- Year built
- 1917
- 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.
- 2BR median
- $930K
- Recent range
- $835K – $4.1M
- Listing discount
- 12.1%
- Recorded transfers
- 32
156 East 79th Street is a long-established Lenox Hill cooperative — a 1917 pre-war building by Schwartz & Gross, built by the Tishman organization, on a quiet mid-block stretch of 79th Street between Lexington and Third. Schwartz & Gross were among the most prolific apartment-house architects of pre-war New York, responsible for some of the era's most enduring buildings on both the East and West Sides, and 156 East 79th carries their characteristic combination of solid masonry, generous room counts, and well-judged proportion.
The building's appeal is its bones. The original plan ran to roughly two large eight-room apartments and a seven-room apartment per floor — substantial homes by any measure — and while some have since been combined or split, the underlying scale remains. It is a boutique pre-war co-op that has been carefully run for decades, the kind of building shareholders join and stay in.
For buyers, 156 East 79th offers what the neighborhood does best: a gracious pre-war apartment with real ceiling height and entertaining flow, inside a full-service, well-managed cooperative, on a quiet residential block steps from Madison Avenue and the Lexington Avenue subway.
Architecture and unit composition
The building presents a restrained pre-war face: a gray granite base, a canopied two-story arched entrance, and a masonry shaft detailed in the dignified, unfussy manner Schwartz & Gross brought to the era's better apartment houses. It sits comfortably mid-block, neither monumental nor modest — exactly the register of its surroundings.
Inside, the apartments are the draw. The original configuration — large eight- and seven-room homes, often two or three to a floor — produced layouts with formal foyers, separate living and dining rooms, and distinct entertaining and bedroom wings. Many apartments retain pre-war detail: high ceilings, hardwood floors, and decorative moldings. Because some homes have been combined into larger spreads and others subdivided, the building offers genuine variety, from full-floor and near-full-floor residences to more compact pre-war layouts.
Building operations
156 East 79th is a full-service cooperative with a 24-hour doorman, porters, and a live-in resident manager — a staffing model that has earned the building a reputation as well run and well maintained. A central laundry room, individual basement storage, and bicycle storage are available to shareholders.
On house rules, the cooperative is pet-friendly and permits the installation of a washer/dryer in-unit with board approval. Financing is capped at a conservative level for the building, in line with a serious pre-war board, and purchases are reviewed with the thoroughness expected of a top Lenox Hill co-op — the building favors primary-residence buyers with strong financials over pied-à-terre and investor use. As with all co-ops, the board package and interview are substantive.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $24,907/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $35
Facade safety — Local Law 11
Safe to live in today — but the last inspection flagged repairs that are due on a deadline, so facade work and its cost are coming. Whether that’s a real concern depends on the scope, the timing, and how the building plans to pay for it — reserves or an assessment — which is exactly what we’d dig into 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 | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 24, 2025 | 13C | 2 BR · 2 BA | $835,000 | -12.1% | |
| May 22, 2024 | 6B | 4 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,000 sf | $4,100,000 | $1,367/sf | +2.6% |
| Mar 15, 2024 | 10A | 2 BR · 2 BA | $930,000 | -2.1% | |
| Jan 10, 2024 | 12B | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,325 sf | $875,000 | $660/sf | -12.1% |
| Dec 13, 2023 | 4A | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,100 sf | $1,600,000 | $762/sf | -19.9% |
| Apr 11, 2023 | 1CE | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,950 sf | $1,425,000 | $731/sf | +1.8% |
| Aug 17, 2022 | 8A | 3 BR · 3 BA | $2,292,500 | -18.0% | |
| Jun 1, 2022 | 6 | 3 BR · 3 BA | $2,300,000 | -6.1% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $990/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 9.0% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 2013 | PHC | $750,000 |
| Nov 30, 2007 | PHB | $5,500,000 |
| Nov 30, 2007 | 14B | $5,500,000 |
| Nov 8, 2005 | 4A | $2,995,000 |
| 10C | $3,300,000 |
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 1-01413-0050) 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
Buying here is buying into a serious, well-run pre-war cooperative. Expect a complete board package and interview, a conservative financing ceiling, and a board that weighs financial strength and primary residency heavily. The building's pet-friendly stance and willingness to permit in-unit washer/dryers with approval are practical advantages over stricter pre-war peers.
The location is a quiet Lenox Hill block that puts Madison Avenue's boutiques and restaurants, the Lexington Avenue 6 train at 77th Street, the Q at 72nd or 86th, and Central Park all within a short walk. We help buyers evaluate the building's financials, assess condition and layout against price, and assemble a board package that clears.
What to know if you’re selling
The marketing core here is pre-war scale, a respected Schwartz & Gross pedigree, and a building with a long reputation for being well managed. Selling well means presenting an apartment's proportions, light, and condition to the qualified primary-residence buyer the board will approve, and pricing against recent Lenox Hill pre-war trades.
A boutique building with steady, conservative financials is an easy story to tell, and limited inventory works in a seller's favor. Combined full-floor homes should be benchmarked separately from smaller layouts. We market these apartments to the board-ready audience the cooperative requires and manage the package process to a clean approval.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 156 East 79th Street, also evaluate nearby pre-war Upper East Side cooperatives:
- 136 East 79th Street — pre-war Lenox Hill cooperative on the same block
- 50 East 79th Street — pre-war Upper East Side co-op nearby
- 180 East 79th Street — full-service East 79th Street cooperative
- 229 East 79th Street — Upper East Side cooperative to the east
- 825 Fifth Avenue — pre-war Fifth Avenue cooperative nearby
The Roebling Team at 156 East 79th Street
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the pre-war Upper East Side, Park Avenue, and Fifth Avenue cooperative market. We publish this profile because buyers and sellers of Lenox Hill pre-war apartments deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, board posture, house rules, and where a given apartment sits in its comparable set.
If you're weighing a purchase or sale at 156 East 79th Street, a 30-minute consultation is the right first step.
Get the full picture on this building.
Current availability including off-market, the full comp set, and the board & financials read most listings don't show.