- Year built
- 1910
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 57
- Pets
- Pet-friendly
2 East End Avenue has one of the more unusual origin stories on the Upper East Side. The ten-story building at the northwest corner of East 79th Street dates to 1910, but it did not begin life as apartments — it was a commercial structure that for decades housed an electrical testing laboratory, the kind of light-industrial operation that occupied the East End / Yorkville fringe before the neighborhood gentrified around it. In 1978, the Rockrose Development Corporation converted the building to a residential cooperative, with the conversion designed by Bernard Rothzeid & Partners.
That adaptive-reuse heritage is the building's defining characteristic. Converting a former testing laboratory into apartments produces a distinct kind of living space — typically more open, loft-influenced floor plates than a purpose-built pre-war apartment house of the same era, the legacy of a structure originally framed for industrial rather than residential proportions. For buyers who want character and volume rather than a conventional pre-war layout, that origin is a feature, not a footnote.
The location is the other half of the story. East End Avenue is the quietest, most insulated address on the Upper East Side — a short, low-traffic stretch facing Carl Schurz Park and the East River, anchored by Gracie Mansion to the north. 2 East End sits at the avenue's southern gateway at 79th Street, with a full-time doorman, two fitness rooms, and a pet-friendly policy inside a tightly held roughly-57-unit cooperative.
Architecture and unit composition
The approximately 57 apartments span ten stories within the converted 1910 structure. Because the building was adapted from a commercial laboratory rather than built as apartments, layouts tend to read differently from conventional pre-war stock — often with the more open, flexible floor plates that adaptive reuse produces. The 1978 Rothzeid conversion established the building's current residential configuration, and individual apartments have been further renovated over the decades.
Exposures toward East End Avenue and the East 79th Street corner carry the avenue's quiet, with Carl Schurz Park and the river a few steps away. As with any conversion building, apartment-level variation in layout, volume, and condition is significant and rewards close inspection.
Building operations
2 East End Avenue is a full-service cooperative, the product of the 1978 Rockrose conversion. It is run with a full-time doorman, an elevator, two fitness rooms, secure bike storage, central laundry, and additional storage. The building is pet-friendly. The two on-site fitness facilities are a notable amenity for a building of this scale, and the full-time attended lobby gives the converted structure the operating profile of a purpose-built full-service co-op.
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
Sales context at 2 East End Avenue:
- Turnover is modest given the roughly 57-unit scale — a typical year produces a handful of closings.
- Pricing reflects the East End Avenue premium for quiet and river-park proximity, tempered by the building's adaptive-reuse character relative to purpose-built pre-war peers.
- The distinctive loft-influenced layouts mean apartments price on their specific volume and condition rather than a uniform per-square-foot figure.
Apartment-level analysis depends on layout, floor altitude, exposure, and renovation condition. We provide current, building-specific comparable analysis on request.
What to know if you’re buying
The adaptive-reuse heritage defines the apartments. A former electrical testing laboratory converted in 1978 yields more open, loft-influenced layouts than conventional pre-war stock — a distinct value proposition for buyers who want volume.
The amenities punch above the building's size. Two fitness rooms, a full-time doorman, bike storage, and a pet-friendly policy in a 57-unit building are a genuine draw.
East End Avenue is the quietest UES address. Carl Schurz Park, the East River Promenade, and minimal through-traffic give the avenue a calm unmatched elsewhere on the Upper East Side.
Inspect layouts closely. Conversion buildings vary widely apartment to apartment in volume, configuration, and condition.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the origin story and the location. The 1910 former-laboratory heritage, the 1978 adaptive reuse, and East End Avenue's river-park calm are genuinely differentiated marketing assets.
Price to the specific apartment. Loft-influenced layouts price on their individual volume and renovation level; comp against the most genuinely comparable in-building and East End Avenue trades.
Closing timelines are co-op standard — generally 6–10 weeks from contract to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 2 East End Avenue, also evaluate:
- 25 East End Avenue — neighboring East End Avenue cooperative
- 40 East End Avenue — East End Avenue pre-war peer
- 45 East End Avenue — East End Avenue full-service co-op
- 60 East End Avenue — East End Avenue comparable
- 120 East End Avenue — East End Avenue pre-war building
- 75 East End Avenue — East End Avenue cooperative
The Roebling Team at 2 East End Avenue
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Central Park West, the Upper East Side, and the broader park- and river-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because East End Avenue buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, board culture, transactional mechanics, and pricing at the apartment level — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 2 East End Avenue, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
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