139 East 79th Street
139 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10075
Upper East Side
BBL 1015080016 · BIN 1047469
- Year built
- 1928
- Type
- Cooperative
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2025
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 4BR+ median
- $6.5M
- Recent range
- $5.7M – $6.5M
- Listing discount
- 5.8%
- Recorded transfers
- 16
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 139 East 79th 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.
139 East 79th Street is a tall, slender 1928 cooperative built to an unusually exclusive plan: fifteen stories holding roughly fifteen residences — close to one apartment per floor. That ratio is the building's defining quality. Where most pre-war co-ops chop each floor into several units, 139 East 79th was conceived for large, near-full-floor homes, giving owners private-landing arrival, four exposures, and the room counts of a townhouse stacked vertically on one of the most desirable blocks of the Upper East Side.
Designed by Louis Allen Abramson and completed in 1928, the building presents a handsome brown-brick shaft over a two-story sandstone base with gray granite detail and a carved rope quoin at the corner. It was converted to a cooperative in 1946 — among the earliest co-op conversions in the city — and has operated since as a full-service, doorman building between Park and Lexington Avenues, steps from Central Park, the Museum Mile, and the Lexington Avenue subway.
For buyers, this is rarefied territory: a boutique, near-full-floor pre-war co-op on a prime East 70s block, with the privacy and scale that only a low-density plan delivers. For sellers, the floor-through layouts, the doorman service, and the address are the marketing core.
Architecture and unit composition
Abramson's design is a quietly dignified pre-war apartment house — a brown-brick tower rising from a two-story sandstone base, detailed with gray granite trim and a rope quoin at the corner, with a canopied entrance setting the tone. The narrow floor plate and tall massing produce a slender, elegant profile and, internally, apartments that enjoy light from multiple sides.
The near-one-per-floor plan is the story. With approximately 15 residences across roughly 45,100 square feet, the building averages around 3,000 square feet per apartment — among the most generous unit-to-floor ratios anywhere in the corridor. The result is grand, near-full-floor homes with private elevator landings, gracious entry galleries, separate dining rooms, multiple bedrooms, and the high ceilings and solid plaster walls of the finest pre-war construction. Apartments here trade rarely and reward renovation; the masonry envelope keeps them quiet and stable.
Building operations
139 East 79th Street runs as a full-service cooperative — a full-time doorman, a canopied entrance, a resident superintendent, central laundry, and private storage — managed for owner-occupant stability. As a boutique co-op of roughly 15 large units, monthly maintenance covers building staff, heat and hot water, the unit's share of real estate taxes, and the upkeep of the masonry façade and pre-war systems.
Governance is by a board of directors that reviews purchase applications and conducts interviews; buyers should expect a thorough co-op board package and a financing review. At a building of this caliber, with large floor-through homes and an established owner-occupant culture, underwriting is generally conservative and primary-residence-oriented. Pet, sublet, renovation, and pied-à-terre policies are set by the board and house rules.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $17,844/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $99
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).
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Management & transfer contacts
- Flip tax
- 2% of selling price (Buyer, at closing)
- Sublet policy
- Not allowed
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed (very restrictive guest policy when owner not home)
- Notable fees
- App processing $500; Closing fee $750 w/broker, $800 w/o; move-in/out deposits $1,000 each
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9, 2025 | 10 | 4 BR · 4.5 BA | $6,500,000 | -2.3% | |
| Oct 27, 2023 | 6 | 4 BR · 4.5 BA | $6,450,000 | -5.8% | |
| Feb 16, 2023 | 12 | 4 BR · 4 BA | $5,700,000 | -8.8% | |
| Nov 1, 2021 | — | 4 BR · 4 BA | $7,100,000 | -5.3% | |
| Sep 19, 2019 | PH | 2 BR · 3 BA · 1,400 sf | $3,015,000 | $2,154/sf | +7.7% |
| Jun 7, 2018 | 14THF | 4 BR | $6,850,000 | -8.7% | |
| Jun 6, 2018 | 14 | 4 BR · 3,500 sf | $6,850,000 | $1,957/sf | -8.7% |
| Feb 14, 2018 | 11 | 4 BR · 4 BA · 3,600 sf | $6,250,000 | $1,736/sf | -13.2% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2019): a median $2,154/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 7.3% 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 1-01508-0016) 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
Plan for a thorough pre-war co-op purchase: a complete board package, financials, references, and an interview, appropriate to a building of large floor-through homes. Maintenance covers heat, hot water, staff, and the building's share of taxes; ask for recent financials, the reserve position, and any assessment or capital-project history, since a 1928 building carries periodic façade and systems work.
The buying argument is scale and privacy. You are acquiring a near-full-floor pre-war home with private-landing arrival and multiple exposures on one of the best blocks in the East 70s — steps from Central Park, the Museum Mile, and the 6 train. Confirm the building's financing cap, sublet stance, and pet policy against the current house rules; the boutique, owner-occupant character here is central to the building's enduring value.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the plan. Near-full-floor living with a private elevator landing, multiple exposures, and townhouse-scale room counts is the rarest commodity in pre-war Manhattan, and it is the heart of any listing here. Pair it with the doorman service, the Abramson façade, and the Park-and-Lexington address.
Price against the prime East 70s pre-war floor-through set rather than the broader side-street co-op market — the comparison belongs with the corridor's largest and most exclusive layouts. Given how rarely apartments here come available, a well-positioned listing benefits substantially from scarcity; a clean board package and current financials keep a co-op closing predictable.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 139 East 79th Street, also evaluate these nearby Upper East Side cooperatives:
- 136 East 79th Street — pre-war cooperative across the street
- 151 East 79th Street — pre-war co-op on the same block
- 133 East 80th Street — pre-war building a block north
- 50 East 79th Street — pre-war cooperative nearby
- 173 East 79th Street — pre-war East 70s peer
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.
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 139 East 79th Street?
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