1498 Second Avenue (Lenox House, 301 East 78th Street)
1498 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10075
- Year built
- 1963
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 124
- Pets
- Pet-friendly (dogs typically permitted subject to house rules)
- Subletting
- Permitted subject to board approval and building policy — confirm current terms at offer stage
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
- Financing
- Up to approximately 75% financing permitted
Lenox House is one of the larger, more institutional postwar cooperatives on the eastern edge of the Upper East Side, sitting where Lenox Hill gives way to Yorkville at the corner of Second Avenue and East 78th Street. Completed in 1963 to designs by Schuman & Lichtenstein — a firm responsible for a substantial share of the era's residential towers along the Upper East Side and Central Park corridors — the building was converted to cooperative ownership in 1980, placing it among the first generation of postwar rentals to go co-op as the neighborhood's rental stock was privatized.
For buyers, the building's appeal is straightforward: a full-service, doorman cooperative of roughly 124 apartments, with the operating scale that a large corporation provides and a carrying-cost profile helped by corporation-owned retail frontage along Second Avenue. Buildings that own their ground-floor commercial space carry an income stream that offsets shareholder maintenance — a structural advantage that experienced co-op buyers weigh carefully, because it tends to keep monthly costs lower and reserve health more stable than in a comparable building without commercial income.
The location is a defining feature. This stretch of the Upper East Side offers the residential calm of the Seventies with immediate access to the Second Avenue Subway (the Q at 72nd and 86th Streets bracket the building), the Lexington Avenue lines a few blocks west, and the dense retail, dining, and services of the Yorkville corridor. It is a neighborhood chosen by buyers who want a genuine full-service building and a stable cooperative structure without the pricing of the Fifth and Park Avenue prewar cooperatives to the west.
Architecture and unit composition
Lenox House reads as a confident piece of early-1960s residential design. The beige-brick massing rises 17 stories over a polished red-granite base, with turreted bay windows articulating the upper floors and a distinctive enclosed water-tank enclosure crowning the roofline — details that give the building more character than the flat white-brick boxes of the same period.
The apartment mix spans studios through three-bedroom layouts, typical of a large postwar cooperative built as a rental and later converted. Postwar floor plans of this vintage tend to offer efficient, well-proportioned rooms, through-wall air conditioning provisions, and generous closet counts relative to prewar stock — though ceiling heights and architectural detail are more restrained than in the prewar cooperatives nearby. Corner and upper-floor lines, particularly those with the turreted bay windows, are the most sought-after configurations, offering open exposures over the low-rise townhouse blocks to the south and east.
Because the building is a cooperative, value here is best understood on a per-room and per-share basis rather than strictly on price-per-square-foot: shareholders own an interest in the corporation, and maintenance, financing limits, and board policy shape value as much as the apartment itself.
Building operations
Lenox House operates as a full-service cooperative under 301 East 78th Street Owners Corp. Day-to-day service includes a full-time doorman, a live-in resident superintendent, elevators, central laundry, a bicycle room, and a fitness room. The building's scale — roughly 124 apartments — supports a professional staffing and management posture.
The corporation's ownership of ground-floor retail along Second Avenue is a meaningful operating feature: commercial rental income supports the building's budget and helps moderate shareholder maintenance. Buyers should still review the current financial statements, the reserve position, the status of any commercial leases, and the building's maintenance and capital-project history during due diligence — the Roebling Research Library maintains these files for clients.
Financing is permitted up to approximately 75% of purchase price, which is more accommodating than the strictest prewar cooperatives (many of which cap financing well below that or require all-cash). The building permits pied-à-terre ownership and is pet-friendly, both subject to board approval and house rules — a combination that broadens the buyer pool relative to the more restrictive Park and Fifth Avenue houses.
Recent sales
Pricing at Lenox House should be read the way any large postwar Upper East Side cooperative is read: on a per-room and per-share basis, with maintenance and financing terms factored into total cost of ownership. Studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom lines each trade in their own bands, and within a line the differentiators are floor height, exposure, light, renovation condition, and whether the apartment enjoys the corner and bay-window layouts.
The building's structural cost advantages — corporation-owned retail income and permissive financing — tend to support liquidity, because they widen the range of qualified buyers and keep monthly carry competitive against comparable full-service co-ops. As always in a cooperative, the board application, financial requirements, and interview shape the effective buyer pool, and pricing strategy has to account for that. Apartment-level comparable analysis — not neighborhood averages — is the right basis for any offer or listing decision here.
Recent transfers at this building, sourced from NYC Department of Finance records. Apartment-level detail (line, condition, asking-price context) verified upon consultation request.
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 13, 2012 | 8A | $590,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01453-0001) 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
Underwrite on a per-room / per-share basis. This is a cooperative. Compare maintenance, the corporation's financials, and financing terms — not just asking price per square foot. The Roebling Research Library holds the offering plan, recent financials, and house rules for review.
The retail income is a genuine advantage. Corporation-owned commercial space on Second Avenue subsidizes building income and helps hold maintenance down. Confirm the current commercial leases and their contribution during diligence.
Financing is comparatively flexible. Up to roughly 75% financing is permitted — more accommodating than many prewar houses. Confirm the current maximum and the board's post-closing liquidity expectations before you commit.
Pied-à-terre and pets are permitted. Both are allowed subject to board approval and house rules — an advantage over the more restrictive Fifth and Park Avenue cooperatives. Confirm current terms for your specific use case.
Plan for a full board process. A complete board package and an in-person interview are required. Build the timeline and financial-disclosure preparation into your plan.
Confirm sublet and flip-tax terms in writing. Sublet policy and any transfer fee (flip tax) at a co-op are board-set and can change; obtain the current terms in writing at offer stage rather than relying on general guidance.
What to know if you’re selling
Position the full-service, income-supported structure. Buyers responding to this building value the doorman, the live-in super, and the maintenance stability that corporation-owned retail income provides. Make that case explicitly.
Price to the line, not the neighborhood. Studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom lines each trade in their own band; corner and bay-window layouts command premiums. Comparable selection should be apartment-specific.
Prepare the buyer for the board. A strong, well-organized board package moves faster and reduces fall-through risk. Sellers benefit from coaching buyers toward a clean, complete application.
Emphasize the flexibility. Permissive financing, pied-à-terre allowance, and a pet-friendly policy widen the qualified buyer pool relative to stricter co-ops — a real marketing advantage on the Upper East Side.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 1498 Second Avenue (Lenox House), also evaluate these nearby Upper East Side cooperatives:
- 170 East 78th Street — Upper East Side cooperative one block west, on the same East 78th Street corridor
- 180 East 79th Street — full-service Upper East Side cooperative a block north
- 130 East 75th Street — established Upper East Side cooperative in the Seventies
The Roebling Team at Lenox House
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Upper East Side, Central Park West, and the broader full-service cooperative market. We publish this building profile because cooperative buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, operating structure, board policy, financing limits, and per-room pricing context — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at Lenox House, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point. We'll bring the full context this page provides plus the transactional specifics your situation requires — board-package strategy, financing and maintenance analysis, comparable pricing at the apartment level, and the pacing that fits your timeline.
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Upper East Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper East Side.
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