131 Riverside Drive
131 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10024
Upper West Side
BBL 1012470001 · BIN 1033903
- Year built
- 1909
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 55
- Landmark
- Designated
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2025
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- Recent range
- $2.4M – $6.4M
- Listing discount
- 0.9%
- Recorded transfers
- 26
131 Riverside Drive — The Dorchester — is a 1909 pre-war cooperative on the northeast corner of West 85th Street, one of the more attractive masonry buildings on a stretch of Riverside Drive defined by them. Designed by Neville & Bagge for the developers A.C. and H.M. Hall during the burst of development that transformed the Drive's single-family blocks into grand apartment houses, it pairs a finely detailed limestone facade with the park-front position that gives Riverside Drive its enduring premium.
The case is the Drive's case. Buyers get a full-service pre-war co-op directly on Riverside Park, with the open western light and Hudson views the location affords, inside a protected historic district, a short walk from the Broadway retail spine and the 86th Street subway. At 55 apartments across thirteen stories, it is intimate without being tiny, and its 1968 conversion makes it a long-established, owner-occupant co-op.
Architecture and unit composition
Neville & Bagge — a firm that designed a great many of the Drive's early apartment houses — gave The Dorchester a dignified Beaux-Arts presence: a masonry facade with superb limestone detail and patterned brickwork, scaled to the boulevard width of Riverside Drive and the park across from it. It reads as one of the Drive's most graceful early towers.
The 55 apartments span the spacious pre-war layouts characteristic of 1909 construction — high ceilings, hardwood floors, generous and well-separated rooms, and deep western light on the park-facing lines. The corner position at 85th Street yields cross-exposures, and the upper floors capture open Hudson views. As with the best pre-war product on the Drive, the river-facing homes are the building's most coveted.
Building operations
The Dorchester operates as a full-service cooperative, with a full-time doorman, a live-in resident manager, central laundry, and storage. The building is pet-friendly, welcoming both dogs and cats. Purchases proceed through the standard co-op board package and interview, and the building carries the conservative, owner-occupant posture typical of a long-converted Riverside Drive pre-war.
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
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 →Recent sales
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 | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 16, 2025 | 2C | 3 BR · 2 BA | $2,372,500 | -0.9% |
| Mar 22, 2024 | 6CD | 5 BR · 3.5 BA | $6,375,000 | -6.2% |
| Nov 9, 2022 | 10D | 3 BR · 2 BA | $2,670,000 | -0.9% |
| Mar 25, 2022 | 10B | 4 BR · 2.5 BA | $4,600,000 | +0.0% |
| Jul 2, 2018 | 4A | 4 BR | $4,412,500 | -16.0% |
| Oct 11, 2017 | 3D | 3 BR | $2,050,000 | -10.9% |
| May 18, 2017 | 5C | 3 BR | $2,600,000 | -10.3% |
| Nov 30, 2016 | 1D | 2 BR · 1.5 BA | $1,797,211 | -4.1% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2013): a median $1,377/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 0.9% 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.
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 1-01247-0001) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
This is a co-op, so plan for a board package and interview and the financial review a conservative pre-war building conducts. The reward is a park-front pre-war address with western light and Hudson views in a protected historic district — a combination buyers consistently pay up for. Focus diligence on the apartment's exposure (a park-facing line is worth the premium), its renovation state, and the building's financials and reserves. We help buyers benchmark asking prices against comparable Riverside and West End pre-wars and prepare a board package that clears cleanly.
What to know if you’re selling
Exposure is the seller's lever. A park-facing home with western light and river views at The Dorchester is exactly what Riverside Drive buyers hunt for, and the marketing should foreground the view, the light, and the building's Neville & Bagge pedigree and historic-district setting. Pricing belongs against the Drive's best pre-war comparables, with a clear premium for the river-facing lines. We position these homes to the buyer who specifically wants the park and the Hudson, and we price and time the listing to the building's natural turnover.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 131 Riverside Drive, also evaluate these nearby Riverside Drive and West End Avenue pre-war cooperatives:
- 137 Riverside Drive — pre-war co-op on the same stretch of the Drive
- 140 Riverside Drive — full-service Riverside pre-war
- 160 Riverside Drive — Riverside Drive pre-war peer
- 173 Riverside Drive — park-front pre-war cooperative
- 320 West End Avenue — West End pre-war co-op nearby
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Riverside Drive — read The Roebling Team Guide to Riverside Drive.
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 The Dorchester?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Dorchester 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.