- Year built
- 1963
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- No
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 facade passed its last inspection with no required repairs — nothing to budget for here, and no facade assessment on the horizon for roughly five years.
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 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% | |
| Jun 27, 2017 | 4 | 4 BR | $6,500,000 | -18.8% | |
| May 3, 2017 | 8 | 5 BR | $10,500,000 | -4.1% | |
| Nov 2, 2011 | 3 | 3 BR | $6,150,000 | -8.9% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2023) cleared a median $1,880/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 8.9% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 8, 2023 | 16 | $7,500,000 |
| Oct 23, 2017 | 1 | $4,995,000 |
| Oct 23, 2017 | DX2 | $4,100,000 |
| Jul 25, 2012 | DUP | $4,350,000 |
| Feb 16, 2006 | 17 | $10,000,000 |
| Jun 2, 2005 | 6 | $6,950,000 |
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 Roebling Team at 857 Fifth Avenue
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Fifth and Madison Avenue, the Upper East Side, and the broader park-facing Manhattan cooperative market. We publish this profile because a building this small and this distinctive rewards buyers and sellers who understand exactly what they're trading — architecture, views, and scarcity — and where it sits against the rest of the avenue.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 857 Fifth Avenue, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
Current availability including off-market, the full comp set, and the board & financials read most listings don't show.