- Year built
- 1914
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- No
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- Recent range
- $700K – $2.6M
- Listing discount
- 2.6%
- Recorded transfers
- 24
161 West 86th Street is one of the broad-shouldered prewar cooperatives that give the Upper West Side its scale. Completed in 1914 to designs by Rouse & Goldstone, it sits mid-block between Columbus and Amsterdam, beside the Romanesque-revival mass of West Park Presbyterian Church — a stretch of 86th Street that reads as one of the neighborhood's most architecturally serious. The building is paired with its neighbor, 151 West 86th Street, and the two operate as a single cooperative corporation under shared ownership, with separate entrances and lobbies but one board, one staff, and one set of building economics.
What sets the building apart is the apartments themselves. Rouse & Goldstone built for a buyer who wanted a house in the air: the bulk of the line runs to eight- and ten-room layouts, many well over 3,000 square feet, with the kind of room count and circulation — gracious foyers, separate dining rooms, original service wings — that newer construction rarely attempts. For buyers who want genuine prewar volume on the West Side without crossing into the priciest park-front addresses, it is a strong value proposition.
Architecture and unit composition
The exterior is restrained Italian Renaissance: beige brick over a low granite water table, ordered fenestration, and a quiet cornice line that lets the church next door carry the block's drama. Inside, the prewar vocabulary is intact across much of the building — herringbone floors, nine-and-a-half- to eleven-foot ceilings, crown and picture-frame moldings, original mahogany doors with period hardware, and decorative fireplaces in many homes.
With 33 residences across 12 stories — and only a handful per floor in the larger lines — the building lives quietly. The combined corporation with 151 West 86th gives the cooperative more units to spread fixed costs across than its modest individual footprint would suggest, which tends to support stable maintenance and well-funded reserves.
Building operations
The cooperative is run as a full-service prewar building: two attended lobbies (one at each address), a live-in superintendent, central laundry, bicycle storage, and private storage bins assigned to apartments. A landscaped roof garden with open city views is the building's social amenity. Pets are permitted with board approval — generally up to two per apartment. The cooperative permits financing up to 65% of the purchase price, and a flip tax of 15% of the seller's capital gain is charged on resale; prospective purchasers should size their offers and budgets with both figures in mind. As with any established West Side co-op, purchases proceed through a board application and interview.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 2026 | 2A | 4 BR · 3 BA · 3,000 sf | $2,625,000 | $875/sf | -2.6% |
| Jun 16, 2025 | 7A | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,400 sf | $1,425,000 | $1,018/sf | +9.7% |
| May 2, 2023 | 7DD | 1 BR · 1 BA · 750 sf | $700,000 | $933/sf | -11.9% |
| May 16, 2022 | 4B | 3 BR · 3.5 BA | $3,550,000 | -5.3% | |
| Dec 13, 2017 | 7DD | 1 BR · 1 BA · 750 sf | $690,000 | $920/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 12, 2017 | 3B | 4 BR | $4,205,000 | +5.3% | |
| Jun 16, 2017 | 7DD | 1 BR · 1 BA · 750 sf | $690,000 | $920/sf | -4.2% |
| Feb 24, 2017 | 7CC | 1 BR · 1 BA | $669,000 | -18.3% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,009/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.1% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 2016 | 6A | $4,250,000 |
| Feb 1, 2012 | 3B | $2,700,000 |
| Nov 2, 2011 | 5A | $3,500,000 |
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 1-01217-0006) 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 building to buy for space and bones. The largest lines are the draw — verify which line a given apartment sits in, since room counts and proportions vary sharply across the building. Budget for the 15% flip tax (it is the seller's cost, but it shapes pricing) and plan financing around the 65% cap. The shared corporation with 151 West 86th means you are buying into a larger, better-diversified co-op than the single address implies, which is a positive for financial stability. Expect a traditional board package and interview, and pet owners should confirm the current policy and limit with management before signing.
What to know if you’re selling
The marketing case is square footage and prewar integrity — the apartments are larger than most of what trades on the surrounding blocks, and that scale is the headline. Restoration sells: homes that preserve the original moldings, floors, and proportions while modernizing kitchens and baths achieve the building's strongest results. Price against the larger prewar West Side cooperatives rather than the white-brick and postwar stock nearby. Be candid with buyers about the 15% flip tax and 65% financing cap early, so the economics are baked into expectations before the board stage.
Comparable buildings
If you're weighing 161 West 86th Street, also look at nearby West Side prewar inventory:
- 145 West 86th Street — prewar cooperative on the same block
- 2025 Broadway — full-service West Side building nearby
- 2162 Broadway — prewar Broadway-corridor cooperative
- 2373 Broadway — large prewar West Side cooperative
The Roebling Team at 161 West 86th Street
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Upper West Side, Central Park West, and the broader prewar Manhattan cooperative market. We publish this profile because the buyers and sellers best served by a building like this — those who value genuine prewar scale over amenity gloss — deserve building-specific intelligence on layouts, the combined corporation's economics, and where the pricing sits.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 161 West 86th Street, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
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.