177 East 79th Street

The building is a slim, dark brown-brick infill tower — the kind of narrow mid-block apartment house that 1980 East Side development produced when a single lot came available between pre-war neighbors. A canopied entrance marks the address. The architecture is utilitarian rather than ornamental; the value is entirely inside, in the layouts.

The 15 residences are organized for privacy. The lower floors are single full-floor apartments, one per landing, reached by a keyed elevator that opens directly into the home. The upper floors are configured as duplexes, giving those residences two levels of living space with internal stairs. Every apartment is a through-floor plan with light on multiple exposures, generous proportions for a building of this size, and the modern conveniences — in-unit laundry chief among them — that distinguish it from the neighborhood's pre-war co-ops. A video intercom serves each residence.

177 East 79th Street is a small cooperative operated for privacy and predictability. A live-in superintendent handles day-to-day building management, with part-time door staff covering weekday mornings; there is no full-time doorman. Keyed-elevator access limits shared residential circulation, but neither feature establishes lower carrying costs. Review maintenance, debt service, reserves and assessments against comparable buildings.

On board policy, the cooperative permits financing up to 75% of the purchase price and charges a 2% flip tax, paid at closing. The building is pet-friendly, and pied-à-terre purchases are permitted — a notable and buyer-friendly stance, since many East Side co-ops prohibit non-primary-residence ownership. In-unit washer/dryers are already installed throughout, removing a common renovation hurdle. As with any cooperative, purchases require a board application and interview, and the small share count means each transfer matters to the building's financial picture.

Recent sales

Recent transfers at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. 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.

Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2023): a median $1,000/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 0.6% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01508-0130). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. 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.

You are buying privacy and format. The keyed-elevator, full-floor (or duplex) plan is the headline — no shared hallways, your own private landing, light on multiple sides, and in-unit laundry already in place. The 2% flip tax falls to the seller and pied-à-terre ownership is permitted; confirm the 75% financing allowance and the current pet policy in the application instructions.

Underwrite it as a small co-op: review the financials, reserves, and any planned capital work — facade, elevator, mechanicals — in your board package, since fixed costs in a 15-unit building are spread across few shareholders. Expect a board application and interview. For a buyer who wants a private floor on the Upper East Side without a townhouse's maintenance burden, and who does not need a 24-hour doorman, this building offers full-floor and duplex layouts with keyed-elevator access.

Sell the floor-through privacy and the policy flexibility. The keyed elevator opening into a single private residence, the full-floor or duplex layout, in-unit laundry, pet-friendliness, permitted pied-à-terre use, and 75% financing together describe a building that competes for a specific, motivated buyer. The fifteen-apartment count describes the building’s size; current competing listings and transfer history establish availability.

Benchmark to full-floor and duplex co-op residences in Carnegie Hill and the surrounding East 70s and 80s, not to standard line-by-line apartments in larger buildings. Emphasize light, the private-landing arrival experience, and the move-in practicality of a post-war building in a pre-war neighborhood. Prepare the board materials and support the asking price with recent comparable sales; the apartment count does not establish likely marketing time.

If you're considering 177 East 79th Street, these nearby Carnegie Hill and East 70s–80s cooperatives offer useful points of comparison:

• 173 East 79th Street — cooperative on the same block
• 151 East 79th Street — Upper East Side co-op a few doors west
• 161 East 79th Street — East 79th Street cooperative nearby
• 136 East 79th Street — pre-war East 79th Street co-op
• 180 East 79th Street — full-service co-op directly across the street