81 Irving Place

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.

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.

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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,535/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.0% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

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.

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.

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.

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 — Gramercy Park cooperative
• 200 East 16th Street — Gramercy/Stuyvesant Square-area building

The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Gramercy, Midtown East, and the broader East Side market. We publish this profile because buyers and sellers evaluating a pre-war Gramercy cooperative deserve building-specific intelligence — the architecture, the amenity package, the board posture, and how floor, light, and outdoor space drive value within the building.

If you're considering a purchase or sale at Gramercy Square Apartments, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.