- Year built
- 1930
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 59
- Landmark
- Designated
1225 Madison Avenue is a 1930 pre-war cooperative at the corner of Madison Avenue and East 88th Street — the residential heart of Carnegie Hill, the Upper East Side's quietest and most architecturally consistent enclave. Carnegie Hill runs roughly from 86th to 98th Streets, anchored by Andrew Carnegie's mansion (now the Cooper Hewitt) and a dense fabric of pre-war cooperatives, mansions, private schools, and cultural institutions. The neighborhood's combination of low-traffic streets, proximity to Central Park and the Museum Mile, and a deep concentration of family-scale pre-war apartments makes it one of Manhattan's most enduring residential markets — and 1225 Madison sits squarely inside the designated Carnegie Hill Historic District, so that character is protected.
What distinguishes 1225 Madison within that context is scale. With 59 apartments across 16 stories and a high building-area-per-unit ratio, this is a large-format co-op — the kind of building where apartments are sized for families rather than singles or couples. That generous average footprint is a meaningful differentiator in a corridor where many buildings carry far smaller units, and it positions 1225 Madison toward the family-residence end of the Carnegie Hill spectrum.
The corner also delivers everyday convenience. The building's Madison Avenue base carries neighborhood retail at street level, and residents are steps from the boutiques and cafés of the Madison corridor, the 4/5/6 at 86th Street, the Q at 86th and Second, and Central Park and the Museum Mile a short walk west. The 1930 completion date places the building at the very peak of pre-war luxury construction — the moment apartment planning, ceiling heights, and detailing reached mature form before the Depression curtailed the boom.
Architecture and unit composition
The sixteen-story facade carries the classical pre-war vocabulary of 1930: a limestone-detailed base, a brick body above, and the disciplined window rhythm of peak-era Madison Avenue construction. Ground-floor retail lines the Madison Avenue frontage, with the residential entrance and lobby addressed to the corner — a common, well-functioning arrangement for the avenue's pre-war co-ops. The corner siting at 88th Street gives many apartments dual exposures and the cross-light that mid-block buildings can't offer.
The 59 apartments skew toward larger configurations — two-, three-, and four-bedroom family layouts predominate, consistent with the building's high per-unit area. Pre-war signatures are characteristic of the vintage: high ceilings in the principal rooms, formal entry galleries, separate dining rooms, library-living configurations in the larger lines, hardwood floors, and the deep closet and service-zone planning that defines 1930-era luxury apartments. Corner and upper-floor residences command the building's premium for light and openness.
Building operations
1225 Madison Avenue operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative, with a full-time doorman and attended lobby, an on-site superintendent, and private resident storage. The 59-apartment count, paired with large average unit sizes, produces a low-density, family-oriented residential character with the institutional stability that defines Carnegie Hill co-ops. Its position inside the Carnegie Hill Historic District means exterior alterations pass through Landmarks Preservation Commission review — a guarantee that the streetscape and facade are preserved. The ground-floor retail provides commercial income that helps support the building's operating budget.
The building runs on established Carnegie Hill co-op norms, with a primary-residence emphasis and a board that reviews on financial strength — the standard posture for large-format pre-war cooperatives in this neighborhood.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Facade safety — Local Law 11
Safe to live in today — but the last inspection flagged repairs that are due on a deadline, so facade work and its cost are coming. Whether that’s a real concern depends on the scope, the timing, and how the building plans to pay for it — reserves or an assessment — which is exactly what we’d dig into 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 →Recent sales
Sales context at 1225 Madison Avenue:
- Turnover is limited given the 59-unit scale and family-residence profile — typically a small number of closings per year.
- Pricing skews toward the upper tier consistent with the large-format apartments: substantial three- and four-bedroom family configurations dominate the inventory, with value concentrated in generous footprints, corner exposures, and the Carnegie Hill address.
- Larger-format Carnegie Hill co-ops generally hold value well across cycles given their scarcity and the neighborhood's stable demand.
What to know if you’re buying
The large-format scale is the defining feature. This is a family-residence building; the value proposition is generous apartment footprints at a Carnegie Hill corner.
The 1930 peak-pre-war vintage is structural. Layouts, ceiling heights, and detailing reflect the mature high point of pre-war luxury design.
Convenience at the door. Retail at the base, the 4/5/6 and Q at 86th Street, and Central Park and the Museum Mile a short walk away make this one of the more walkable corners in Carnegie Hill.
Board approval follows Carnegie Hill co-op norms. Strong financials and primary-residence intent are central criteria; larger apartments generally attract a financially established buyer pool.
What to know if you’re selling
The scale and address are the headline. Listing copy should foreground the large-format pre-war family apartments, the corner light, the protected historic-district setting, and the Carnegie Hill location.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. With a small unit count and substantial footprints, each apartment is somewhat distinct; floor, exposure, configuration, and renovation history all matter.
Closing timelines are co-op standard — generally 6–10 weeks from contract signing to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 1225 Madison Avenue, also evaluate:
- 1217 Madison Avenue — 1930 pre-war Carnegie Hill co-op immediately nearby
- 35 East 85th Street — Carnegie Hill co-op near the park
- 111 East 85th Street — Carnegie Hill / Yorkville-edge co-op
- 112 East 81st Street — pre-war Upper East Side co-op nearby
- 175 East 82nd Street — Upper East Side building nearby
- 1178 Madison Avenue — 1926 pre-war Carnegie Hill co-op to the south
The Roebling Team at 1225 Madison Avenue
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Upper East Side, Central Park West, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because Carnegie Hill 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 1225 Madison Avenue, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
Current availability including off-market, the full comp set, and the board & financials read most listings don't show.