132 East 72nd Street
132 East 72nd Street, New York, NY 10021
Lenox Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1014060061 · BIN 1042825
- Year built
- 1925
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- Designated
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2025
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- Recent range
- $2.6M – $2.6M
- Listing discount
- 5.8%
- Recorded transfers
- 21
132 East 72nd Street is a boutique pre-war cooperative defined by an exceptional ratio: 15 stories and just 17 apartments, which means most homes occupy a full floor. Built in 1925 and converted to a co-op in 1960 — early, by Upper East Side standards — it is the kind of small, discreet building that buyers seek out specifically for privacy and scale, on one of Lenox Hill's most desirable blocks between Park and Lexington.
The appeal is straightforward and rare: a full-floor pre-war home, with elevator access opening onto your own landing, in a serviced building with a doorman and a resident manager, on a quiet, central Upper East Side street. Where most pre-war buildings put four or more apartments on a floor, 132 East 72nd Street is built around the opposite idea — fewer, larger, more private homes — and that scarcity is the heart of its value.
Architecture and unit composition
The building presents a handsome brown- and red-brick pre-war façade, finished with a balustraded roofline and a large fan-shaped window set above its canopied entrance; near the top, double-height arched windows on the west façade mark it as a building designed with care for its silhouette against the sky. It is a confident, restrained 1925 composition typical of the better Lenox Hill apartment houses of the period.
Inside, the near-full-floor plan is the luxury. With only 17 residences across 15 stories, apartments are large, light on multiple exposures, and entered with full-floor privacy — the classic gracious pre-war sequence of entry gallery, separate dining room, and well-proportioned rooms. The building has no garage and no balconies; its value is in the apartments themselves and the privacy the building's scale affords.
Building operations
132 East 72nd Street runs as a full-service cooperative scaled to its 17 homes. A full-time doorman staffs the canopied lobby and a resident manager oversees the building, giving owners a level of personal attention that is difficult to achieve in larger buildings. Residents have a central laundry room, large private storage, and a rear courtyard. The building is pet-friendly.
As a cooperative, purchases require board package review and an interview, and the building maintains a conservative financing posture — a maximum financing of roughly 50% (a minimum down payment of about 50%), consistent with a discreet, equity-oriented co-op of this caliber. Sublet and pied-à-terre terms follow the building's proprietary lease and house rules; we review the current board posture and carrying costs with buyers during a transaction. With only 17 shareholders, governance is intimate and the financials reward a careful read.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $12,589/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $62
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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 | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 2024 | 8 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA | $2,600,000 | -2.8% | |
| Jul 21, 2021 | 6 | 4 BR · 2.5 BA | $2,700,000 | +0.0% | |
| Mar 5, 2021 | 14 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,350 sf | $2,600,000 | $1,106/sf | -13.2% |
| Jan 10, 2017 | 9 | 3 BR · 2 BA | $3,250,000 | -7.1% | |
| Dec 2, 2015 | 14 | 3 BR | $3,100,000 | -20.5% | |
| Jun 23, 2014 | 1A | 1 BR · 1 BA | $1,050,000 | -4.5% | |
| Jun 27, 2013 | PH | 1 BR | $2,550,000 | -27.1% | |
| Jun 19, 2013 | 6 | 3 BR | $3,500,000 | -4.1% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2021): a median $1,106/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 7.0% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 28, 2013 | 6 | $3,650,000 |
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 1-01406-0061) 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 privacy-and-scale buy, with the diligence to match. Confirm the exact configuration and exposures of the full-floor home in question, and budget for the conservative financing requirement — at roughly 50% down, this building expects substantial equity, which shapes both the buyer pool and the resale market. Review the cooperative's financials and reserve fund; a 17-owner building concentrates costs and decisions. Expect a thorough board package and interview. Value the full-floor privacy and the resident-manager service, which cannot be replicated in a larger building. The location places Madison Avenue boutiques, the 6 train at 68th and 77th Streets, and Central Park all within an easy walk.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the ratio: 17 homes in 15 stories means full-floor privacy, and that is the building's single most marketable attribute. Foreground the scale of the apartment, the multiple exposures, the doorman-and-resident-manager service, and the discretion of a boutique building on a premier Lenox Hill block. Price to the building's equity-oriented buyer pool — the 50%-financing posture narrows the field to well-capitalized purchasers, which the marketing should anticipate. With so few units, comparables are scarce, so pricing should reference the building's own trade history and the upper tier of the Lenox Hill full-floor market.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 132 East 72nd Street, these nearby Lenox Hill and East 70s cooperatives form a useful comparison set:
- 117 East 72nd Street — pre-war cooperative on the same block
- 114 East 72nd Street — Lenox Hill co-op nearby
- 19 East 72nd Street — pre-war cooperative toward Fifth Avenue
- 133 East 80th Street — established Upper East Side pre-war co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Upper East Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper East Side.
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 132 East 72nd Street?
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 132 East 72nd Street 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.