791 Park Avenue
791 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021
- Year built
- 1925
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 29
- Floors
- 15
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Confirm directly with management
- Subletting
- Restrictive (typical of tier-one Park Avenue cooperatives)
791 Park Avenue is a George & Edward Blum building from 1925, and a Blum brothers Park Avenue commission is a meaningful credential. In roughly two decades of New York practice the Blum brothers produced more than 100 apartment buildings, with a portfolio concentrated across Park Avenue, Madison Avenue, Fifth Avenue, the Upper West Side, and the side streets. They are among the most prolific apartment architects of the pre-Carpenter / Candela generation, and their Park Avenue work is distinguished by ornamental brickwork, terra-cotta detail, and refined classical proportions that differentiate Blum buildings from the more austere limestone-and-brick idiom of the late-1920s firms.
The 1925 vintage at 791 Park places the building in the front half of the Park Avenue construction boom — between the immediate post-WWI buildings and the 1929–1931 Candela apex. The architectural discipline visible at 791 Park belongs to the Blum brothers' mature work.
The building's residential history is unusually consequential. Ivar Kreuger — the Swedish industrialist known as the "Match King," whose international corporate empire built on European match production was one of the largest concerns of the 1920s — took the penthouse at 791 Park in 1927. Kreuger's 1932 suicide in Paris and the subsequent collapse of the Kreuger & Toll holding structure is one of the most consequential financial events of the early 20th century and is still studied in financial-history scholarship. The Pulitzer-winning author Edna Ferber, whose novels Show Boat, Cimarron, and Giant defined a generation of American storytelling, occupied the penthouse from 1933 to 1939.
The position at Park Avenue between East 73rd and East 74th Street is at the absolute center of the Lenox Hill Park Avenue corridor. The Park Avenue Armory area (66th–67th) is six blocks south. The Frick Collection is three blocks south on Fifth Avenue. The dense pre-war Park Avenue tier-one inventory — 720, 730, 740, 765, 770, 778 Park — surrounds the building.
For buyers, 791 Park represents a particular tier of Lenox Hill Park Avenue inventory: Blum brothers architectural pedigree (an unusual Park Avenue credential), 29-apartment scale producing limited annual turnover, a residential history with consequential 20th-century figures, and pricing materially below the Candela tier-one peak.
Architecture and unit composition
The 29 apartments span configurations from approximately 2,000 sf 2BRs through 4–5 BR layouts and penthouse configurations across the 15 stories. The penthouse — the apartment occupied by Kreuger in 1927 and Ferber 1933–1939 — is the building's most architecturally distinctive residence.
Blum signatures throughout: 10–11 foot ceilings in primary rooms, formal entry galleries, library-living room combinations, ornamental brick and terra-cotta detail visible in public spaces, and the classical room proportions characteristic of the firm's 1920s work.
Park Avenue-facing apartments on the western flank look across to the Park Avenue median plantings and the buildings on the avenue's west side.
Building operations
791 Park Avenue operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative with full-time doorman, attended elevator, on-site superintendent, and private storage. The 29-apartment scale produces limited annual turnover. The cooperative conversion from the original rental occurred in 1947.
Specific policy details (financing posture, flip tax structure, sublet policy specifics, pied-à-terre allowance) should be confirmed directly with property management during due diligence. The board posture follows tier-one Lenox Hill pre-war norms.
Recent sales
Last 5–10 closed sales at 791 Park Avenue (replace this section with current ACRIS data — pull at publication time and refresh quarterly):
[Recent sales table to be populated from ACRIS]
Sales context at 791 Park:
- Inventory turnover is low given the 29-unit scale — typically 2–4 transactions per year.
- Pricing spans a range — 2–3 BR apartments in the $2.5M–$5M range; larger 4–5 BR configurations in the $5M–$12M range; the penthouse trades at the upper end of that range when it transacts.
- Public listing through StreetEasy and Compass private exclusive is standard.
What to know if you’re buying
The Blum brothers authorship is an unusual credential. Park Avenue Blum commissions are materially rarer than the more common Carpenter / Candela / Schwartz & Gross attributions, and the firm's ornamental brick-and-terra-cotta vocabulary is visually distinct.
The residential history is differentiating. Kreuger and Ferber as penthouse residents are both verifiably consequential 20th-century figures — the kind of past-resident provenance most Park Avenue buildings cannot claim.
Central Lenox Hill positioning is structural. The block sits at the absolute heart of the Lenox Hill Park Avenue corridor.
Pricing is more accessible than Candela tier-one peers. 791 Park typically trades at materially more accessible per-square-foot pricing than the 1929–1931 Candela apex.
Confirm specific policies directly with management. Financing posture, flip tax structure, sublet specifics, and pied-à-terre allowance should be obtained directly during contract review.
Board approval follows tier-one Park Avenue norms. Strong financial profile, professional accomplishment, primary-residence intent are central criteria.
What to know if you’re selling
The Blum brothers authorship and the Kreuger / Ferber residency history are differentiating marketing assets. Listing copy should foreground both — the architectural credential and the residential provenance distinguish 791 Park from the broader pool of pre-war Park Avenue inventory.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. Floor altitude, exposure, configuration, and renovation history all matter substantially given the small unit count.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. 6–10 weeks from contract signing to closing.
The Roebling Team at 791 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 Lenox Hill buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, board culture, transactional mechanics, and pricing at the apartment level — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 791 Park, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.