810 Fifth Avenue
810 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10065
Lenox Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1013770001 · BIN 1040883
- Year built
- 1926
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 12
- Floors
- 13
810 Fifth Avenue is, by widely held consensus among brokers, journalists, and architectural critics, among the most prestigious cooperative addresses in the city. The New York Times once described it as the building that "may be the only apartment building in the city to have more employees than apartments." Only twelve apartments span the building's thirteen stories: a ground-floor maisonette, ten full-floor units of approximately 5,000 square feet each, and a multi-floor penthouse. Every residence carries Central Park exposure.
The building represents the J.E.R. Carpenter architectural pedigree at peak form — 810 Fifth followed by a single year Carpenter's AIA Gold Medal-tier work at 907 Fifth across 72nd Street and rose in the same window as 1115 and 1120 Fifth. What Carpenter built on this site is a boutique 12-apartment configuration, the smallest unit count of any prestige Fifth Avenue cooperative and the source of an operating profile closer to a private club than a multi-family residence. Standing behind the design is the Bricken Construction Company developer credential: with a 1920s portfolio that runs to 1070, 1085, 1111, 1165, and 1185 Park Avenue, Bricken ranks as the most consequential developer of pre-war upper Manhattan cooperative inventory after Tishman and Candela.
The cultural resident roster is among the most documented in 20th-century New York residential history.
Architecture and unit composition
Built on the site of Mrs. Hamilton Fish's house — formerly the William Belden mansion, per architectural histories — 810 Fifth was completed in 1926 to J.E.R. Carpenter's design for the Bricken Construction Company and converted to cooperative ownership in 1941. The building is thirteen stories, limestone-clad, and executed in a sober Italian Renaissance palazzo idiom — rusticated limestone base, refined window surrounds, restrained cornice.
Carpenter is widely regarded as "the leading architect of luxury apartment buildings in the city in the early and mid-1920s." The elevation is the architectural register characteristic of Carpenter at peak — completed one year after his AIA Gold Medal-tier work at 907 Fifth and in the same window as 1115 and 1120 Fifth. The position directly across from the Knickerbocker Club (Delano & Aldrich, low-rise) preserves the building's open Central Park and Midtown views — a structural feature the building has carried for a century.
The lobby is the architectural piece of resistance: bronze torchieres, an elaborate carved-plasterwork ceiling, and the detail-density of an Edwardian club rather than a 1920s apartment house. Andrew Alpern, in Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan (Dover, 1992, pp. 110-112), describes the elevator opening "into a private entrance foyer on each floor" — a feature now associated with the very top tier of pre-war cooperatives but in 1926 still novel.
The twelve apartments distribute as a ground-floor maisonette, ten full-floor units of approximately 5,000 square feet each (four bedrooms plus four servants' rooms), and a multi-floor penthouse. Every apartment carries Central Park exposure. The unit count places 810 Fifth at the smallest scale of any prestige Fifth Avenue cooperative.
Building operations
810 Fifth operates as a full white-glove cooperative with the following operational baseline:
- 24-hour doorman and concierge
- Multiple elevator operators (the New York Times feature on the building flagged the elevator-operator count as a distinguishing detail)
- Live-in resident manager
- Comprehensive security infrastructure
The lobby ceiling height and decoration are unique within the Carpenter corpus. The building's identity rests on white-glove staffing of an extraordinary density relative to apartment count — the New York Times reference to "more employees than apartments" reflects the structural reality of the operating profile.
The address is among the most expensive in the city, with apartments routinely trading off-market and rarely appearing on public listings.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $35,163/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $244
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials 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 →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 | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 20, 2023 | 8 | 4 BR · 4.5 BA | $14,500,000 | -34.1% |
| Dec 27, 2018 | 11 | 4 BR · 3.5 BA | $22,000,000 | -8.3% |
| Feb 11, 2014 | 6 | 3 BR | $19,000,000 | -11.6% |
| Dec 27, 2012 | 12 | 2 BR | $23,900,000 | -13.1% |
Market read. Median listing discount 12.4% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 27, 2007 | 10 | $25,000,000 |
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 1-01377-0001) 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.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing should emphasize the boutique 12-apartment scale, the Carpenter architectural pedigree, and the full-floor configuration. All three are real structural advantages over peer Fifth Avenue cooperative inventory.
Off-market positioning is the default. Public-listing exposure rarely matches the building's institutional positioning; private-buyer outreach via Roebling and peer top-tier brokerage networks is the structural sales channel.
Pricing should reference the most recent recorded transactions the most recent public-record markers (the 2010 Geffen exit; the institutional positioning as among the most prestigious addresses in the city). Apartment-line-specific comparables should anchor positioning.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard but board approval is the critical-path element.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 810 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 820 Fifth Avenue — Starrett & Van Vleck 1916; immediate Fifth Avenue peer
- 825 Fifth Avenue — Sloan & Robertson 1926; immediate Fifth Avenue peer
- 834 Fifth Avenue — Rosario Candela 1931; the most-cited Fifth Avenue trophy cooperative peer
- 907 Fifth Avenue — J.E.R. Carpenter 1916; same-architect Fifth Avenue peer (Carpenter's AIA Gold Medal-tier work)
- 920 Fifth Avenue — J.E.R. Carpenter 1922; same-architect Fifth Avenue peer
Sources: The Roebling Research Library (offering plans, house rules, financial statements, board minutes, internal transaction records); NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers; publicly recorded NYC building data.
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Fifth Avenue — read The Roebling Team Guide to Fifth Avenue.
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 810 Fifth Avenue?
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 810 Fifth Avenue 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.