1254 Madison Avenue
1254 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10128
Carnegie Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1015020017
- Year built
- 1927
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- Designated
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 2BR median
- $2.6M
- Recent range
- $1.7M – $6.2M
- Listing discount
- -1.5%
- Recorded transfers
- 49
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 1254 Madison Avenue would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.
1254 Madison Avenue — known to residents by its quieter side-street entrance at 21 East 90th Street — is a 1927 George F. Pelham cooperative on one of Carnegie Hill's most coveted park blocks. The corner sits steps from the grand 90th Street entrance to Central Park and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, a block from the Cooper Hewitt and the Museum Mile cultural spine, on the residential heart of the Upper East Side where almost everything is a prewar co-op with a board.
What sets the building apart is its intimacy and its prewar craft. Pelham designed it with just two apartments per landing across two elevator banks with keyed access, and every residence has a wood-burning fireplace — a rare amenity even by Carnegie Hill standards. The facade reads in the building's own register: beige brick detailed with the Art Deco and medieval-Gothic flourishes Pelham favored in the late 1920s, a canopied entrance, and landscaped sidewalk planting that signals the white-glove operation behind the door.
Architecture and unit composition
The building belongs to the moment when the apartment house had matured into a genuine alternative to the townhouse for established families. Its fourteen stories carry classic six-, seven-, and eight-room layouts with grand foyers, graceful room-to-room flow, soaring ceilings, crown moldings, herringbone floors, and oversized windows — and the wood-burning fireplaces that give nearly every home a working hearth. Upper-floor apartments capture Central Park and reservoir views to the west; the two-per-landing plan means privacy and quiet on every floor.
With 50 residences across the full building, the cooperative is deliberately small — a scale that supports a hands-on staff and a close-knit resident body. Pelham, one of the era's most productive apartment-house architects, gave it the solidity and proportion that have kept it desirable for nearly a century.
Building operations
1254 Madison is a full-service white-glove cooperative: full-time door staff, a live-in resident manager, two keyed-access elevator banks, central laundry, private caged storage, and a bike room, with Madison Avenue retail at the base. The cooperative is pet-friendly and welcomes pied-à-terre purchasers — an unusually flexible posture for a building of this caliber. Financing is permitted to 50% of the purchase price, the conservative cap common at the most established Carnegie Hill houses, which keeps the building's balance sheet strong and its resident base committed. A transfer fee may apply at closing under house policy.
Recent sales
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 18, 2026 | 3B | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,650,000 | +0.0% | |
| Jul 9, 2026 | 3C | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,500,000 | +8.9% | |
| Apr 3, 2026 | 2D | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,600 sf | $1,700,000 | $1,063/sf | +3.0% |
| Jul 2, 2025 | 3A | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,248 sf | $2,500,000 | $1,112/sf | -24.1% |
| Mar 28, 2024 | 12D | 3 BR · 2 BA | $2,575,000 | +29.1% | |
| Jan 30, 2024 | 11B | 3 BR · 3 BA · 1,800 sf | $2,351,027 | $1,306/sf | off-mkt |
| Dec 15, 2023 | 14AB | 4 BR · 4.5 BA | $6,195,000 | +0.0% | |
| Mar 23, 2023 | 5A | 3 BR · 3 BA | $3,220,000 | -14.1% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,136/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 8, 2005 | 5D | $1,665,000 |
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 1-01502-0017) 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
This is a board-approval cooperative with the conservative financial posture of a top Carnegie Hill house. Underwrite to the 50% financing cap and to strong post-closing liquidity; the board package and interview are thorough. The upside is rare: a fireplace-equipped prewar home on a Central Park block, in a small, well-run building that nonetheless welcomes both pied-à-terre buyers and pets. Budget for any transfer fee in your closing math, and let us pressure-test your package against what this board expects before you submit.
What to know if you’re selling
The marketing case writes itself: a George F. Pelham cooperative on a park block, a wood-burning fireplace in the home, two-per-landing privacy, and Central Park and reservoir steps away. Inventory is scarce, so a well-prepared listing draws a focused, qualified pool — the work is in presentation and in pricing accurately against recent Carnegie Hill prewar closings of similar size, floor, and condition. Because the building's financing cap narrows the buyer field, packaging the apartment to the all-cash and well-capitalized buyer is part of the strategy. The Roebling Team builds the board-package narrative alongside the listing so an accepted offer clears the board the first time.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 1254 Madison Avenue, also evaluate these nearby Carnegie Hill and Upper East Side cooperatives:
- 1115 Madison Avenue — prewar Madison Avenue cooperative to the south
- 1178 Madison Avenue — Madison Avenue cooperative nearby
- 1217 Madison Avenue — Carnegie Hill cooperative peer
- 1225 Madison Avenue — Madison Avenue cooperative nearby
- 35 East 85th Street — Carnegie Hill prewar cooperative a few blocks south
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.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
Considering a move at 1254 Madison Avenue?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.