- Year built
- 1905
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 42
- Floors
- 11
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Verify at offer stage
43 Fifth Avenue is the architecturally distinguishing building on the southern half of the Lower Fifth Avenue corridor — the 1905 Beaux-Arts cooperative that anchors the southern entry to the 11th-and-12th-Street residential block and whose celebrity-resident register is among the deepest in downtown Manhattan.
Henry Andersen designed the building for W. E. Finn in 1905, on the site of the demolished Bryce residence. The Parisian-inspired Beaux-Arts vocabulary — Scamozzi columns at the entrance, the bowed metal bays with iron railing detail, the limestone trim across the red-brick mid-section, the two-story mansard crown — placed 43 Fifth in a specific architectural lineage that briefly influenced upper-tier Manhattan residential design in the years before the 1920s prewar cooperative boom shifted the corridor's architectural register toward the larger, more institutional building types that dominate Lower Fifth today.
The building's 42-unit scale is materially smaller than the larger prewar cooperatives on the corridor — fewer apartments than 45 Fifth's original 65, materially fewer than the Brevoort's 296, or 24 Fifth's 419. The intimate scale, the Parisian-Beaux-Arts architectural argument, and the apartment-level privacy (lower-unit configurations in which apartments share walls with no other unit, the building's "dry moat" producing additional light penetration) produce a residential idiom structurally distinct from the broader corridor.
The celebrity-resident register at 43 Fifth is among the most consequential on Lower Fifth Avenue. Marlon Brando lived at Unit 1A — the famous "parlor-level" unit — as his first New York City apartment. The same unit, Unit 1A, has subsequently passed through ownership by Julia Roberts (sold 2005), Holly Hunter (acquired from Roberts 2005, sold 2014 for $7.6 million), and most recently Ivy Shapiro, who closed on the unit in August 2025 at $8.6 million. Additional historical residents include novelist Dawn Powell and Diana Ross. The building has appeared as a filming location in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks (2000), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and Deconstructing Harry (1997).
For buyers, 43 Fifth represents a particular position in the Lower Fifth market: the corridor's most architecturally distinguished pre-1920s building, the deepest celebrity register among small-scale prewar cooperatives, and apartment configurations whose architectural privacy is materially exceptional.
Architecture and unit composition
The 42 apartments distribute across the building's 11 stories in configurations described in marketing materials as "large pre-war Parisian-style." Apartment interiors retain the proportions and detailing characteristic of 1905-vintage Beaux-Arts luxury construction. Unit 1A — the building's "parlor-level" apartment — is configured with shared walls to no adjacent unit, producing a single-house apartment idiom that contributes to the unit's documented pricing premium.
The lobby is "extraordinarily ornate marble" with Art Nouveau bas reliefs — a level of decorative architectural specification rare among Lower Fifth Avenue buildings.
Building operations
43 Fifth operates as a small-scale boutique cooperative with 24-hour doorman and live-in superintendent. The amenity program is consistent with the building's 1905-vintage scale and the prewar cooperative idiom — no fitness center, no roof deck, no garage; the architectural fabric and the building services constitute the value proposition.
Recent sales
Recent closed sale at 43 Fifth Avenue (most recent verifiable comparable):
- Unit 1A — closed August 2025 at $8,600,000 to Ivy Shapiro. The same unit was acquired by Holly Hunter from Julia Roberts in 2005 and sold by Hunter in 2014 at $7,600,000.
Sales context: thin transaction volume given the 42-unit scale; full closed-comp set should be pulled from ACRIS at the time of marketing.
What to know if you’re buying
The architectural pedigree is the structural feature. Henry Andersen's 1905 Beaux-Arts is the most architecturally distinguished pre-1920s cooperative on Lower Fifth Avenue.
The 42-unit scale produces intimate building culture. Materially smaller than the corridor's larger prewar peers; cooperative culture is correspondingly more selective and more personal.
Unit 1A is structurally exceptional. The parlor-level configuration, the privacy of the apartment (no shared walls with adjacent units), and the documented celebrity-ownership chain place the unit in its own pricing category.
The Greenwich Village Historic District streetscape is protected. The 1905 facade, the surrounding 19th-century institutional context, and the broader corridor are all subject to LPC review.
Confirm specifics directly with management. Board policies on financing, subletting, pets, pied-à-terre use, and flip tax should all be confirmed during due diligence.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing should emphasize the architectural and celebrity pedigree. Henry Andersen 1905 Beaux-Arts, the Brando / Roberts / Hunter / Shapiro chain at Unit 1A, the Woody Allen filming history.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. Thin transaction inventory means each closing carries significant weight in the building's $/sf reference base.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Plan for 60–90 days from contract through approval to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 43 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 45 Fifth Avenue — Sugarman & Berger 1925; immediate northern neighbor; boutique prewar peer
- One Fifth Avenue — Corbett 1927; corridor anchor
- 24 Fifth Avenue — Emery Roth 1926; corridor peer
- 51 Fifth Avenue — Thomas Lamb 1929; corridor peer
- 41 Fifth Avenue — adjacent block; comparable boutique scale
The Roebling Team at 43 Fifth Avenue
The Roebling Team at Compass works the Lower Fifth Avenue corridor as part of our broader Park-facing Manhattan practice. We publish this building profile because 43 Fifth buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architectural attribution, board context, apartment-line comparable analysis — not generic neighborhood commentary.