The Benenson

The façade combines red brick, pale entrance detailing, repeated window openings and exterior fire escapes. The entrance canopy marks the residential doorway. The six-story form keeps the building within the scale of the surrounding side-street apartment houses.

Inside, documented plans have separate or windowed kitchens, with some renovations opening them toward the living and dining area. Larger living rooms can accommodate both seating and a dining table. Bedrooms may be split across the plan or grouped toward a rear exposure.

Hardwood floors, including inlaid patterns in some homes, and ceiling moldings survive in renovated apartments. High ceilings and large windows contribute to the room proportions. Windowed bathrooms appear alongside the more widely documented windowed kitchens.

The apartment inventory includes smaller homes around 550 square feet and two-bedroom configurations around 850–900 square feet. Those figures describe different plan types, not uniform sizes across the building. Closet arrangements and the amount of circulation can make a substantial difference within similar footprints.

A one-bathroom two-bedroom plan is an established configuration here. Adding another bathroom has previously been a contested alteration, with the relationship between proposed plumbing and the rooms below becoming decisive. That history gives bathroom placement particular importance in renovation planning.

The building has a live-in superintendent, elevator service and central laundry. Bicycle storage and additional private storage are available, with the latter subject to availability. A virtual entry system handles access at the entrance.

The cooperative owns the common structure and systems. Its tax class is 2, with no building-wide abatement in the DOF record. The existing built floor area is above the R8B district's stated residential allowance, reflecting the established density of the six-story building.

In a 2008 decision, the New York State Supreme Court upheld the cooperative's refusal to approve a proposed second bathroom above living space. The decision addressed the risk of leaks and added stress on the plumbing system at that time. That doesn't describe the current condition of the pipes; check the present alteration rules with the board.

Subletting: Limited terms of one to two years have been permitted with board approval — confirm with the managing agent.

Co-purchasing and parental purchasing: Considered case by case — confirm with the managing agent.

Gift funds: Permitted subject to approval — confirm with the managing agent.

These are cooperative permissions, and each proposed purchase or lease remains subject to the applicable review. The availability of a pied-à-terre arrangement does not eliminate the separate subletting restrictions.

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 (2026 to date) cleared a median $817/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 3.5% 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 1-01546-0035). 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.

Do not make an extra bathroom the assumption behind the purchase. The building has a specific history of enforcing limits on bathroom placement over living rooms. A proposed second bathroom needs an approvable plan under the current rules before its potential value is included in the buying decision.

• 320 East 86th Street — A smaller prewar cooperative in a similarly modest side-street building form.
• 444 East 87th Street — A prewar cooperative with a comparable inventory and low-rise scale.
• 163 East 81st Street — A prewar cooperative with a similar number of residences in a somewhat taller building.
• 325 East 79th Street — A larger prewar cooperative offering a comparison for traditional layouts and a taller staffed building.
• 151 East 83rd Street — A prewar cooperative with greater height and scale, useful when comparing room planning and service costs.