- Year built
- 1929
2 East 88th Street is one of the most architecturally distinguished cross-street cooperatives in the entire UES inventory — a 1929-1930 Pennington & Lewis commission for Bing & Bing with a signature rooftop sculptural program that references the Porch of the Maidens (Caryatids) at the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens.
The structural identity rests on three features. First, the Pennington & Lewis / Bing & Bing architect-developer combination — the firm responsible for several Bing & Bing commissions during the late-1920s building cycle, paired with the architect-developer combination that produced multiple landmark prewar coops across Manhattan. Second, the prominent corner tower with carved stone female heads — Friends of the Upper East Side identifies the rooftop sculptural elements as a deliberate Erechtheion reference: "several large, Greek-style, stone heads resting on brick piers, eyeing Central Park and Carnegie Hill." Third, the 13-shareholder boutique configuration — essentially one apartment per floor with the upper-floor triplex penthouse representing the building's signature trophy unit.
Apartment 14PH (triplex penthouse) closed for $60,000,000 on August 24, 2021 — one of the largest cross-street cooperative transactions in modern UES history.
Recent sales
| Date | Unit | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 2021 | 14PH (triplex penthouse) | $60,000,000 | One of the largest cross-street coop transactions in modern UES history |
| Oct 2012 | Apt 3 | $8,100,000 | Mid-floor closing |
| Dec 2023 | Apt 1A | $1,775,000 | Ground-floor unit |
Apartment-level closing detail should be sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers for full transactional context.
What to know if you’re buying
The Bing & Bing / Pennington & Lewis architect-developer combination is real institutional context. No other UES cross-street cooperative at the 13-shareholder boutique scale carries the same architectural-history depth.
The Erechtheion-reference rooftop sculptural program is structurally distinguishing. One of the most-recognized rooftop sculptural elements on any UES cross-street building.
The Guggenheim Museum / Cooper Hewitt / Jewish Museum Museum Mile adjacency is the most structurally valuable urban context in Manhattan residential.
The $60 million August 2021 penthouse closing is the largest recent comp benchmark. The trophy unit pricing dictates building-wide pricing benchmarks at this 13-shareholder scale.
The 13-shareholder boutique configuration is at the smallest scale of institutional UES cooperative inventory. Plan for the most institutional board review standards in the city.
Comparable buildings
- 4 East 88th Street — 1922 Georgian Revival; immediate same-block Guggenheim-facing peer
- 19 East 88th Street — Dowling 1937 Art Deco; same-block Carnegie Hill peer
- 1 East 66th Street — Candela 1947; nearby Fifth Avenue peer
- 1120 Fifth Avenue — Carpenter 1924-25; nearby Fifth Avenue trophy peer
- 1125 Fifth Avenue — Roth 1925; nearby Carnegie Hill Fifth Avenue trophy peer
The Roebling Team at 2 East 88th Street
Corey Cohen · The Roebling Team at Compass 646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com
Sources: Friends of the Upper East Side; CityRealty building page and review; CityRealty sales records (14PH, $60M August 2021); Buchbinder Warren; Brown Harris Stevens; Compass; Corcoran; NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Metropolitan Museum Historic District Designation Report (LP-1083, 1977); NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers.