51 Fifth Avenue
51 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003
BBL 1005690005 · BIN 1009275
- Year built
- 1929
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 89
- Floors
- 16
- Landmark
- In a historic district
- Financing
- Maximum financing allowed is 75% of purchase price
- Subletting
- Permitted only with Board approval and discouraged "except under extreme circumstances." Requires a sublease application package
- Washer / dryer
- Building rules do not address in-unit washer/dryer installation
- Pets
- Pets allowed: any shareholder may keep dogs, cats, or birds provided the pet does not create a nuisance
- Co-purchasing
- Not explicitly stated
- Trust / LLC
- Non-individual ownership appears permitted with extra fees/board review: the managing agent's processing fees expressly contemplate "purchases by a Trust or any non-individual entity." Trust/entity purchasers may face additional documentation fees from both the agent and co-op's attorney
- Managing agent
- The Lovett Company, LLC / John B. Lovett & Associates, Ltd
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2008). Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
Every recorded sale at this building, 2002–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 2BR median
- $2.8M
- Recent range
- $1.3M – $4M
- Listing discount
- 3.0%
- Recorded transfers
- 72
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 51 Fifth 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.
51 Fifth Avenue is the architectural curiosity of Lower Fifth Avenue — the rare residential cooperative designed by Thomas Lamb, an architect whose portfolio is otherwise defined by the great American theater commissions of the 1910s and 1920s. Lamb is best known for the third Madison Square Garden (1925, demolished 1968), the United Palace Theatre (originally Loew's 175th Street, 1930, surviving), the Ziegfeld Theatre (1927, demolished 1966), and a substantial body of cinema, theater, and entertainment-venue design across North America. A 1929 luxury cooperative apartment building on Lower Fifth Avenue is a structurally distinct credential within Lamb's body of work, and the building's particular architectural register — its proportions, its facade discipline, its specific approach to the prewar Manhattan apartment-house idiom — carries the traces of the theater-architect sensibility that defined Lamb's broader portfolio.
The building was completed in 1929 at the absolute terminus of the Lower Fifth Avenue prewar cooperative cycle — the construction window that began in 1922 at 39 Fifth Avenue and that the October 1929 stock market crash effectively closed. The 1929 vintage places 51 Fifth at the architectural maturity of the corridor's prewar building cycle, with the building incorporating the structural and design lessons of the preceding seven years of Lower Fifth Avenue construction (One Fifth, 45 Fifth, 30 Fifth, 33 Fifth, 24 Fifth) and executed at a scale — 16 stories, 89 apartments — that produces a mid-size cooperative configuration distinct from both the boutique cooperatives (45 Fifth, 43 Fifth) and the institutional-scale buildings (24 Fifth, One Fifth) on the corridor.
The building's geographic position — at the 12th Street corner immediately adjacent to the Salmagundi Club at 47 Fifth — places 51 Fifth at the northern terminus of the 11th-and-12th-Street block that produced the most architecturally distinguished concentration of Lower Fifth Avenue cooperative inventory.
For buyers, 51 Fifth represents a particular position in the Lower Fifth Avenue market: the Thomas Lamb architectural credential, the 1929 maturity-of-the-corridor vintage, the mid-size 89-unit scale, and pet-friendly cooperative policies.
Architecture and unit composition
The 89 apartments distribute across the building's 16 stories in configurations ranging from studios through penthouse units. The facade is the prewar brown-brick idiom characteristic of late-1920s Lower Fifth Avenue construction, articulated by a graceful limestone entrance detail.
Apartment interiors retain the prewar proportions and detailing characteristic of the corridor's 1929-vintage construction — substantial ceiling heights, oak-strip flooring, the architectural vocabulary that distinguishes the prewar cooperative tier from the postwar mid-century inventory.
Building operations
51 Fifth operates as a mid-size full-service cooperative with full-time doorman, live-in superintendent, and a fitness center. The cooperative is pet-friendly — a meaningful structural feature that materially expands the buyer pool. Specific board policies on financing percentages, subletting frameworks, pied-à-terre permissions, and flip-tax structure should all be confirmed against the offering plan during due diligence.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
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 FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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 2005–10 to 2025–30. 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.
Management & transfer contacts
- Sublet policy
- Allowed; sublease fee = 1 month's maintenance
- Notable fees
- Co-op (89 units, Greenwich Village, pet friendly). Buyer app $700; credit $125; move-in/out $250 fee + $500 deposit; transfer agent closing fee $850 ($1,100 remote); alteration $1,200/mo + $5,000-$50,000 deposit
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 29, 2026 | 7E | 1 BR · 1 BA | $1,312,500 | -4.5% | |
| Oct 23, 2025 | 2BF | 2 BR · 2 BA | $3,165,000 | -6.8% | |
| Oct 31, 2024 | 16D | 1 BR · 1 BA · 900 sf | $1,450,000 | $1,611/sf | -9.1% |
| Feb 27, 2024 | 2A | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,375,000 | +0.0% | |
| Jan 29, 2024 | 7CD | 3 BR · 2 BA | $4,025,000 | -3.0% | |
| Oct 26, 2023 | 16A | 2 BR · 2 BA | $3,600,000 | +7.5% | |
| Jul 12, 2023 | 17A | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,500,000 | +0.2% | |
| Dec 23, 2022 | 2D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $1,157,500 | -3.5% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2024): a median $1,591/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 3.1% 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 1-00569-0005). 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.
What would your apartment rent for?
Enter your apartment and I'll send you what it would rent for, from comparable closed leases at 51 Fifth Avenue and nearby.
At the recent median sale of $1.45M (3 transfers since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $28,488 to close, or 2.0% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $14,500
- No mortgage recording tax or title insurance on a co-op purchase
- Attorneys, lender, building fees and filings: $13,988
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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Notable residents
Confirmed historical residents include Jane Freilicher — the abstract expressionist painter, who lived in the penthouse until her death in 2014 — and theater critic and scholar Elinor Fuchs.
What to know if you’re buying
The Thomas Lamb credential is structurally distinguishing. Lamb's residential commissions are rare; the 51 Fifth Avenue attribution is a specific architectural-pedigree advantage that materially distinguishes the building within the corridor.
The 1929 vintage represents the maturity of the corridor. Late-1920s Lower Fifth Avenue construction incorporates the structural and design lessons of the preceding seven years; the apartment proportions and the facade discipline are correspondingly developed.
The pet-friendly policy is meaningful. Materially expands the buyer pool compared to the prewar Lower Fifth Avenue norm.
The geographic position is structural. Immediate adjacency to the Salmagundi Club and the 11th-and-12th-Street architectural concentration places 51 Fifth in the corridor's most distinguished block.
Greenwich Village Historic District protection applies.
Confirm operational specifics directly. Subletting policies, financing percentages, flip tax, and pied-à-terre permissions should all be confirmed during due diligence.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing should emphasize the architectural credential. Thomas Lamb's rare residential commission, the 1929 corridor-terminus vintage, the immediate adjacency to the Salmagundi Club.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. Mid-size cooperative inventory produces a moderate comparable base; recent closings on the specific apartment line should anchor positioning.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Plan for 60–90 days from contract through approval to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 51 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 45 Fifth Avenue — Sugarman & Berger 1925; immediate southern neighbor; boutique prewar peer
- 43 Fifth Avenue — Henry Andersen 1905; Beaux-Arts peer
- One Fifth Avenue — Corbett 1927; corridor anchor
- 24 Fifth Avenue — Emery Roth 1926; corridor peer
- 39 Fifth Avenue — Bing & Bing / Roth 1922; first tall apartment building on Lower Fifth
More Greenwich Village buildings
- 49 East 12th Street — 1910 co-op
- 49 West 12th Street — 1952 co-op
- 49 West 9th Street, 49 West Ninth Street — 1855 co-op
- 53 West 11th Street — 1891 co-op by George F. Pelham
- 55 East 11th Street — 1908 co-op
- 59 Fourth Avenue — 1897 co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Greenwich Village — read The Roebling Team Guide to Greenwich Village.
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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