25 East End Avenue (The Yorkgate)

The building rises 15 floors (16 stories counting the penthouse) in limestone-faced neo-Georgian dress over a two-story stone base, with quoins and finials articulating the massing and balconies on the river elevation. The original three-units-per-floor plan produces large, formal layouts: entrance foyers and galleries, 20-to-24-foot living rooms with wood-burning fireplaces, enclosed dining rooms, and libraries. Combinations over the decades have produced duplexes — including a documented 10th/11th-floor duplex with a 24-foot corner living room, library, and a recreation room with its own fireplace — and the count in city records (32) versus the original plan (roughly 38) reflects that consolidation. East-facing rooms above the FDR look out over the East River, depending on floor; the avenue side faces the low corridor and afternoon light.

Full-service in the pre-war manner: 24-hour doorman, a staffed elevator with operator — increasingly rare in Manhattan and a defining service note here — and a live-in superintendent. The amenity stack is right-sized to a 38-unit house: fitness room, central laundry (with in-unit washer/dryers present in some residences), bike room, package room, and storage per listing records. Carrying costs reflect the staffing model; buyers comparing maintenance against self-service buildings should price the elevator operator and full staff as the service they are.

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. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,369/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.4% 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 1-01589-0019). 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.

• Helen Hayes and Charles MacArthur — the actress and the co-author of The Front Page lived in the building, as recounted in The New York Times' Streetscapes column on the building's history

You are buying the corridor's original. First apartment house on the avenue, Cross & Cross pedigree, and an envelope that has barely changed since 1928. Compare its scale, fireplaces and provenance with the avenue's larger post-war co-ops and boutique new condos using matched, dated sales.

The financing framework is conservative. Earlier listing records report a 50 percent financing maximum, while the September 2026 panel requires confirmation. Obtain the current financing, co-purchase, guarantor and trust rules and run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before offering.

River views here are specific to the line. East-facing rooms look across the FDR to the river and Roosevelt Island; the original plan put master rooms on the outside walls. Views and light depend on floor, position and exposure, and no view is protected without a recorded instrument. Walk the specific line at different hours; the FDR is below, and sound exposure varies by floor.

Wood-burning fireplaces are a diminishing asset class. The city no longer permits them in new construction; buildings that have them, keep them. Confirm the specific unit's fireplace is active and chimney-serviced during diligence.

Verify the fee stack. The September 2026 fee panel reports a 2 percent seller-paid fee, conflicting with earlier purchaser-paid listing records. Reconcile the payer and current conditional sublet rules against the operative documents at offer stage.

Market the provenance with precision. Cross & Cross, 1928, first on the avenue, the Sutton Place syndicate lineage, Helen Hayes — this building has the deepest narrative on East End Avenue, and we hold the original prospectus to prove it. Documented history outperforms adjectives in this buyer pool.

Position against both ends of the corridor. Compare the Yorkgate's pre-war scale and detail with Gracie Square co-ops and nearby post-war inventory. Establish relative pricing from matched sales rather than an assumed tier or architectural ranking.

Condition honesty wins. With roughly 38 units, check the available dated same-building sales and the actual renovated-versus-estate price spread. Price to the renovation math — run the Renovation Cost Calculator against your asking strategy.

If you're considering 25 East End Avenue, also evaluate:

• 1 East End Avenue — the 1929 neighbor built in the Yorkgate's wake; the closest like-for-like pre-war
• 120 East End Avenue — the corridor's stately limestone pre-war directly on Carl Schurz Park; the prestige step-up
• 130 East End Avenue — Emery Roth pre-war co-op across from the park
• 1 Gracie Square and 10 Gracie Square — the corridor's blue-chip pre-war trophy co-ops
• 200 East End Avenue — the full-blockfront post-war co-op opposite the park; the value-tier alternative
• 45 East End Avenue — the post-war river-side neighbor one block north; the direct-river-frontage alternative
• 40 East End Avenue — boutique new-development condo; the new-construction alternative
• 20 East End Avenue — Robert A.M. Stern's new-classical condo; the corridor's top-tier new alternative