- Year built
- 1959
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 48
- Floors
- 19
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Permitted (case-by-case)
- Flip tax
- 2 percent of gross sale price, buyer-paid
700 Park Avenue is among the most architecturally consequential post-war cooperatives on Lenox Hill Park Avenue and is generally regarded as one of the finest post-war buildings on the corridor. Completed in 1959 by Kahn & Jacobs with Paul Resnick and Harry F. Green as associated architects, the 19-story building replaced the Knoxville-gray-marble English Renaissance city residence of Commodore Arthur Curtiss James — the railroad magnate who controlled approximately one-seventh of all U.S. rail track at the height of his industrial career and served as commodore of the New York Yacht Club. The James mansion site had earlier housed Union Theological Seminary, placing the corner at the conjunction of multiple consequential 19th-century institutional and residential occupants.
The Kahn & Jacobs design produced an architectural register specific to the late-1950s Park Avenue building cycle. The glazed-gray-brick façade sits on a two-story polished granite base, with continuous glass balcony bands along Park Avenue exposures and substantial setback configurations producing private outdoor space on the upper floors. The architectural composition is consciously calibrated to the corridor's pre-war architectural tradition — particularly the Delano & Aldrich Union Club across Park Avenue, where the architectural dialogue is most legible — while executing in the modernist material vocabulary of the era. Carter Horsley's CityRealty review treats 700 Park among the finest post-war Park Avenue commissions.
The 48-residence intimate scale produces a structurally distinct cooperative operational character. Apartment configurations are unusually substantial for the post-war Park Avenue cooperative tier: entrance galleries measuring 16 to 21 feet, living rooms 27 to 31 feet, dining rooms 22 to 23 feet, and apartment-level features including wood-burning fireplaces, butler's pantries, solariums, and parquet de Versailles flooring across multiple units. Penthouse-tier apartments carry wraparound terraces; combined-unit duplexes reach 3,500 square feet and above. Several apartments retain Ward Bennett-designed mid-century-modern interior installations that constitute their own internal architectural pedigree.
Architecture and unit composition
The 48 cooperative apartments distribute across the building's 19 stories in configurations ranging from substantial two-bedroom apartments through penthouse-tier duplexes. Apartment scale and ceiling heights are calibrated to the late-1950s Park Avenue building cycle, with the layout discipline and architectural finish specifications characteristic of Kahn & Jacobs's broader luxury residential work.
CityRealty data places recent average closings at approximately $1,268 per square foot; Unit 7A traded at $2.75 million in February 2024. Three-year median pricing has run at approximately $1,089 per square foot with an average sale price of approximately $3.05 million.
Building operations
700 Park operates as a full-service cooperative with 24-hour doorman, concierge, and live-in superintendent. A recently renovated contemporary lobby anchors the building's ground-floor presentation. The amenity infrastructure includes a fitness center, an on-site parking garage, two landscaped terraces including a rooftop installation, and private storage. CityRealty assigns the building a rating of 81.
The cooperative policy framework — 40 to 60 percent maximum financing, 2 percent buyer-paid flip tax, pet and pied-à-terre allowances on a case-by-case basis — is calibrated to the pre-war Park Avenue cooperative tradition that Kahn & Jacobs's architecture deliberately referenced.
What to know if you’re buying
The Kahn & Jacobs architectural pedigree is real. Among the finest post-war Park Avenue commissions per Carter Horsley's published review.
Apartment scale is substantial. Entrance galleries 16–21 feet, living rooms 27–31 feet, dining rooms 22–23 feet — apartment proportions consistent with the surrounding pre-war Park Avenue cooperative tradition rather than the smaller-scale post-war building norm.
The 48-residence intimate scale produces a specific cooperative culture. Materially smaller than peer post-war Park Avenue inventory; the building culture is correspondingly intimate.
The on-site parking garage is structural infrastructure. Park Avenue parking is constrained; building-owned parking is meaningful.
The historic Commodore James mansion site context is real cultural history. The building's position at the corner anchors a substantial residential-and-institutional 19th-century continuity.
Confirm policy specifics during due diligence. Specific board approval framework, financing percentages, and sublet duration limits should be verified.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Plan for 6–10 weeks from contract through approval to closing.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing should emphasize the Kahn & Jacobs architectural credential and the apartment scale. Both are structural identity features.
Apartment-level Ward Bennett-designed interior installations are real value features. Buyers attentive to mid-century-modern architectural pedigree should be reached specifically.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. Recent comparables in the $1,089–$1,268 per square foot range provide a baseline.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 700 Park Avenue, also evaluate:
- 650 Park Avenue — Kokkins & Lyras 1963; immediate post-war Park Avenue peer
- 730 Park Avenue — pre-war Park Avenue peer
- 740 Park Avenue — Candela / Cross & Cross 1929–30; trophy pre-war cooperative
- 778 Park Avenue — Candela 1931; pre-war Park Avenue trophy peer
The Roebling Team at 700 Park
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 Park Avenue buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architectural attribution, board context, and the realities of pricing at the apartment level.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 700 Park, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.