4 Lexington Avenue (Sage House)
4 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010
BBL 1008770074 · BIN 1078734
- Year built
- 1912
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 160
- Floors
- 11
- Landmark
- In a historic district
- Pets
- Permitted
- Subletting
- Permitted after one year of ownership, with board approval
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- Studio median
- $419K
- Recent range
- $390K – $5.4M
- Listing discount
- 3.6%
- Recorded transfers
- 190
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at Sage House would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.
4 Lexington Avenue — marketed as Sage House — is one of the most architecturally distinguished cooperative buildings in the Gramercy Park area, and one of relatively few individually landmarked residential co-ops in the neighborhood. It was built in 1912–1913 as the headquarters of the Russell Sage Foundation, the pioneering social-welfare and urban-planning philanthropy established in 1907, and designed by Grosvenor Atterbury in a heavily rusticated red sandstone Italian Renaissance palazzo idiom that remains striking a block off Gramercy Park.
The building was converted to residential use in the 1970s and to a cooperative in the 1980s, and it now trades as a pre-war Gramercy co-op with a genuine architectural pedigree. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it an individual landmark in 2000, protecting the sandstone facade, carved shields, and palazzo massing. For buyers who want a distinctive, landmark-quality pre-war address near Gramercy Park at co-op pricing, Sage House occupies a specific and defensible niche.
The apartment stock is concentrated in studios and one-bedrooms, with some combined multi-level units, and the building is a full-service co-op with a doorman and live-in resident manager. It reads and prices as a pre-war Gramercy cooperative — share ownership, moderate carrying costs relative to condos, and a board process — with the added distinction of a purpose-built landmark shell.
Architecture and unit composition
Atterbury's design is a Florentine palazzo executed in rusticated red sandstone, with carved decorative shields and vaulted interior detail that reflect the building's origin as an institutional headquarters rather than a speculative apartment house. A penthouse level was added in 1922–1923 and the adjoining Annex followed in 1930–1931.
The residential conversion produced approximately 160 apartments across roughly 11 to 15 stories, weighted toward studios and one-bedrooms, with some units combined across levels. Because many listings transfer without a stated square footage, apartments here are best read on a price-per-room basis. Renovation quality is the largest single pricing variable within the building — an original-condition studio and a gut-renovated one-bedroom on adjacent lines can price very differently.
Building operations
Sage House operates as a full-service cooperative: 24-hour doorman, live-in resident manager, central laundry, bicycle room, private storage, and elevator service. It does not carry a fitness center or roof deck, which is consistent with a purpose-built pre-war shell of this vintage.
Carrying costs are structured as cooperative maintenance and are generally moderate for a landmark full-service building of this size. Financing is permitted up to 80 percent, more generous than the down-payment posture at many Gramercy pre-war co-ops. Buyers should confirm the current maintenance schedule, any assessments, the reserve position, and the flip-tax structure during due diligence.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $13,783/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $7
- Modeled exposure split equally across 166 units (the city tax-lot count). Not an assessed amount; co-op shareholders are typically charged by share allocation.
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
Because apartments transfer as cooperative shares, the building is best read on a price-per-room basis rather than strictly per square foot. Recent closings have run across a broad range for the corridor, with studios and small one-bedrooms toward the lower end and combined multi-level units at the top. Pricing is driven by floor, exposure, and — heavily — renovation condition. The landmark distinction and the Gramercy Park proximity support demand, while the studio-and-one-bedroom-heavy mix keeps the building in the neighborhood's entry-to-mid tier rather than its trophy tier.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 11, 2026 | 14J | $460,000 | +0.0% | ||
| Jun 11, 2026 | 8J | 1 BA | $452,500 | -1.2% | |
| May 7, 2026 | 10N | 1 BA · 400 sf | $500,000 | $1,250/sf | -5.5% |
| Dec 30, 2025 | 2E | 1 BA | $419,000 | -5.8% | |
| Aug 8, 2025 | 10P | 1 BA | $525,000 | -6.3% | |
| Apr 14, 2025 | 1A | 1 BR · 2 BA | $1,050,000 | -4.1% | |
| Sep 30, 2024 | 8B | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,100 sf | $1,225,000 | $1,114/sf | -18.1% |
| Sep 19, 2024 | 11L | 1 BA | $400,000 | -3.6% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,222/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 1.7% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 14, 2005 | 9M | $230,000 |
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00877-0074). 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.
Closed rents at Sage House, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 6 | $3,447 |
| 1 bedroom | 2 | $5,550 |
Also $105 per sq ft per year (4 leases that report square footage). 8 closed sublet leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease June 2026. Sizes with fewer than 2 leases are not shown. Compiled by The Roebling Team at Compass from closed leases.
At the recent median sale of $500K (6 transfers since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $10,425 to close, or 2.1% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $0
- No mortgage recording tax or title insurance on a co-op purchase
- Attorneys, lender, building fees and filings: $10,425
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
You are buying into a landmark. The individual landmark designation protects the sandstone facade and palazzo massing. That is a durable architectural asset, and it also means exterior alterations are governed by Landmarks review — a factor for any future capital work on the building envelope.
This trades as a pre-war Gramercy co-op. You are buying cooperative shares, with a board process, share-based ownership, and moderate carrying costs relative to condos. Financing up to 80 percent is permitted, and subletting is allowed after one year of ownership with board approval.
Condition drives price. Renovation quality is the largest single pricing variable within the building. Inspect finishes, kitchens, baths, and mechanicals carefully and price against genuinely comparable condition.
Confirm carrying costs, reserves, and flip tax. Review the current maintenance schedule, any active assessments, the reserve position, recent capital projects, and the transfer-fee structure. Model the full monthly carry.
Run the numbers on transfer costs. Confirm the closing-cost structure at offer stage, and run pricing through the Mansion Tax Calculator where applicable.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the landmark and the location. The Russell Sage Foundation pedigree, the Atterbury architecture, and the block-off-Gramercy-Park address are the building's differentiators. Marketing should foreground them.
Condition is your leverage. Because renovation quality drives pricing spread, presentation and staging materially affect outcome. A well-prepared apartment stands out in the building's studio-and-one-bedroom inventory.
Price per room against the right comps. Comparable analysis should weight floor, exposure, and condition — not just room count — and should benchmark against the neighborhood's other pre-war cooperatives.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 4 Lexington Avenue, also evaluate:
- 50 Lexington Avenue (Gramercy North) — 1987 condop cooperative nearby; full-service, flexible policy framework
- 210 East 15th Street (Parc Fifteen) — white-brick cooperative on Stuyvesant Square; full-service
- Madison Green — full-amenity condominium at the Flatiron edge
- 45 East 22nd Street — modern Gramercy/Flatiron condominium tower
- Gramercy — the broader corridor's pre-war cooperative tradition
More Gramercy buildings
- Zeckendorf Towers, 1 Irving Place — 1987 condominium
- 3 Gramercy Park West — 1846 co-op
- 4 Gramercy Park West — 1846
- 6 Gramercy Park West — condominium
- The Park Gramercy (7 Lexington Avenue) — 1948 co-op
- 18 Gramercy Park South — 1927 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Gramercy — read The Roebling Team Guide to Gramercy.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
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