47-20 42nd Street
47-20 42nd Street, between 47th Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue, in Sunnyside, Queens
BBL 4001960032 · BIN 4002642
- Year built
- 1938
- Type
- Cooperative
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Elevator, live-in superintendent, common laundry, bicycle storage, resident storage and virtual entry/package-access system
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 1BR median
- $500K
- Recent range
- $394K – $875K
- Listing discount
- -2.9%
- Recorded transfers
- 30
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47-20 42nd Street is a six-story prewar cooperative facing Thomas Noonan Playground. Its 59 residences share an elevator building with an Art Deco lobby, an on-site superintendent and common laundry. The open space opposite gives park-facing homes a different outlook from apartments directed toward the rear of the block.
The apartment stock is unusually varied in size for a building of this scale. Studios and smaller homes coexist with large two-bedroom layouts containing separate dining space and, in some cases, two full bathrooms. Defined foyers and substantial living rooms are recurring features.
The address sits south of Queens Boulevard, between 47th Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue. The 40th Street–Lowery Street station is the nearest subway stop. The building's street frontage faces the playground while the nearby avenue corridors provide shops and other everyday services.
Architecture and unit composition
The brick apartment house dates from the late 1930s. The lobby retains Art Deco ornament, and the residential floors are reached by elevator. The street elevation's repeated windows reflect the several apartment lines within the building.
High ceilings, wood floors and entrance foyers carry through much of the inventory. Studios can have a foyer broad enough to separate the entrance from the living and sleeping area. Larger homes add separate dining rooms or dining areas, windowed kitchens and more extensive closet storage.
The largest resale layouts have substantially more interior area than the compact homes. Two-bedroom apartments with two full baths have appeared in the market, while other large plans combine a single bathroom with expansive living and dining rooms. Those distinctions matter to both room use and total purchase price.
Exposures differ across the building. Park-facing upper rooms can look over the playground and surrounding trees. Rear-facing apartments have a more enclosed block-interior outlook, and corner homes receive light from more than one direction. The windows and room orientation help explain why similarly sized apartments can feel different.
Original room arrangements have been retained in some homes and altered in others. Separate kitchens, dining spaces and broad foyers allow several ways to use the interior, but each apartment's actual configuration determines how much space remains in the main living room and bedrooms.
Building operations
A live-in superintendent supports the day-to-day operation. Common laundry is located in the building, with bicycle and general resident storage available separately. Storage lockers are subject to a waiting list, so their availability should not be treated as automatic with a share transfer.
A virtual entry and package-access system supplements the building's entrance operation. This provides remote access handling without establishing a staffed doorman schedule. The restored lobby remains part of the common interior used by all shareholders.
The property is in Tax Class 2, with no statutory annual assessment-growth cap and no building-wide abatement. The cooperative pays the building's real estate taxes through its operating structure. The recorded built FAR exceeds the stated allowance under R6A zoning, reflecting the existing apartment house's density.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 2026 | 6F | 1 BR · 1 BA | $394,000 | +0.0% | |
| Jun 24, 2026 | 1H | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,400 sf | $875,000 | $625/sf | +12.9% |
| Sep 16, 2025 | 4C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 1,050 sf | $605,000 | $576/sf | +2.9% |
| Nov 10, 2022 | 6E | 1 BR · 1 BA | $455,000 | +3.9% | |
| Sep 29, 2020 | 2D | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,270 sf | $700,000 | $551/sf | -6.5% |
| Apr 30, 2014 | 2C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 1,000 sf | $282,000 | $282/sf | -2.4% |
| Nov 1, 2013 | 1H | 2 BR | $425,000 | +0.0% | |
| Sep 10, 2013 | 3A | 1 BR · 1 BA · 1,000 sf | $305,000 | $305/sf | -15.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $625/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 2.4% 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 4-00196-0032) 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.
At the recent median sale of $605K (3 transfers since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $10,819 to close, or 1.8% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $0
- No mortgage recording tax or title insurance on a co-op purchase
- Attorneys, lender, building fees and filings: $10,819
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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Comparable buildings
- Plymouth Hall: a nearby prewar elevator property whose apartments trade as cooperative shares, making it a close comparison for layout and tenure.
- Colonial Court: a Jackson Heights cooperative for buyers comparing established elevator-building rooms and ownership costs across Queens neighborhoods.
- Washington Plaza: a larger cooperative with landscaped common space, useful for comparing outdoor setting and scale.
- The Crescent House: an Astoria postwar cooperative with parking, offering a different apartment-era comparison within elevator housing.
- Horizon Towers: a Woodside condominium alternative for buyers weighing newer construction and condominium tenure against a prewar co-op.
More Sunnyside buildings
- 43-42 45th Street (Plymouth Hall) — 1936
- 47-55 39th Place — 1939 condominium
- 49-07 43rd Avenue — 2005 condominium
- 50-15 39th Street — 1960 co-op
- Sunny View Condominium, 45-29 47th Street — 2025 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full neighborhood — its buildings, character, and market — read The Roebling Team Guide to Sunnyside.
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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