- Year built
- 1856
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 7
- Floors
- 4
- Landmark
- Designated
- Amenities
- Private storage and video intercom
Every recorded sale at this building, 2008–2024
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,896
- Listing discount
- 1.4%
- Recorded sales
- 10
- On record
- 2008–2024
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A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 434 West 20th 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.
About the building
434 West 20th Street is a twenty-five-foot-wide Italianate brownstone built in 1856–1857 for William H. Merrill. It is part of the Chelsea Historic District's nineteenth-century residential streetscape. Its relatively broad frontage supports apartments with substantial living rooms, while the street-facing windows look toward the landscaped institutional grounds across West 20th Street. The original house has been divided into a seven-residence cooperative.
The inventory includes larger flats of approximately 1,600 square feet and smaller upper-level apartments. Penthouse accommodation includes private roof decks, with outdoor space reached from the upper homes. Arched windows, tall ceilings and fireplaces survive in portions of the building, though the apartments have been renovated separately over time. The house is a walk-up, with private storage supplementing the space inside the homes.
Recent sales
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2024 | 8 | 1 BR · 2 BA · 1,005 sf | $1,905,000 | $1,896/sf | -4.7% |
| Dec 15, 2020 | 9 | 1 BR · 1 BA | $883,000 | +0.9% | |
| Jun 28, 2019 | 4 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,600 sf | $2,725,000 | $1,703/sf | -0.9% |
| Jun 6, 2017 | PH | 1 BR · 2 BA · 1,000 sf | $1,885,000 | $1,885/sf | +0.0% |
| Aug 17, 2015 | 4 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,600 sf | $3,051,000 | $1,907/sf | +3.4% |
| Aug 16, 2012 | PH9 | 1 BR · 575 sf | $735,000 | $1,278/sf | -1.9% |
| May 26, 2011 | 2 | 3 BR · 1,600 sf | $2,150,000 | $1,344/sf | -2.1% |
| Mar 13, 2008 | PH9 | 1 BR · 575 sf | $860,000 | $1,496/sf | -4.3% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $1,896/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 1.4% 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.
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 1-00717-0061) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
Buying here? Co-op closing costs typically run 2 to 3% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
Keep up with 434 West 20th Street and its market
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What to know if you’re buying
Private roof decks sit above a shared historic house. The proprietary lease and roof-use agreement determine the split between deck upkeep and structural roof repairs.
Comparable buildings
- 461 West 22nd Street — An Anglo-Italianate brownstone cooperative with a similarly small residential count and walk-up access.
- 429 West 22nd Street — A two-house cooperative retaining rear gardens within a mid-nineteenth-century Chelsea row.
- 419 West 22nd Street — A four-residence cooperative in an 1856 Anglo-Italianate house, with fewer owners sharing the structure.
More Chelsea buildings
- 430 West 23rd Street — 1855
- 433 West 24th Street (West 24th Owners Corp.) — 1920 co-op
- Haddon Hall (433 West 34th Street) — 1930 co-op by Sugarman & Berger
- 434 West 23rd Street — 1854 co-op
- 435 West 19th Street — 1924 condominium
- 436 West 23rd 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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