- Year built
- 1910
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 9
- Floors
- 11
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Permitted — domestic dogs and cats, not to exceed two in the aggregate, with the written consent of the condominium board or managing agent, revocable at their discretion, per the Rules and Regulations on file
Every recorded sale at this building, 2005–2024
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $2,457
- Listing discount
- 4.1%
- Recorded sales
- 21
- On record
- 2005–2024
Almost every building on this block is landmarked. 50 Madison Avenue is not, and that single fact produced the building.
The Madison Square North Historic District was designated in June 2001, and it swept in the block's Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue frontages — 60 Madison Avenue immediately to the north, 225 Fifth Avenue around the corner, 15 and 21 East 26th Street behind. Lot 7501 was left out. Two months before designation, an Alteration Type 1 was filed to strip the exterior walls off the upper floors of the existing low-rise building on the site and carry it to eleven stories. Inside a historic district that application would have gone to the Landmarks Preservation Commission first, and a vertical enlargement of that proportion on a 2,963-square-foot lot facing a designated streetscape is not the kind of thing that clears review easily. Outside the district it was a straightforward alteration.
Platt Byard Dovell White carried the design. The firm kept the masonry base of the earlier building and set eight new floors above it, clad in limestone-colored precast panels — a deliberate two-part elevation that reads as an old base and a new shaft rather than as a pastiche of either. The work ran from 2001 through 2004, the first residential closings were recorded in September 2005, and the condominium's own audited statements date the start of operations to September 21, 2005.
What the enlargement bought was floor plates. The lot is narrow, so each new floor is a single apartment: nine residences on eleven floors, most around 2,600 square feet, with a duplex penthouse of roughly 3,560 square feet on top. Every residence has the full width of the building, windows on Madison Avenue and on the rear, and no shared landing. In a neighborhood where most condominium inventory sits inside converted prewar office floorplates cut two or three units deep, that is a genuinely different product.
The counterweight is the size of the association, and buyers should look at it directly. Nine residences and two commercial units carry the entire building. The audited statements on file for 2019 and 2020 show a small balance sheet, an operating fund that ran a deficit in 2020, and — this is the part that matters — an explicit note that the condominium's governing documents do not require the accumulation of reserves, that no reserve study has been performed, and that when major repairs are needed the association expects to borrow, raise assessments, or defer the work. That is not unusual for a building of this size, but it is not a detail to discover after contract. Ask for the current budget, the current balance sheet, and any assessment history before you commit.
Architecture and unit composition
The site is an interior lot of 2,963 square feet on the west side of Madison Avenue. Everything about the building follows from that: a single stack, one apartment per floor above the commercial base, and a façade that concentrates its glass on the avenue.
The base survives from the earlier building — the Department of Buildings file records a renovated street vault under the sidewalk, a builder's pavement plan, and façade repair carried out in 2003 while the enlargement was underway. Above it the precast panel floors run to the eleventh story, with balconies and terraces on some lines and two private terraces at the penthouse. Several residences have been gut-renovated since 2005 under separate alteration filings, so condition is line-specific rather than building-wide.
Residences occupy floors three through eleven. The assessment roll puts the typical full-floor plate at roughly 2,600 to 2,650 square feet, historically marketed as three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath homes, with the duplex penthouse at roughly 3,560. The two commercial units occupy the base, together about 3,300 square feet of retail area, separately taxed at class 4.
Exposures are worth testing in person. East-facing rooms look directly at the New York Life Insurance Building's gilded pyramid and, from the upper floors, south toward Madison Square Park and the Metropolitan Life tower. The rear elevation faces a built-up block interior and some of those windows are lot-line windows. Establish which ones belong to the floor you are buying.
Building operations
The building runs lean by design. The audited statements show security as by far the largest operating line — larger than repairs, utilities and payroll combined — which reflects a serviced lobby rather than a large uniformed staff. Management is third-party and the house rules on file reference a resident superintendent.
Two structural points belong in any buyer's underwriting. The commercial units carry a very small share of common expenses relative to the residences: the audited statements record commercial assessment income at a fraction of the residential total, which means the nine apartments fund essentially the whole building. And the association ran a designated litigation fund for several years, winding it down in 2020 and transferring the balance into operations after management concluded it was no longer needed. Both facts are in the statements on file and both are better raised with your attorney than assumed away.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Transfers close through the board's right of first refusal rather than a cooperative approval, which produces predictable closing timelines.
Pets: Permitted, capped at two domestic dogs or cats in the aggregate, subject to the written consent of the board or managing agent under the Rules and Regulations on file. That consent is expressly revocable — an unusual retention of discretion for a condominium, and worth reading before you buy with a large dog.
Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: All permitted under the standard condominium framework. Minimum lease terms should be confirmed with the managing agent.
Terraces and balconies: The house rules prohibit barbecuing, enclosure, and any decoration, planting or installation on a terrace or balcony without prior written approval. If outdoor space is part of why you are buying, read rule 23 before you plan the furniture.
Noise and alteration hours: Construction and repair work is limited to business days between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., and there are defined quiet hours for music and sound. In a single-stack building where every apartment shares a floor slab with the next, these matter more than they would elsewhere.
Working capital: Approximately three months of common charges on initial purchase, per the audited statements.
Flip tax: Not documented in the condominium documents on file. Confirm with the managing agent before pricing a sale.
Real estate taxes: No abatement of any kind. Underwrite the current bill on the specific unit rather than a projected schedule.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $7,707/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $71
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 filing classified the facade as Unsafe — conditions requiring corrective action, which under FISP means a protective sidewalk shed and repairs. Review the subsequent filings, the repair status, and the building’s board and financial materials — we pull the repair scope and funding picture for you.
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 2010–15 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
The building has traded thinly since the sellout. All nine residences were sold by the sponsor to nine separate, unrelated purchasers between September and November 2005, and ACRIS records only a modest number of resales since — several lines have changed hands once or twice in twenty years. That is the profile of a small full-floor building rather than an investor pool, and it has two consequences for pricing.
Same-building comparables are thin: with nine residences and no meaningful volume, a valuation built on a building average is not worth much, and the useful work is line-specific and condition-specific. And the absence of an abatement means the headline price and the monthly carrying number sit further apart than they do in abated new-construction inventory nearby. Full-floor prewar-base conversions in NoMad and Flatiron are the right comparable set, not the recent ground-up towers on Fifth Avenue and East 22nd Street, whose amenity loads and tax postures are structurally different. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
Recent closings 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2024 | RU7 | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,646 sf | $6,500,000 | $2,457/sf | +0.0% |
| Dec 8, 2023 | PH | 4 BR · 3.5 BA · 3,564 sf | $9,000,000 | $2,525/sf | -14.3% |
| Mar 31, 2023 | RU8 | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,630 sf | $5,787,500 | $2,201/sf | -12.0% |
| Aug 20, 2021 | 2 | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,646 sf | $4,350,000 | $1,644/sf | -3.2% |
| Oct 4, 2017 | 9 | 3 BR · 2,630 sf | $5,612,500 | $2,134/sf | -3.2% |
| Oct 2, 2017 | RU | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,630 sf | $5,612,500 | $2,134/sf | off-mkt |
| Dec 9, 2013 | RU | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,630 sf | $5,800,000 | $2,205/sf | off-mkt |
| Mar 16, 2012 | RU | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,630 sf | $4,750,000 | $1,806/sf | off-mkt |
Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $2,457/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.1% 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 1-00856-7501) 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 from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
The reserve position is the diligence item. The audited statements state plainly that the governing documents do not require reserves, that no reserve study exists, and that the board's stated plan for major work is to borrow, assess, or defer. In a nine-unit building, an assessment for a façade or roof cycle divides nine ways. Price that risk.
Confirm who owns the commercial units. The audited statements through 2020 record the sponsor as owner of both and disclose their assessment income as a related-party transaction. Current ownership and the commercial common-interest allocation should be verified — the residential owners carry most of the budget.
Underwrite full taxes from day one. There is no 421-a, no J-51 and no other exemption on any residential unit lot, and there never has been.
Read the pet rule and the terrace rule. Both are stricter than the condominium default and both are in the Rules and Regulations on file.
The landmark status cuts both ways. Not being in the historic district is why the building exists, and it also means the surrounding undesignated parcels carry the same latitude. Check what the neighbors could build, and establish which rear windows are lot-line windows.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the floor plate. A full-floor residence of roughly 2,600 square feet with two exposures and a private landing is not something the converted office buildings on Fifth Avenue or East 26th Street can reproduce.
Get ahead of the tax number. Sophisticated buyers will pull it. Presenting the current bill up front, paired with a True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis, beats letting it surface late.
Have the financials ready. The reserve note in the audited statements will come up, and it is better answered with the current budget, balance sheet and assessment history than left to the buyer's attorney to characterize.
Price line by line. With nine residences and twenty years of thin turnover there is no building average worth quoting. Floor, condition, outdoor space and exposure carry the pricing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 50 Madison Avenue, also evaluate:
- 21 East 26th Street (The Whitman) — same block, inside the Madison Square North Historic District; a 1924 building converted in 2013 and the closest small-building peer
- 15 East 26th Street (Fifteen Madison Square North) — prewar office conversion on the block behind, at larger scale
- 225 Fifth Avenue (The Grand Madison) — the block's Fifth Avenue frontage; the large-format conversion alternative facing Madison Square Park
- 212 Fifth Avenue — prewar office conversion overlooking the park; the high-end conversion comparable
- 241 Fifth Avenue — boutique NoMad condominium with full-floor and half-floor layouts
- 141 Fifth Avenue (Merchants Bank Building) — landmarked base with a residential conversion above; the closest analogue to this building's old-base, new-shaft logic
- 39 East 29th Street (Twenty9th Park Madison) — small NoMad condominium a few blocks north
- 45 East 22nd Street (Madison Square Park Tower) — the ground-up trophy tower on the park; a different price tier and a different economic model
- 260 Park Avenue South — loft conversion two blocks east; the larger, more amenitized alternative
- 30 East 31st Street — boutique new construction north of the district
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Flatiron — read The Roebling Team Guide to Flatiron.
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.
Considering a move at 50 Madison Avenue?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 50 Madison Avenue 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.