857 Fifth Avenue
857 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10065
Lenox Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1013820001 · BIN 1041199
- Year built
- 1963
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- No
Every recorded sale at this building, 2005–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 4BR+ median
- $6.8M
- Recent range
- $6.5M – $7.5M
- Listing discount
- 0.0%
- Recorded transfers
- 12
857 Fifth Avenue is the rare postwar building on this stretch of the avenue that earns a second look from buyers who would normally only consider prewar. Completed in 1963 by Robert L. Bien for the Frouge Corporation — on the site of one of the lost Gilded Age mansions of upper Fifth — it is one of the most stylish white-brick buildings in the city, and decidedly not a generic 1960s tower. Bien gave it a sculptural profile: bold curved window bays, swelling most dramatically across the top floors facing the park, that read as nautical, almost ship-like, against the masonry uptown stock around it.
The building's other distinction is scarcity of a particular kind. Across 19 stories there are only 18 apartments — fewer than one per floor on average — which means the homes are large, the building is private, and units come to market rarely. Converted to cooperative ownership in 1968, it has long traded as a connoisseur's address: postwar light and layouts, a direct Central Park frontage, and a Lenox Hill location a block from the Frick and the avenue's gallery and townhouse blocks.
Architecture and unit composition
The façade is the argument. Where most postwar Fifth Avenue buildings settle for flat white brick, 857 uses curved, projecting bays to sculpt light and capture the park — a gesture that gives even the lower floors a sense of movement and the upper floors panoramic, wrapping views. The curved bays at the crown are the building's signature, visible from across the avenue.
Inside, the small unit count translates to generously scaled homes with the hallmarks postwar buyers want and prewar buildings can't always offer: large windows, even light, higher floor-to-area efficiency, and rooms sized to hold real furniture and art. With roughly one apartment per floor in the larger lines, privacy is near-total — most residents share a landing with no one. Park-front homes carry the premium; the curved bays make those rooms.
Building operations
857 Fifth is run as a full-service white-glove cooperative: a full-time doorman and attended lobby, and a live-in superintendent overseeing a building small enough that staff know every resident. The intimate scale — 18 owners carrying a 19-story building on the most expensive avenue in the city — means a financially serious cooperative with a board that screens carefully and protects the building's character. Buyers should plan for a traditional, thorough board application and interview, and for the conservative financing posture and ownership-use expectations customary at the top Fifth Avenue cooperatives. We walk clients through the building's current policies on financing, subletting, and pied-à-terre use before an offer.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $46,133/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $214
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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 | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | 7 | 4 BR · 5.5 BA | $6,500,000 | -5.1% | |
| Nov 8, 2023 | 16 | 3 BR · 3.5 BA | $7,500,000 | +0.0% | |
| Jun 20, 2023 | 9 | 4 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,800 sf | $7,145,250 | $1,880/sf | +2.1% |
| May 4, 2022 | 14 | 3 BR · 4.5 BA | $8,050,000 | -16.1% | |
| Oct 23, 2017 | 1 | 3 BR | $4,995,000 | +0.0% | |
| Jun 27, 2017 | 4 | 4 BR | $6,500,000 | -6.5% | |
| May 3, 2017 | 8 | 5 BR | $10,500,000 | -4.1% | |
| Nov 2, 2011 | 3 | 3 BR | $6,150,000 | -8.9% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2023): a median $1,880/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 4.1% 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 1-01382-0001) 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
This is a building you buy for the views and the architecture as much as the address. Confirm the park exposure of any apartment under consideration — the curved bays make the difference between a good home and a great one here. Expect a rigorous board process consistent with top-tier Fifth Avenue cooperatives, and structure your financing and use intentions conservatively going in. Patience helps: inventory is genuinely scarce, and the right apartment may not surface every year. We help clients position to move quickly when one does.
What to know if you’re selling
Scarcity and design are your marketing. There is no comparable supply — a sculptural park-front cooperative of fewer than 20 apartments — so the pitch is the building itself: the curved bays, the views, the privacy of one home per floor. Price against the avenue's most exclusive postwar cooperatives and the upper tier of nearby prewar product, not against ordinary white-brick stock. A well-presented, sensitively renovated home that respects the building's mid-century pedigree achieves the strongest outcome; we build the comparable case from the avenue's actual transaction record.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 857 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate nearby Fifth Avenue inventory:
- 834 Fifth Avenue — landmark prewar cooperative a few blocks south
- 845 Fifth Avenue — full-service Fifth Avenue cooperative nearby
- 860 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue cooperative just north
- 870 Fifth Avenue — prewar Fifth Avenue cooperative peer
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 857 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 857 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.