820 Fifth Avenue
820 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10065
Lenox Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1013780001 · BIN 1041015
- Year built
- 1916
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 13
- Floors
- 12
- Landmark
- Designated
- Financing
- Not permitted — 100% cash purchases only
- Flip tax
- 3% of the sale price.
- Subletting
- Not permitted — an owner-occupancy building.
- Pied-à-terre
- Permitted.
- Washer / dryer
- Permitted in-unit.
- Pets
- Permitted, subject to Board approval.
- Co-purchasing
- Not permitted. Parents purchasing for children not permitted.
- Guarantors
- Not permitted.
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2026). Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $2,967
- Listing discount
- 3.4%
- Recorded sales
- 7
- On record
- 2003–2025
820 Fifth Avenue is among the smallest, most architecturally restrained, and most institutionally exclusive buildings on Fifth Avenue's Gold Coast. Starrett & Van Vleck designed it in 1916 as a limestone-clad neo-Italian Renaissance palazzo — a 12-story composition organized around the radical (for its era) idea of one apartment per floor. Where most early Fifth Avenue luxury apartment houses crammed multiple units onto each floor, 820 Fifth was conceived as a stack of horizontal mansions. The building's daily-paper nickname in the press at completion — "horizontal mansions" — captured the architectural argument: substantial families would not give up the scale of a townhouse just because they were moving into an apartment.
The result is among the most distinctive Fifth Avenue inventories in the city. Each of the ten full-floor apartments above the maisonette base spans approximately 6,500 square feet — a scale that exceeds most prewar Manhattan apartments by a meaningful margin and approaches the scale of larger New York townhouses. Apartments retain pre-war proportions and architectural detail; the building's institutional culture has preserved them carefully over more than a century.
The resident roster across the building's history reads as an index of American business and cultural leadership in the 20th century. Alfred P. Sloan Jr., the General Motors chairman who shaped modern American industrial management, lived in a 14-room apartment at 820 Fifth and died there in 1966 at age 90. Jayne Wrightsman, the socialite and decorative arts connoisseur whose collection now resides at the Metropolitan Museum, lived in a six-bedroom full-floor apartment for more than five decades. William S. and Babe Paley — the CBS president and one of mid-century New York's most influential socialites — were residents. Anna M. Harkness, widow of Standard Oil co-founder Stephen V. Harkness, moved in shortly after the building opened. The pattern across the building's century: extraordinary individual residents in extraordinary individual apartments.
What structurally differentiates 820 Fifth from larger Gold Coast peers (998 Fifth, 1040 Fifth, 740 Park) is its scale and selectivity. 13 total apartments. Pre-approval required from the board before a buyer even receives the application requirements. Financing not permitted. Trust purchases not permitted. No co-purchasing. No corporate purchases. No diplomatic purchases. No guarantors. The screening apparatus is calibrated to a small, deliberate population — and the board exercises that screening with intention.
Architecture and unit composition
The original 1916 plan organized the building as 2 duplex maisonette apartments at the base (floors 1–2) plus 10 full-floor apartments on floors 3 through 12. A subsequent configuration produced 13 units total in the building's current inventory. The full-floor apartments are the building's defining inventory: approximately 6,500 sf each, with pre-war 11–12 foot ceilings, formal entry galleries running the depth of the building, multiple primary suites, libraries, formal dining rooms, full butler's pantries, and service wings configured for staffed operation.
Floor-to-ceiling windows on primary exposures — unusual for a 1916 building and a deliberate Starrett & Van Vleck design choice — allow direct Central Park views from the western flank of the building. Park-facing apartments have roughly 80 feet of frontage on Central Park, with sight lines across to the Park and the West Side beyond. View permanence is essentially absolute: Central Park anchors the corridor and the surrounding development envelope has been stable for decades.
Apartment-by-apartment heterogeneity is high. The Sloan 14-room apartment had a different layout from the Wrightsman 6BR apartment, which differs again from later combinations and renovations. Pre-war architectural detail — plaster ceiling moldings, marble mantelpieces, paneled libraries, hardwood floors — is preserved to varying degrees apartment-by-apartment depending on renovation history.
Building operations
820 Fifth operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative with 24-hour doorman, 24-hour security, on-site live-in superintendent, cleaning service, and included parking. The amenity package is modest by modern standards (no fitness center, no playroom) — the building's selling proposition is the apartments themselves, not the building's shared amenity infrastructure.
The 1949 cooperative conversion was relatively early in Fifth Avenue's co-op transition history. Specific policy details (flip tax payor, financing rules, sublet policy, trust restrictions) are formalized in the building's house rules and documented in the building's house rules.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $48,266/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $287
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 →Management & transfer contacts
- Flip tax
- 3% of purchase price
- Sublet policy
- Not Allowed
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
- Notable fees
- Managing Agent's Fee $900 (individual) / $1000 (estate); Stock Transfer Fee $300; Fidelifacts credit report $871/applicant
Recent sales
820 Fifth Avenue's publicly-recorded turnover is among the lowest of any Fifth Avenue trophy co-op — only 8 RPTT records across the 2005-2025 window (15 years) for a 13-apartment building, reflecting both the building's institutional culture (multi-decade tenures, off-market private-broker disposition) and its tier-one selectivity. The recorded transfers, however, bracket the building's apex pricing across cycles.
The December 16, 2009 single-day cluster is the defining historical datapoint: #4 at $33M and #12TH at $40M closed the same day in the immediate post-Lehman recovery window, producing the largest concentrated trade activity in the building's modern history and establishing 820 Fifth's $30-40M full-floor tier coming out of the 2008 crisis.
The 2025 wave documents the building's contemporary pricing. The Jan 2025 #1E off-market trade at $27.5M (no public listing — typical 820 Fifth private-broker-network discipline) calibrates the lower-floor apex tier, while three near-simultaneous maisonette / ground-floor closings in spring 2025 — #M-1 $10.5M (recorded Apr 15), #MAISONETTE $14M (Jun 15, off-record), and #3 $29.5M (Apr 2, off-record, 7,000-sqft 6BR full-floor) — bracket the building's full ground-to-trophy pricing band in a single quarter.
The 2023 #2S close at $10M (ACRIS-recorded; trade-press reported $8.5M with no government record found — the $1.
Two structural realities define the building's transactional record. First, the public record substantially understates actual annual activity. The building's 13-apartment scale combined with multi-decade tenures means publicly-recorded transfers materially understate the actual transactional volume — most marquee inventory transacts off-market through private broker networks, and many recorded transfers occur at stipulated values rather than market price. Second, the building's $30-40M apex tier set in 2009 has remained reasonably stable across 16 years. The 2025 #1E at $27.5M and #3 at $29.5M cluster near the historical $33M (#4 2009) benchmark — modest nominal appreciation that reflects the building's stable institutional pricing rather than the broader luxury market's volatility.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 15, 2025 | MAIS | 4 BR · 5.5 BA · 5,240 sf | $10,500,000 | $2,004/sf | -34.4% |
| Jan 29, 2025 | 3 | 6 BR · 8 BA · 7,000 sf | $27,500,000 | $3,929/sf | -6.8% |
| Mar 23, 2023 | 2S | 3 BR · 4 BA | $10,000,000 | +17.6% | |
| Nov 3, 2003 | 4 | 6 BR · 6,500 sf | $24,500,000 | $3,769/sf | +0.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $2,967/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 3.4% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
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 1-01378-0001) 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; square footage on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
What to know if you’re buying
The board's pre-approval requirement is structurally unusual. Most Manhattan co-ops require the formal board package as the screening mechanism. 820 Fifth requires pre-approval before the buyer is given the requirements. Prospective purchasers must be referred through the property management Account Executive (currently Elizabeth Graham at) and cleared by the board before the formal application process even begins. Approach the building with this gating step in mind — and with a broker who understands how to position a prospective buyer through it.
Financing is not permitted. 820 Fifth requires 100% cash purchases. This is the building's central screen, alongside 740 Park and 998 Fifth. Buyers must demonstrate liquid capacity to close at the full purchase price.
Trust purchases are not permitted. Distinct from 1040 Fifth and 740 Park (which is more flexible at the entity level), 820 Fifth does not allow apartments to be held in trust. Buyers seeking estate-planning structures should look elsewhere.
Pied-à-terre and secondary residence are permitted. This is unusual for tier-one Gold Coast co-ops, most of which require primary residency. Buyers should still expect board scrutiny of intended use during the application process.
The 3% flip tax is buyer-paid at closing. Distinct from 998 Fifth's seller-paid 2% flip tax, 820 Fifth's flip tax is borne by the buyer. On a $25M apartment, that is $750,000 of additional buyer-side closing cost on top of mansion tax (which routinely hits multiple cliff thresholds) and standard closing items.
No guarantors, no co-purchasing, no corporate or diplomatic purchases. The building's structural restrictions narrow the eligible buyer profile substantially. Buyers must qualify on their own financial profile, without the help of guarantors or co-purchasing structures.
Renovation is constrained by historic district status and institutional culture. Substantive renovation is feasible but must respect the building's architectural character. The board reviews scope and quality.
View permanence is exceptional. Central Park west; the corridor is built out.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing is largely private. Most 820 Fifth transactions occur with limited or no public marketing. The buyer pool is small, institutional, and accessible primarily through private broker networks. Public listings via REBNY syndication or Compass private exclusive channels do appear but are typically the exception.
Pricing requires apartment-level context. 6,500 sf full-floor apartments at 820 Fifth are not interchangeable with 6,500 sf at 740 Park or 998 Fifth — apartment configuration, renovation history, view, and floor matter substantially. Pricing benefits from broker familiarity with the building's small inventory and the comparable transaction history.
The buyer pool is committed but narrow. Buyers who pursue 820 Fifth know what they're pursuing. The work for sellers is not buyer education; it is matching the right qualified buyer to the apartment and managing the pre-approval process the building requires.
Closing timelines are co-op standard but the package and pre-approval are heavier. Expect 8–12 weeks from contract signing to closing, with substantial board package preparation and the pre-approval step that precedes formal application.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 820 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 740 Park Avenue — Candela/Cross & Cross 1930; larger inventory but similarly cash-only, more institutionally rarefied
- 998 Fifth Avenue — McKim, Mead & White 1912; the building that launched Fifth Avenue's luxury apartment tradition; also cash-only
- 834 Fifth Avenue — Candela 1931; tier-one Gold Coast; among the most selective
- 1040 Fifth Avenue — Candela 1930; Jackie Kennedy's building; trust purchases permitted (unlike 820 Fifth)
- 860 Fifth Avenue — Sloan & Robertson 1929; full-floor configuration
- 907 Fifth Avenue — pre-war Fifth Avenue, comparable era and scale
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 820 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 820 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.