135 West 70th Street (The Pythian)
135 West 70th Street, New York, NY 10023
Lincoln Square, Upper West Side
BBL 1011427501 · BIN 1029786
- Year built
- 1927
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 87
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Pet-friendly
- Subletting
- Permitted under the condominium declaration
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf (floor-adjusted)
- $1,189
- Listing discount
- 2.7%
- Recorded sales
- 109
- On record
- 2003–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Pythian 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.
The Pythian is one of the most architecturally extraordinary residential buildings on the Upper West Side. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb — the celebrated theater architect — and completed in 1927 as the Pythian Temple, the meeting hall of the Knights of Pythias fraternal order, it is an Egyptian Revival tour de force: a polychrome terra-cotta façade with a blue-glazed entry pavilion, Doric columns, and four seated Pharaonic figures evoking the colossi of Abu Simbel. Its ornament draws on Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian motifs. No other residential building in the neighborhood looks remotely like it.
That singular architecture is the entire value proposition. The building's residential conversion — a restoration by David Gura that inserted windows into the originally near-windowless temple façade — produced condominium apartments with genuinely unusual character: floor plans threaded through the original steel trusses, private terraces, and in-unit washers and dryers. For a buyer who wants a one-of-a-kind home in a landmark-quality building, with condominium flexibility on top, The Pythian is without direct substitute on the Upper West Side.
Architecture and unit composition
Lamb's 1927 Pythian Temple is a masterwork of Egyptian Revival design — brilliant color, ancient motifs, and monumental ornament unlike anything else in the residential neighborhood. The residential conversion, designed by David Gura, was an inventive act of adaptive reuse: the largely windowless temple façade was opened with many new windows, and the interior volumes — built for assembly halls, not apartments — were reworked into roughly 87 residences.
The result is a housing stock defined by its idiosyncrasy. Apartments carry unusual floor plans, with rooms threaded through the building's original steel trusses; many include private terraces, and in-unit washers and dryers are common. Ceiling heights and layouts vary dramatically from line to line — the building rewards walking the specific apartment rather than reasoning from a typical floor plate.
Building operations
The Pythian operates as a full-service condominium with a doorman and a live-in superintendent. Amenities include a newly renovated fitness center, a children's playroom, and bike storage, and the building is pet-friendly. The private terraces and in-unit laundry found in many apartments are meaningful conveniences.
Common charges and property taxes are consistent with a full-service Upper West Side condominium. Because the building is an adaptive reuse of an unconventional structure, buyers should review current financial statements, board minutes, and any reserve study during due diligence, with attention to the maintenance history of the landmark-quality façade and the building systems. Model the full monthly carry at the apartment level.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $26,835/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $26
- Modeled exposure split equally across 87 units (the city tax-lot count). Not an assessed amount; co-op shareholders are typically charged by share allocation.
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →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.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Management & transfer contacts
- Flip tax
- None shown
- Sublet policy
- Lease renewals handled off-platform ( )
- Notable fees
- Condo sale: $700 app, $2,000 condo admin, $250/applicant credit, $2,500 move deposits, $1,300/day move fee
Recent sales
The Pythian trades on architecture, and its pricing reflects the scarcity of what it offers: a landmark-quality Egyptian Revival building with genuinely one-of-a-kind apartments. Pricing is best read on a price-per-square-foot basis, but the building's architectural distinction and unusual layouts make apartment-level comparison essential — headline square footage alone understates the variation between lines. Value is driven by ceiling height, terrace access, layout, floor, and exposure. Apartment-level closing detail should be sourced from public records for full transactional context, and pricing should be validated against the most recent comparable sales at the time of offer.
Recent closings at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. 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 4, 2026 | 6C | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 847 sf | $1,230,000 | $1,452/sf | -1.6% |
| Jul 15, 2026 | 2E | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,608 sf | $2,250,000 | $1,399/sf | +0.0% |
| Feb 24, 2026 | 6M | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,300 sf | $1,645,000 | $1,265/sf | -2.9% |
| Feb 12, 2026 | 1D | 1 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,395 sf | $1,350,000 | $968/sf | +0.0% |
| Jan 6, 2026 | 9D | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,370 sf | $1,745,000 | $1,274/sf | -1.7% |
| Dec 11, 2025 | 9B | 1,040 sf | $1,650,000 | $1,587/sf | off-mkt |
| Oct 15, 2025 | 8A | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 765 sf | $1,075,000 | $1,405/sf | -2.3% |
| May 21, 2025 | 2D | 1 BR · 907 sf | $1,150,000 | $1,268/sf | -9.8% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,189/sf (floor-adjusted) across 5 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 2.7% 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 1-01142-7501). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
Closed rents at The Pythian, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 8 | $6,725 |
10 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease September 2026. Sizes with fewer than 2 leases are not shown. Compiled by The Roebling Team at Compass from closed leases.
At the recent median sale of $1.35M (10 sales since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $58,538 to close, or 4.3% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $13,500
- Mortgage recording tax: $19,491
- Title insurance: $6,075
- Attorneys, lender, building fees, reserves and filings: $19,473
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
The architecture is the asset. Lamb's Egyptian Revival design is the reason to buy here; it is also a maintenance responsibility. Diligence the façade and systems history.
Every apartment is different. Floor plans threaded through original steel trusses produce highly variable layouts and ceiling heights. Walk the specific line — do not reason from a typical plate.
Terraces and in-unit laundry are common — but not universal. Confirm which the specific apartment carries.
Condominium flexibility applies. Financing, pied-à-terre use, and subletting are governed by the condominium; closings run on condominium timelines.
Model the full carry at the apartment level and verify board policy at offer stage.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the architecture. The Pythian's Egyptian Revival façade and one-of-a-kind interiors are a marketing distinction no other Upper West Side building can match.
Show, don't summarize. Because layouts are so idiosyncratic, the apartment sells best in person and through careful presentation of its specific character — ceiling height, terrace, truss-defined volumes.
Pricing requires apartment-level context. Comparable sales vary enormously by layout, ceiling height, and terrace access.
Closing timelines are condo-fast. 30 to 60 days from contract to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 135 West 70th Street, also evaluate:
- 2250 Broadway (The Broadway) — 1992; condominium behind a preserved Thomas Lamb theater façade
- 243 West End Avenue (Coliseum Plaza) — Emery Roth 1925; nearby prewar cooperative
- 320 West End Avenue — Rosario Candela 1924; nearby West End Avenue prewar cooperative
- 235 West End Avenue (The Gemstone) — Bing & Bing 1928; nearby prewar condominium
- 165 West 66th Street — nearby Lincoln Square condominium peer
More Upper West Side buildings
- 134 West 83rd Street
- 134 West 82nd Street — 1900 co-op
- 134 West 93rd Street — 1925 condominium
- The Lyons (135 West 79th Street) — 1914 co-op by Robert T. Lyons
- 136 West 75th Street (The Brick House) — 1921 co-op
- 139 West 82nd Street — 1929 co-op by Gronenberg & Leuchtag
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Upper West Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper West Side.
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.
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