52 East 78th Street & 61 East 77th Street
52 East 78th Street, New York, NY 10075
BBL 1013920046 · BIN 1041832
- Year built
- 1916
- Type
- Cooperative
- Floors
- 52
- Landmark status
- Not an individual landmark; in the Upper East Side Historic District
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission records, updated February 2026
- Doorman
- Part-time doorman
52 East 78th Street & 61 East 77th Street sales history: 25 recorded transfers
Every recorded sale at this building, 2005–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 3BR median, 2023–2026
- $1.6M
- 2 qualifying sales
- Recent range
- $1.3M – $1.9M
- Listing discount
- 14.4%
- Recorded transfers
- 25
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 52 East 78th Street & 61 East 77th 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.
This is one cooperative in two buildings, and both were built as a school. In 1916 the architects Harde & Hasselman designed a pair of tall school buildings back to back on the block between East 77th and East 78th Streets for the Finch School — a neo-Gothic tower on 78th Street and a neo-Federal building on 77th Street, filed under a single permit, per LPC. The client of record was Mrs. John O'Hara Cosgrave; Jessica Garretson Finch, the school's founder, had married Cosgrave in 1913. The school became Finch College, a women's college, and held both buildings for six decades.
After the college closed in the 1970s, ACRIS shows the property passing from Finch College, through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, to a private owner in 1977–78. The new owner converted both buildings to apartments with a J-51 benefit begun in 1979, and in 1984 the sponsor deeded both lots to Finch Apartment Corp. The corporation has owned the two buildings as a single cooperative since.
The practical point for a buyer is that the address on the listing is only half the co-op. A shareholder at 52 East 78th owns shares in a corporation that also owns 61 East 77th Street, shares its mortgage, and shares the income and obligations of roughly 14,700 square feet of commercial space across the two ground floors. The public record lists 47 apartments at 78th Street; the corporation has 98.
Architecture and unit composition
52 East 78th Street. LPC describes a twelve-story neo-Gothic school building of brick and stone on a lot about 40 feet wide. The two-story entrance is flanked by stone pinnacles with crockets and by two-story window bays framed in stone, a stone balcony railing runs across the front, and the top three floors are stone treated to resemble tracery windows. It replaced two rowhouses. A 1930 interior alteration by George F. Mitchell is the only one LPC records before the residential conversion.
61 East 77th Street. LPC describes a ten-story brick and limestone school building in a neo-Federal style with Beaux-Arts features: a limestone ground floor and garlands, oversize second-floor window enframements with triangular pediments, arched seventh-floor windows, dormers above the cornice and copper wreaths at the tenth floor. It replaced three 1877 rowhouses. A ten-story addition at No. 65, faced in limestone at the base, was built in 1965.
The apartments. The conversion put apartments into floor plates designed for classrooms, so layouts vary more than in a purpose-built prewar co-op. DOB filings since 2000 show that variety: an apartment split from 3ABC into 3AB and 3C in 2011, the combination of 4C and 4D in 2013, and duplexes at 8A/9A and on the tenth and eleventh floors at 52 East 78th. The original offering plan's unit schedule was not reviewed. Price each apartment on its own plan.
Building operations
One corporation, two buildings, one mortgage. The underlying mortgage is recorded against both lots. ACRIS shows a refinancing in August 2010 and a consolidated refinancing in October 2018. The maturity and rate are not in the public record; get them from the audited financial statements. Ask too how common charges, reserves and capital work are allocated between the two buildings.
Commercial income. Both ground floors carry non-residential space, and ACRIS records long-term leases on it from 1986 onward, including leasehold mortgages by commercial tenants. For a co-op this size, rent from that space can be a meaningful part of the operating budget, and a lease expiry can move maintenance. Ask for the lease terms and expiry dates.
Façade and landmarks. DOB filings show façade restoration at 52 East 78th in 2008, with scaffolding the height of the building, and further façade repairs filed in 2019. The ornamented stone at the top of the 78th Street façade and the limestone of the 77th Street building are the kind of work that recurs under Local Law 11 inspection cycles, and in the historic district it goes through LPC as well. Ask for the current façade report and any open work.
Taxes. The J-51 benefits from the conversion ended decades ago. Real estate taxes are carried in maintenance, and eligible primary-residence shareholders receive the cooperative abatement.
Building staffing and amenities
- Doorman
- Part-time doormanSource: recent listing records
- Elevator
- YesSource: NYC Department of City Planning records (PLUTO)
Staffing and amenities as our building profile and recent listing records describe them. A feature not listed is not confirmed absent. Outdoor space, parking and some facilities can belong to particular apartments or to a separate owner; confirm access for the specific apartment.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $78,690/yr
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $104,302/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $140 – $185
- Modeled exposure split equally across 47 units (the residential count on the city's lot record). Not an assessed amount; co-op shareholders are typically charged by share allocation.
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City data last refreshed October 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 prompt corrective action. The owner must install any public protection the inspector specifies (a sidewalk shed, construction fence or structural netting, depending on the condition) and make the 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 — a licensed professional engineer or registered architect who meets DOB’s FISP qualifications and signs 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 data last refreshed October 2026.
Photographs of 52 East 78th Street & 61 East 77th Street
Recent sales
Finch Apartment Corp. trades as a prewar-era Upper East Side co-op between Madison and Park, priced per room, with a conversion's variety of layouts. With 98 apartments across the two buildings, ACRIS records a steady flow of share transfers — several a year at 61 East 77th and a smaller number at 52 East 78th. Floor, light, ceiling height and how well the conversion layout works decide value inside the co-op; the upper-floor duplexes at 52 East 78th are the outliers. Comparisons belong with the side-street prewar co-ops of the Upper East Side Historic District, adjusted for the conversion floor plans. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 20, 2026 | PH10E | 3 BR · 2.5 BA | $1,935,000 | -22.4% | |
| Nov 29, 2023 | 2AB | 3 BR · 2 BA | $1,250,000 | -10.4% | |
| Dec 15, 2022 | 8B | 1 BA | $510,000 | -2.9% | |
| Jul 21, 2022 | 5D | 1 BR · 1 BA · 450 sf | $487,500 | $1,083/sf | -1.5% |
| Jun 1, 2022 | 6D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $515,000 | +0.0% | |
| Jan 20, 2022 | 3C | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,000 sf | $950,000 | $950/sf | -36.7% |
| Jun 10, 2021 | 3AB | 1 BR · 1 BA · 1,000 sf | $1,125,000 | $1,125/sf | -10.0% |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 7A | 1 BR · 1 BA | $505,000 | -30.8% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2022): a median $1,047/sf (floor-adjusted) across 2 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 10.4% 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 1-01392-0046). 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.
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What to know if you’re buying
You are buying into both buildings. Review the financials for the whole corporation. Ask how costs are split between 52 East 78th and 61 East 77th and whether either building has capital work pending.
The board package is the gate. Expect a full financial package and an interview. The board's financing ceiling, minimum down payment and post-closing liquidity requirement are not documented publicly; ask for them before you make an offer.
Get the policy stack in writing. Subletting, pied-à-terre use, purchases through trusts or LLCs, pets and any flip tax must come from the managing agent.
Read the commercial leases. The ground-floor tenants' rent supports the budget. Find out when the leases expire.
Plan renovations around LPC. Interior work goes through DOB; anything visible on the façade or roof also needs LPC approval.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the history. The Finch School origin, the neo-Gothic façade and the historic-district setting between Madison and Park set this co-op apart from the post-war stock on the same blocks.
Explain the structure up front. Buyers and their attorneys will find the second building in the records. Explaining the two-building co-op in the listing avoids a surprise in diligence.
Show the plan. Converted classroom floors produce unusual layouts. A measured floor plan does more for the sale than a room count.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 52 East 78th Street, also evaluate:
- 71 East 77th Street — Caughey & Evans's 1927–28 co-op on the same block, a few doors east of the Finch building on 77th Street
- 876 Park Avenue — Rouse & Goldstone's 1917 co-op at the Park Avenue end of the same block
- 860 Park Avenue — York & Sawyer's 1924–25 full-floor co-op at the 77th Street corner of the block
- 70 East 77th Street — 1917 co-op across 77th Street
- 11 East 79th Street — 1928 side-street co-op one block north
- 21 East 79th Street — Van Wart & Wein's 1930 co-op of 15 full-floor apartments
- 875 Park Avenue — George and Edward Blum's 1912 co-op across Park Avenue at 78th Street; a similar era and scale
- 17 East 80th Street — a converted 1908 mansion; another non-apartment building turned co-op
More Upper East Side buildings
- 51 East 78th Street — 1893 co-op
- 51 East 90th Street — 1926 co-op by George F. Pelham
- 52 East 72nd Street (Claremont House) — 1986 condominium
- 53 East 66th Street — 1923 co-op by Mott B. Schmidt
- 55 East 72nd Street — 1924 co-op by Albert Joseph Bodker
- 55 East 76th Street — 1883 co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Upper East Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper East Side.
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.
Considering a move at 52 East 78th Street & 61 East 77th Street?
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646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com