- Year built
- 1929
322 East 57th Street is, per Carter Horsley, "the most elegant of the city's few grand 'studio' apartment buildings" — and one of NYC's most storied small cooperatives. The 19-unit configuration produces "enormous double-height ceilings, about 20-feet tall." Horsley's signature reading: "If this were on Fifth Avenue, it might well be considered the best apartment building in the city."
The structural identity rests on three features. First, the Caughey & Evans architectural pedigree — Harry M. Clawson designed both 322 East 57th and Hampshire House on Central Park South, placing 322 in a small but architecturally consequential firm corpus. Second, the "studio building" program — originally designed for artists and entertainers requiring dramatic double-height-living-room spaces with abundant natural light. Apartments were originally designed without kitchens — residents dined in the building's ground-floor restaurant. That restaurant space is today Mr. Chow's. Third, the trophy cultural resident roster — Orson Welles, Senator Jacob Javits and Marion Javits, Clay Felker (founder of New York magazine) and Gail Sheehy, Tamara de Lempicka (Art Deco painter), Lily Pons (opera star) and André Kostelanetz (conductor), John Fleming (renowned book collector), Michael and Tina Chow.
Recent sales
The 19-unit count means transactions are rare. Recent listings:
- Apt. 4/5B (2-bedroom duplex) at $3.5M
- Former Senator Jacob Javits duplex listed at $7.2M after comprehensive renovation
- PPSF runs roughly $1,200-$2,000 depending on condition and ceiling presentation
What to know if you’re buying
The Caughey & Evans / Harry M. Clawson architectural pedigree is real institutional context. Same architect as Hampshire House.
The double-height 20-foot ceilings are structurally distinguishing.
The Mr. Chow's ground-floor restaurant continues the building's original studio-building dining-restaurant tradition.
The trophy cultural resident roster — Welles, Javits, Felker/Sheehy, Lempicka, Pons/Kostelanetz, the Chows — supports premium positioning.
The 19-unit configuration is at the smallest end of institutional Manhattan cooperatives. Plan for the most institutional board review.
Comparable buildings
- The Galleria (117 East 57th Street) — Specter 1975; same-block Midtown East peer
- The Excelsior (303 East 57th Street) — Birnbaum 1967; same-block Midtown East peer
- The Sovereign (425 East 58th Street) — Roth & Sons 1973-74; nearby Sutton/Midtown East peer
- Olympic Tower (641 Fifth Avenue) — SOM 1976; nearby Midtown East trophy peer
- 2 Sutton Place South — Emery Roth & Sons 1938; nearby Sutton trophy peer
The Roebling Team at 322 East 57th Street
Corey Cohen · The Roebling Team at Compass 646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com
Sources: CityRealty (Carter Horsley review, building 1062); 6sqft (Senator Jacob Javits Sutton Place coop renovation feature); NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers.