81 Irving Place
81 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003
Gramercy Park
BBL 1008750019 · BIN 1017914
- Year built
- 1929
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Dogs permitted
- Subletting
- Permitted with board approval
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- Studio median
- $542K
- Recent range
- $525K – $2M
- Listing discount
- 1.9%
- Recorded transfers
- 97
81 Irving Place — built as the Gramercy Square Apartments — is one of the more admired pre-war cooperatives in the Gramercy Park area. It rose in 1929–30 to the designs of George F. Pelham for the developer Louis Cowan, a full-block-scaled presence a single block south of private Gramercy Park, at the corner of Irving Place and East 19th Street. It was converted from a rental to a cooperative in the early 1980s and has held its standing as a full-service address ever since.
For a buyer, the appeal is the classic Gramercy proposition: a well-run, staffed, pre-war co-op with genuine architectural character, at the value a cooperative offers relative to a comparable condominium, in one of Manhattan's most intact and desirable low-rise neighborhoods. It is a building people buy into for the location, the service, and the pre-war detail, and then stay.
Architecture and unit composition
Pelham's design is the building's signature. The brown-and-russet brick façade is worked with terracotta ornament, spiral columns capped with gargoyles, projecting balconies, and casement windows, and it steps back dramatically at its upper floors toward a distinctive rooftop pavilion — a Renaissance-inflected composition that gives the building presence on the block and outlook from the higher lines. It is a piece of late-1920s apartment-house architecture built with care.
The residences run mostly to studios and one-bedrooms with a smaller number of larger apartments, and they retain the pre-war detail the era produced: hardwood floors, casement windows, decorative moldings, generous ceiling height, and beamed ceilings in some homes. A small set of upper-floor terrace suites carry wood-burning fireplaces and private outdoor space — the building's most sought-after homes. Floor, exposure, light, and the presence of a terrace or fireplace are the main drivers of variation across the roughly one hundred residences.
Building operations
Gramercy Square Apartments runs as a full-service cooperative — a 24-hour doorman, a live-in superintendent, central laundry, and bike storage. The building is dog-friendly and permits pied-à-terre purchases and sublets with board approval, a comparatively flexible posture for a pre-war co-op. As a cooperative, purchases are subject to board review and the building's financing and residency policies; buyers should plan for a board package and interview and confirm the current financing minimums and sublet rules at offer stage.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $1,358/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $1
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as Unsafe — conditions requiring corrective action, which under FISP means a protective sidewalk shed and 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.
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent). Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library.
See the full facade history →Management & transfer contacts
- Flip tax
- 3% of purchase price (seller); NYS transfer stamp $0.05/share
- Sublet policy
- Allowed immediately after purchase, unlimited; sublease fee 60% of monthly maintenance; subtenant application $575
- Notable fees
- Application processing $700 + $100 to building; credit check $150/applicant; move-in fee $200 + deposit $500; closing fee $775; recognition agreement $325 if financing
Recent sales
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 2026 | 11D | 1 BR · 1 BA · 700 sf | $1,075,000 | $1,536/sf | +8.0% |
| Feb 3, 2026 | 15DE | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,950,000 | +18.2% | |
| Nov 25, 2025 | 10D | 1 BR · 1 BA · 650 sf | $825,000 | $1,269/sf | -2.8% |
| Aug 25, 2025 | 3F | 1 BA | $542,000 | -4.1% | |
| Sep 30, 2024 | 3G | 503 sf | $565,000 | $1,123/sf | +0.0% |
| Sep 9, 2024 | 8C | 1 BA | $525,000 | -4.4% | |
| Apr 17, 2023 | 9B | 1 BR · 1 BA | $862,000 | -2.0% | |
| Feb 8, 2023 | 4D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $957,500 | -1.8% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,436/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 2.2% 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.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2021 | 4G | $662,500 |
| Dec 10, 2009 | 5H | $380,000 |
| Oct 2, 2003 | 14CD | $1,100,000 |
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 1-00875-0019) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. 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 to know if you’re buying
This is a cooperative, so a purchase runs through a board package and interview, and the building maintains financing and residency policies typical of a Gramercy pre-war co-op — though its dog-friendly, pied-à-terre-, and sublet-with-approval posture is more flexible than many peers. Buyers should confirm the current financing minimums and sublet rules early. What you get in return is a staffed, full-service pre-war building with real architectural character, a block from Gramercy Park, at the relative value a co-op offers.
The most important on-site distinctions are floor, light, and outdoor space: the terrace suites with wood-burning fireplaces are the building's marquee homes, and high-floor apartments with strong exposures and pre-war detail hold value best. The location is central Gramercy, steps from the park, Union Square, and the Lexington Avenue and Union Square transit hubs. Comparable analysis belongs against the neighborhood's full-service pre-war cooperatives on a price-per-room basis.
What to know if you’re selling
The architecture and location are the marketing core. A Pelham-designed pre-war co-op a block from Gramercy Park, with terracotta ornament and a rooftop pavilion, is an easy story to tell, and the address does real work in a sale.
Terrace suites, fireplaces, and light are the on-site differentiators. The upper-floor terrace homes with wood-burning fireplaces should anchor positioning; high-floor apartments with strong exposures and intact pre-war detail follow.
Benchmark within the building and against Gramercy pre-war co-ops. With ample in-building turnover, recent comparable sales here are the first reference point; floor, light, exposure, renovation, and outdoor space determine where a unit lands.
Prepare the board package early. A clean, complete package and a well-qualified buyer move a co-op sale through the board efficiently — we manage that process end to end.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering Gramercy Square Apartments, also evaluate these nearby Gramercy buildings:
- 61 Irving Place — Gramercy/Irving Place cooperative
- 4 Lexington Avenue — Gramercy Park-area pre-war cooperative
- 50 Lexington Avenue — Gramercy full-service building
- 36 Gramercy Park East — pre-war cooperative on the park
- 44 Gramercy Park North — a 1930 English Tudor co-op
- 200 East 16th Street — Gramercy/Stuyvesant Square-area building
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Gramercy — read The Roebling Team Guide to Gramercy.
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.
Considering a move at Gramercy Square Apartments?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at Gramercy Square Apartments 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.