- Year built
- 1924
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 14
- Floors
- 14
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Permitted
- Flip tax
- 3 percent of sale price, buyer-paid
620 Park Avenue — marketed as The Palacio — is among the most architecturally distinctive small-scale pre-war cooperatives on the Lenox Hill stretch of Park Avenue. The 1924 building was designed by J.E.R. Carpenter and constructed by Starrett Brothers, the firm responsible for the Empire State Building, the Equitable Building, and a substantial share of New York's interwar commercial and residential construction. Carpenter — the architect most associated with the development of the modern large Park Avenue apartment house — produced a structurally distinctive commission at 620 Park: a 14-story building configured at one full-floor apartment per floor, producing the 14-residence intimate scale that defines the building's cooperative culture.
The neo-Renaissance / Italian palazzo architectural register is executed in red brick over a two-story limestone base, with white stone banding and quoins, and a balustrade replacing the building's original cornice. The architectural composition places 620 Park in Carpenter's mid-1920s Park Avenue work — alongside 580, 610 (the Mayfair), 625, 630, 635, 640, 655, 812, 950, and 960 Park, plus consequential Fifth Avenue commissions at 1030, 1120, and 1165 Fifth Avenue. The one-per-floor configuration is structurally rare even within Carpenter's broader body of work.
The building was sold as cooperative from inception — among the earlier dedicated-cooperative-ownership Park Avenue commissions of the 1920s pre-war cycle, predating the conversion-era cooperative wave that would reshape the corridor after WWII.
Architecture and unit composition
The 14 cooperative apartments distribute one per floor across the building's 14 stories. Apartment layouts retain the architectural fabric characteristic of Carpenter's mid-1920s Park Avenue work — substantial ceiling heights, formal entry galleries, multi-exposure layouts with Park Avenue and East 65th Street frontages, and the staff-wing infrastructure characteristic of 1924-vintage luxury Park Avenue construction.
Unit 14 closed in September 2025 at $18,000,000 — a 4-bedroom, three-full / two-half-bathroom configuration occupying the top full-floor position. Unit 7F closed in December 2023 at $10,750,000. Building-level pricing has run in the $5,000–$8,000 per square foot range on the rare apartment-level closings.
Building operations
The Palacio operates as a small-scale cooperative with full-time doorman, live-in superintendent, and a private rooftop terrace available to shareholders. The amenity infrastructure includes a basement fitness facility and private storage. The building does not carry an on-site garage.
The cooperative policy framework — 50 percent maximum financing, 3 percent buyer-paid flip tax, pet-friendly — supports a structurally specific buyer pool calibrated to the trophy Park Avenue cooperative tier. Pied-à-terre allowances and sublet specifics should be verified directly with management given the building's 14-unit institutional cooperative culture.
What to know if you’re buying
The J.E.R. Carpenter architectural pedigree is real and substantial. Carpenter's defining Park Avenue body of work; 620 Park sits in his mid-1920s apex era.
The one-full-floor-per-floor configuration is structurally distinguishing. Among Carpenter's smallest-scale Park Avenue commissions; the 14-residence intimate scale produces a corresponding institutional cooperative culture.
Inventory turnover is among the slowest on the corridor. The 14-unit scale produces minimal annual transaction volume; recent comparable analysis depends on small samples.
The 3 percent buyer-paid flip tax is structurally meaningful at closing. On an $18 million purchase, $540,000 of additional buyer cost beyond mansion tax and standard closing costs.
Verify operational specifics during due diligence. Sublet duration limits, post-closing liquidity requirements, current capital project pipeline, and the LL11 façade cycle on the 1924 vintage should be reviewed.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Plan for 6–10 weeks from contract through board approval to closing.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing should emphasize the Carpenter architectural credential and the full-floor configuration. Both are structural identity features.
Pricing benefits from broker familiarity with the building's narrow buyer pool. The 14-unit scale means recent comparable closings carry meaningful weight in the building's reference pricing.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 620 Park Avenue, also evaluate:
- 640 Park Avenue — Carpenter 1914; immediate Carpenter Park Avenue peer (also full-floor configuration)
- 610 Park Avenue (The Mayfair) — Carpenter 1925 hotel converted to condominium 1997–98
- 740 Park Avenue — Candela / Cross & Cross 1929–30; trophy pre-war cooperative
- 720 Park Avenue — Candela 1929; Lenox Hill trophy peer
- 665 Park Avenue — pre-war Park Avenue peer
The Roebling Team at The Palacio
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Central Park West, the Upper East Side, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because Lenox Hill buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architectural attribution, board context, and pricing at the apartment level.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at The Palacio, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.