakota (1 West 72nd), the Apthorp (390 West End Avenue), the Belnord (225 West 86th Street), and Graham Court (1923 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard). The courtyard typology is among the most architecturally consequential decisions in New York apartment-house design — sacrificing developable footprint for a private outdoor space at the heart of the building, organizing circulation around a central landscape, and producing an apartment experience closer to a London garden square than a typical Manhattan tower. Schwartz & Gross deployed this premise on Park Avenue in 1929, on the only major site that ever accommodated it on the avenue.
The architectural execution is remarkable. The Gothic triple-arch porte-cochère opens from Park Avenue into a fully landscaped private courtyard, which serves both as the building's vehicle turnaround and as the central organizing feature for resident circulation. Six separate lobbies — one per courtyard quadrant pair — serve the building's apartments, with each elevator landing serving only two apartments. The result is the privacy of a small building (two apartments per landing) at the operational scale of a substantial building (164 apartments today, 172 originally). For buyers attentive to architectural typology and to the daily-life signature it produces, 1185 Park is among Manhattan's most distinctive inventory.
Schwartz & Gross — the firm responsible for substantial portions of pre-war Manhattan luxury apartment-building stock including buildings on CPW, Broadway, and Park — designed 1185 Park as one of their most architecturally ambitious commissions. The neo-Gothic vocabulary is unusual in the Park Avenue inventory (most Park Avenue pre-wars are classical or Art Deco); the porte-cochère and courtyard premise has no peer on the avenue. The 1953 cooperative conversion was relatively early in the Park Avenue rental-to-co-op transition.
The building's apartments retain pre-war architectural detail at a high level. Crown moldings, wood-burning fireplaces, high beamed ceilings, and spacious rooms throughout. The 22 maid's rooms — a relic of the building's original staffed-service-residence configuration — have been adapted variously across the building's nearly century-long history, some retained as service quarters, others converted into office or guest space within the apartments they serve.
For buyers, 1185 Park represents a particular tier of Carnegie Hill pre-war inventory: architecturally distinguished, institutionally serious, with the courtyard typology producing a daily-life experience that no other Manhattan building can deliver. The 164-apartment scale produces broader buyer dynamics than the smallest tier-one peers (where the 13–20 unit inventories make turnover slow), while preserving the institutional culture appropriate to the building's pedigree.
Architecture and unit composition
The 164 apartments today (172 originally) span configurations from approximately 1,800 sf 2BRs to substantial 4,500+ sf 4BRs, full-floor combinations, and the occasional duplex. Each elevator landing serves only two apartments — a feature that produces unusual privacy for a building of 1185 Park's scale.
Pre-war Schwartz & Gross signatures throughout: 10–11 foot ceilings (with beamed ceilings as a distinguishing feature in many primary rooms), formal entry galleries, library-living-room combinations, wood-burning fireplaces (multiple per apartment in many configurations), formal dining rooms, primary suites with substantial closet and dressing infrastructure, service wings, and the building's signature 22 maid's rooms.
Some apartments have terraces — a feature primarily on upper floors where setbacks produce usable outdoor space. Courtyard-facing apartments enjoy quieter exposures with the landscaped courtyard as the view; Park Avenue-facing apartments enjoy the broader Park Avenue streetscape; cross-street-facing apartments have stable side-street exposures.
The newly refurbished fitness center reflects the building's modern amenity posture — Schwartz & Gross did not provide for a fitness center in the original 1929 design, but the building has adapted shared spaces over time to accommodate contemporary expectations.
Building operations
1185 Park operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative with full-time doorman, attended elevator, on-site superintendent, fitness center, and private storage. The 6-lobbies-and-2-per-landing internal organization produces operational complexity (six separate door positions and elevator stacks) but daily-life simplicity for residents (consistent staff per lobby, two-apartment landings).
Specific policy details (financing cap or prohibition, flip tax structure, sublet policy specifics, pied-à-terre allowance) are not formally published in the manner of comparable buildings. Buyers should obtain current information directly from property management during due diligence and review the proprietary lease and house rules.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $56,618/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $27
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
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 →Management & transfer contacts
- Flip tax
- 2% of gross sales price (transfer fee)
- Notable fees
- Move-in/out $2,000 each; financing fee $300
Recent sales
1185 Park Avenue's 156-record RPTT history across 2004–2025 makes it one of the highest-turnover trophy pre-war co-ops in Manhattan — a function of the building's 164-apartment scale. The transactional record reveals three distinct editorial patterns.
First, the trophy-tier penthouse price-discovery story. The PH16/17G penthouse (5BR / 5,100 sqft) followed a striking four-year price-discovery arc: listed at $14.9M (PH16G, Jun 2021 NLA), $15.9M (16/17F, Jan 2023 NLA), $15.4M (17/16G, Jun 2023 NLA), and $15.4M (PH-17/16G, Dec 2023 NLA) — finally clearing at $13M (May 2025, -10.34% from $14.5M last asking). The 7/8I duplex shows the same pattern in the mid-tier: listed at $10M / $9.95M / $9.95M / $9.995M across 2015–2023 NLA cycles, ultimately clearing at $8.5M full-ask in May 2024. The same PHA penthouse traded at $15.8M (Sep 2018, −14.59% from $18.5M) and again at $14M (Mar 2025) — 11% nominal decline across 6.5 years on this specific penthouse, modest by trophy-tier standards. These multi-year arcs document that 1185 Park's $13–16M aspirational tier consistently negotiates 10–20% below initial pricing.
Second, tight discount-to-ask discipline across the building's high-volume mid-tier. Recent 2024–2025 closings (excluding the ground-floor 1A and 1L outliers) cluster at -1% to -8% from asking: #4K -2%, #3D -1.47%, #2C -1.82%, #5L -5.58%, #8G -5.91%, #2B -5.16%, #5E -6%, and the full-ask #7/8I $8.5M trophy duplex. Full-ask trades occur with frequency — #2F at $3.335M (Mar 2021), #9L at $4.995M (Nov 2018), #8A at $6.75M (Aug 2014), #3C at $4.75M (Aug 2009 through the post-Lehman correction). Premium-to-ask closes are rare but documented: #11K at $4.09M +6.23% (Mar 2020 pre-COVID) and #15C at $5.35M +5% (May 2015).
Third, defining historical anchors. The 2009 #16F penthouse close at $19M (-5% from $20M asking) is among the most editorially significant 1185 Park trades — closing in January 2009 during the immediate post-Lehman correction at only a 5% discount, when the broader luxury-co-op market was clearing 15-25% below pricing, demonstrates the building's apex inventory held institutional value through the crisis. The 2013 #8CDE close at $13.5M (9BR/10BA mega-combination across the 8th floor C/D/E lines, -6.86% from $14.495M) and the 2012 #16AB at $12.25M (7BR penthouse-tier A/B combination, -3.92%) anchor the building's large-combination trophy tier across cycles.
The building's deep inventory and consistent annual turnover make 1185 Park one of the few pre-war Park Avenue cooperatives where buyers and sellers can build positioning from a substantial comp set — useful at every floor plate from the smaller B/E lines through the marquee combination configurations.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2025 | 3E | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,225 sf | $4,500,000 | $2,022/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 30, 2025 | 4K | 3 BR · 3.5 BA | $4,900,000 | -2.0% | |
| May 16, 2025 | PH16 | 5 BR · 6 BA · 5,100 sf | $13,000,000 | $2,549/sf | -10.3% |
| Apr 15, 2025 | 11B | 2 BR · 3 BA | $2,350,000 | -14.5% | |
| Apr 7, 2025 | 3D | 4 BR · 4 BA | $6,700,000 | -1.5% | |
| Feb 24, 2025 | 2C | 2 BR · 3 BA | $2,700,000 | -1.8% | |
| Jan 14, 2025 | 16 | 4 BR · 5.5 BA · 5,250 sf | $13,150,000 | $2,505/sf | -17.3% |
| Aug 19, 2024 | 5L | 4 BR · 4 BA · 2,900 sf | $3,300,000 | $1,138/sf | -17.4% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $2,102/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 5.0% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2003 | 15L | $4,750,000 |
| Oct 15, 2003 | 3C | $3,250,000 |
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 1-01522-0001) 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 courtyard typology is the building. Buyers attentive to architectural typology and to the daily-life signature it produces will weight 1185 Park heavily; buyers indifferent to the courtyard premise may find other Carnegie Hill or Park Avenue inventory more appropriate to their needs. The 1185 Park apartment experience is structurally different from a standard Manhattan tower.
The two-per-landing internal organization is a real privacy benefit. Sharing your elevator landing with only one neighbor — rather than three or four — is a meaningful daily-life feature that most Manhattan apartment buildings do not deliver.
Confirm specific policies directly with management. Because the building's policy block is not formally published in the manner of comparable buildings, buyers should obtain current information on the flip tax structure (payor and percentage), financing posture (cash-only requirement or financing cap, if any), and sublet policy specifics during the contract review process.
Board approval follows Carnegie Hill pre-war norms. Strong financial profile, professional accomplishment, and primary-residence intent are central criteria. The 164-unit scale produces somewhat more accessible board dynamics than the 13–24 unit tier-one peers, but the institutional framework remains substantial.
Renovation is constrained by historic district status and pre-war character. The board reviews scope and quality with attention to preservation of original detail. Wood-burning fireplaces, beamed ceilings, crown moldings, and the building's other pre-war signatures should be preserved in any substantive renovation.
The courtyard is a year-round amenity. Spring and summer use is most active; winter views from upper floors looking down into the snow-dusted courtyard are among the most distinctive Manhattan winter scenes. Buyers should view apartments at multiple times of year and at different times of day.
What to know if you’re selling
The courtyard architecture is a marketing asset. Listing copy should emphasize the architectural typology (only courtyard building on Park Avenue), the porte-cochère and Gothic detailing, and the two-per-landing privacy advantage. These are differentiators that the typical comparable Carnegie Hill pre-war cannot match.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. The building's 164-unit scale produces meaningful variation; courtyard-facing vs. Park-facing vs. cross-street, floor altitude, terrace access (where applicable), beamed-ceiling preservation, and configuration all matter.
Marketing typically combines public listing and direct broker outreach. Public channels are standard for most inventory; private network outreach matters more for full-floor and larger configurations.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. 6–10 weeks from contract signing to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 1185 Park Avenue, also evaluate:
- The Dakota (1 W 72nd) — the original courtyard building, on Central Park West
- The Apthorp (390 West End Ave) — courtyard pre-war on the Upper West Side
- The Belnord (225 W 86th) — courtyard pre-war on the Upper West Side
- 740 Park Avenue — Candela/Cross & Cross 1930; the apex of Park Avenue pre-war prestige
- 778 Park Avenue — Candela 1931; 18 full-floor apartments
- 1040 Park Avenue — pre-war Park Avenue Carnegie Hill
- 1107 Fifth Avenue — Carnegie Hill 1925 (the Marjorie Merriweather Post triplex building)
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Park Avenue — read The Roebling Team Guide to Park 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 1185 Park Avenue?
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