- Year built
- 1925
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 22
- Floors
- 9
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Permitted per listing records
- Financing
- Up to 80 percent permitted per listing records (20 percent minimum down) — notably liberal for an Upper West Side co-op
170 West 76th Street is one of the Upper West Side's quieter structural anomalies: a 22-unit boutique cooperative living inside the shell of a 1926 private hospital. The building went up in 1925–26 as Park West Hospital — Butler & Stein's Neo-Federal design in brick and stone, steel-framed and fireproof, on a 40-foot-wide lot in the middle of one of the neighborhood's best brownstone blocks. The hospital operated for roughly half a century before closing in the mid-1970s, and by September 1979 a conversion sponsor, Park West Associates, had filed the cooperative offering plan that created West Park Housing Corp. — the plan itself is on file in The Roebling Research Library, with a total offering of just over $3 million for the entire building, a number that reads like a typographical error against today's single-apartment pricing here.
The institutional origin is not trivia; it is the product. Hospital construction meant a steel frame, fireproof floors, and wide, regular floor plates running more than 100 feet deep — an envelope that carved into apartments produces scale and wall-thickness that ordinary 1920s apartment houses on the side streets cannot match. The conversion-era artifacts are still part of daily life: a laundry room with full-size machines on every residential floor, generous storage, and floor plates that have absorbed combinations gracefully — the building's recent trades include a five-bedroom duplex combination, and penthouse-level units sit on the added top story with terrace rights.
The third structural fact is the policy framework. With financing documented up to 80 percent and pieds-à-terre permitted per listing records, the building operates with a flexibility closer to a condo alternative than to the financing discipline of the avenue co-ops nearby — while the Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District protects the block around it. For buyers priced out of, or filtered out by, the corridor's stricter boards, this is one of the park blocks' more accessible front doors.
Architecture and unit composition
The facade is restrained Neo-Federal — red brick over a stone base, the institutional symmetry of its hospital program still legible — rising eight stories plus the later-added penthouse level, all within the historic district's protection. Inside, the 22 apartments work out to roughly two to three per floor on plates about 40 feet wide and 102 feet deep. The stock runs from post-conversion two-bedrooms through large combined units: the building's documented recent trades include multi-floor combinations to five bedrooms, and upper units carry terrace and skyline outlooks over the mid-block rooflines. Finishes vary by owner — this is a building where renovation history, not original detail, drives condition spreads, since the interiors date to the 1979-era conversion rather than to a pre-war apartment program. Through-wall AC is standard per listing records.
Building operations
This is boutique self-service co-op living: no doorman, a live-in superintendent, video intercom security, and an outside managing agent. The per-floor laundry rooms and private storage do real work in daily life, and the small shareholder base keeps decision-making close — with the usual boutique trade-offs of a thin staff layer and a small reserve denominator. Package logistics, renovation approvals, and policy questions run through a small board of neighbors. The cooperative offering plan is on file in The Roebling Research Library; current financial statements should be obtained through the managing agent during diligence.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $12,526/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $47
Recent sales
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2024 | 902 | $971,000 |
| May 9, 2024 | 302/4 | $3,590,000 |
| Jan 9, 2024 | 502 | $1,465,000 |
| May 30, 2023 | PH3 | $2,375,000 |
| Nov 19, 2021 | 203 | $735,000 |
| Nov 19, 2019 | 401 | $1,055,000 |
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 1-01147-0059) 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
The hospital bones are the value. Steel frame, fireproof construction, and deep floor plates are why the combinations here work and why sound transmission complaints are rare in this stock. Have your architect read the structure — it will support renovation ambitions that brownstone-conversion co-ops on the same block cannot.
The policy framework is unusually open — verify it is still current. 80 percent financing and pied-à-terre flexibility per listing records put this building at the liberal end of Upper West Side co-op policy. Confirm current terms, sublet rules, and any flip tax with the managing agent before offering; run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator against the actual requirements.
No doorman means no doorman. The trade is materially lower maintenance per square foot against a self-service life. Buyers leaving full-service buildings should be honest about packages, deliveries, and keys before falling for the floor plate.
Renovation runs through Landmarks. Interior work is conventional, but the historic district covers the envelope — windows, rooftop, and anything street-visible involve LPC review. Budget timeline accordingly, and use the Renovation Cost Calculator honestly: conversion-era interiors often want a full refresh.
Underwrite the boutique mechanics. A 22-unit corporation has a small maintenance base; one capital project moves the per-shareholder math more than it would at a 200-unit house. Your attorney should review the financials and any planned assessments closely.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the story and the scale. A landmark-district hospital conversion with two to three units per floor is a genuine rarity; buyers respond to the narrative when it is told with precision — 1926, Butler & Stein, steel frame, the 1979 conversion plan on file. We market from documents, not adjectives.
Position against both stocks. Your buyer is cross-shopping brownstone-conversion co-ops (smaller scale, weaker structure, lower price) and avenue pre-wars (doorman service, stricter boards, higher carry). The pitch is the in-between: park-block location, condo-adjacent policy flexibility, real scale.
Price to the block, not the building. With 22 units, same-line history is sparse. Park-block comparables between Columbus and Amsterdam in the 70s set the market; condition and outdoor space drive the spread.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 170 West 76th Street, also evaluate:
- The Apthorp — the full-block 1908 landmark at 79th and Broadway; the condo alternative with pre-war grandeur
- 320 West End Avenue — Candela pre-war co-op; the classic-program alternative
- 470 West End Avenue (The Belvoir) — Emery Roth pre-war co-op on the avenue
- 215 West 84th Street (The Henry) — Robert A.M. Stern new development; the full-amenity new-construction alternative
- The San Remo — the prestige step-up two blocks east on the park
- 44 West 77th Street — the landmarked neo-Gothic studio building facing the museum; the closest character-conversion peer
- 101 West 78th Street (The Evelyn) — ornate pre-war condo at Columbus; the boutique condo alternative on the park blocks
The Roebling Team at 170 West 76th Street
The Roebling Team at Compass works the Upper West Side park blocks as a core practice area. We publish this building profile because boutique-co-op buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — conversion documentation, policy framework, and structural history — not generic neighborhood commentary.
If you're considering a transaction at 170 West 76th Street, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.