- Year built
- 1931
- Type
- Cooperative
120 East End Avenue is one of the most quietly prestigious buildings on Carl Schurz Park. Erected in 1931 by Vincent Astor and designed by Charles A. Platt, it is the third and most luxurious of Astor's East End developments — and the one he chose for his own residence, taking the top-floor apartment. With just 42 apartments across 17 stories, the building runs at a density that almost no other full-service Upper East Side cooperative can match: large-scale residences, several of them duplexed or terraced, organized around park and river views rather than around maximizing unit count.
Platt's architectural sensibility defines the building's character. Rather than the carved limestone exuberance of the Fifth and Park Avenue palaces of the same decade, 120 East End is deliberately understated — a smooth, limestone-clad palazzo that reads as patrician restraint. That quietness is itself the point: the building has always traded on discretion, scale, and its singular position over the park.
The East End Avenue / Carl Schurz Park enclave is one of Manhattan's most insulated residential pockets. East End Avenue runs only a handful of blocks, terminating at the park and the river, with little through traffic and a concentration of low-density pre-war cooperatives. For buyers who want generously scaled pre-war apartments, permanent park-and-river views, and a removed, low-key address away from the busier Fifth and Park Avenue corridors, 120 East End is among the defining options in the neighborhood.
Architecture and unit composition
The 42 apartments are organized for scale rather than quantity — typically a small number of large residences per floor, with several duplex and terraced configurations among them. The result is a building of family-sized and entertaining-scaled apartments, with the largest configurations commanding sweeping exposures over Carl Schurz Park, the East River, and the skyline.
Pre-war signatures recur throughout: high ceilings, formal entry galleries, separate dining rooms, library-living combinations, and service infrastructure characteristic of 1931 luxury apartment design. Park- and river-facing apartments on the eastern flank carry the building's view premium; the permanence of those views — the park and the river cannot be built over — is a structural value driver.
Apartment-level variation is significant given the small unit count and the mix of simplexes, duplexes, and terraced layouts; each line and floor prices on its own merits.
Building operations
120 East End operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative with 24-hour doorman coverage, attended elevators, an on-site superintendent, a fitness center, a bike room, and private storage, along with a private garden. The very small unit count produces a low institutional density and a correspondingly close-knit ownership — a building where turnover is infrequent and the shareholder base is stable.
The board permits financing of up to 50% of the purchase price, and a 2% flip tax is paid by the buyer at closing. Pets are allowed, and dedicated storage transfers with the apartment. As a low-density, large-format East End cooperative, the board maintains selective admission standards; buyers should review the current proprietary lease and house rules as part of contract preparation.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $44,154/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $88
Facade safety — Local Law 11
An active hazard: the building must keep a sidewalk shed up and make repairs now — expect construction, disruption, and a likely special assessment. We’d get you the repair scope and the building’s funding plan up front, so you go in knowing exactly what’s underway and what it’s likely to cost.
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
Sales context at 120 East End:
- With only 42 apartments, turnover is low — often only a small handful of closings in a given year, and in quieter years very few.
- Pricing sits at the upper tier of East End Avenue inventory, reflecting apartment scale, the park-and-river position, and the building's low density; the largest duplex and terraced residences anchor the top of the range.
- Renovated, high-floor, park-facing apartments command the building's strongest pricing.
The building-specific sales feed for this address is generated from public records and updates automatically; treat the ranges here as general context rather than as quotations of specific trades.
What to know if you’re buying
Scarcity is structural. Forty-two apartments means listings are infrequent; when an apartment in the line and size you want appears, it is worth moving decisively.
The park-and-river position is permanent. Carl Schurz Park and the East River guarantee view permanence on the eastern flank — a durable value driver.
The Astor / Platt provenance is real. The building's history as Vincent Astor's own residence and Platt's authorship are genuine marketing and provenance assets.
Plan financing at 50% and a 2% buyer-paid flip tax. The board caps financing at half the price, and the flip tax falls to the buyer — both should be built into the offer and closing budget.
This is a large-apartment building. The unit mix is weighted to substantial residences; buyers seeking a small one-bedroom will find limited inventory here. The building is pet-friendly.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with scale, views, and provenance. Apartment size, the park-and-river position, and the Astor / Platt history are the building's defining selling points.
The buyer-paid flip tax nets cleanly. Because the 2% flip tax is borne by the buyer, sellers retain more of the proceeds than at buildings with a seller-paid transfer fee — a point worth surfacing in negotiation.
Pricing demands bespoke comparable analysis. With so few apartments and so much configuration variation, building averages are unreliable; pricing should be built from the specific apartment's floor, exposure, layout, and condition.
The buyer pool is selective and well-capitalized. Large East End apartments draw established primary-residence buyers; marketing should target that demographic precisely.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. Roughly 6–10 weeks from contract to closing, subject to board-package and interview scheduling.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 120 East End Avenue, also evaluate:
- 180 East End Avenue — nearby East End cooperative on the park
- 60 East End Avenue — East End full-service co-op
- 200 East End Avenue — large East End cooperative nearby
- 45 East End Avenue — East End pre-war peer
- 40 East End Avenue — nearby East End cooperative
- 535 East 86th Street — nearby Yorkville cooperative on the park edge
The Roebling Team at 120 East End Avenue
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Central Park West, the Upper East Side, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because East End Avenue buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, board culture, transactional mechanics, and pricing at the apartment level — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 120 East End, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
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