- Year built
- 1889
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark status
- Not an individual landmark; in the Chelsea Historic District
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission records, updated February 2026
- Doorman
- No doorman
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A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 403 West 21st Street 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.
403 West 21st Street is an 1889 building designed by J. August Lienau for William Mulgrew. Its original Classical Revival facade was later removed and the exterior stuccoed. The building remains part of the Chelsea Historic District, even though its street elevation has lost much of the original architectural treatment.
Today it contains ten cooperative apartments reached by stairs. The conversion to cooperative ownership occurred in 1986. The inventory includes one- and two-bedroom layouts, with tall windows and ceilings characteristic of the building's late-nineteenth-century construction.
Architecture and unit composition
Lienau's original design used a classical composition intended to fit the older streetscape. LPC's designation history records the loss of that facade before the district was designated. The distinction matters when describing the property: its architectural age and district status survive, but an intact original exterior should not be assumed.
Inside, the apartments retain features such as high ceilings, large double-hung windows and wood floors. Two-bedroom arrangements can place sleeping rooms on opposite sides of the main living area. More compact one-bedroom homes occupy other portions of the floor plates. In-home laundry has been installed in some residences.
Building operations
A voice intercom controls entry to the five-story walk-up. The cooperative has no doorman. The small apartment count limits the number of shareholders sharing common building expenses, and upper-floor buyers use the stairs for each arrival and departure.
The altered facade remains subject to LPC oversight because the property lies within the historic district. Future exterior changes must be considered in that setting; the absence of the original ornamental treatment does not remove the building from the district's jurisdiction.
Policy framework
Financing: Up to 80%, implying a minimum 20% down payment — confirm with the managing agent. Pets: Permitted — confirm with the managing agent. Pied-à-terre: Considered — confirm with the managing agent. Gifting, guarantors and co-purchasing: Considered — confirm with the managing agent. In-unit washer/dryer: Permitted with approval — confirm with the managing agent.
Building staffing and amenities
- Doorman
- No doormanSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
- Elevator
- NoSource: NYC Department of City Planning records (PLUTO)
Staffing and amenities as our building profile and recent listing records describe them. A feature not listed is not confirmed absent. Outdoor space, parking and some facilities can belong to particular apartments or to a separate owner; confirm access for the specific apartment.
Local Law 97
This building is below the 25,000 sq ft threshold at which LL97 limits apply to a building on its own. It is still covered if it shares a tax lot or condominium board with buildings totaling over 50,000 sq ft; confirm on DOB’s covered-buildings list.
See full Local Law 97 analysis →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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 18, 2024 | 5W | 2 BR · 1 BA · 605 sf | $860,000 | $1,421/sf | +7.6% |
| Nov 29, 2017 | 5E | 1 BR · 1 BA | $650,000 | -13.2% | |
| Nov 16, 2017 | 5W | 1 BR · 1 BA | $655,000 | -9.7% | |
| Nov 22, 2004 | 2E | 2 BR | $515,000 | +3.2% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $1,421/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 3.2% 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 1-00719-0037). 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.
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Comparable buildings
- Anderson House: A nearby small prewar cooperative with an older residential building form.
- 461 West 22nd Street: A smaller cooperative within the same historic Chelsea streetscape.
- 333 West 22nd Street: An older cooperative with a somewhat larger apartment inventory.
- 228 West 21st Street: A small prewar cooperative farther east on the same street.
- 458 West 20th Street: Another low-rise cooperative with more residences sharing its common costs.
More Chelsea buildings
- 365 West 20th Street (Chelsea Court Tower) — 1928 co-op
- 366 West 15th Street — 1905 condominium by SHoP Architects
- 400 West 23rd Street — 1920 co-op
- London Terrace Towers, 405 West 23rd Street — 1929 condop
- 406 Eighth Avenue — 1986 condominium
- 409 West 21st Street — co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
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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646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com