878 West End Avenue
878 West End Avenue, New York, NY 10025
Upper West Side
BBL 1018740061 · BIN 1056551
- Year built
- 1922
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 60
- Floors
- 15
- Landmark
- Designated
- Financing
- Not documented in the records reviewed — confirm the ceiling with the managing agent
- Flip tax
- Not documented in the records reviewed — confirm with the managing agent
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 878 West End 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.
878 West End Avenue is early Candela. Rosario Candela graduated from Columbia's architecture school in 1915 and within a decade was the defining designer of the Park and Fifth Avenue cooperative. This fifteen-story building went up in 1922–23 for the 878 West End Ave Corporation. LPC counts ten Candela buildings in the Riverside–West End Historic District Extension II; this one and 915 West End Avenue (1922) are the earliest.
What it is not is the Candela of the later duplexes. The 1922 plan is plain: four apartments per floor, one- and two-bedroom layouts with a single bath each, per the offering plan. The mid-rise stock on upper West End Avenue was built to that mold. The building's current shape comes from its owners, who have combined at least eight pairs of apartments into larger homes over the past 25 years.
The conversion was early too. The building's then-owner offered it as a cooperative in February 1978, and 878 Residents Corp. took title that November, years before the 1980s conversion wave on the West Side. Today the relevant facts are on the balance sheet: an interest-only mortgage fixed through 2032, a capital assessment running on top of maintenance, and operating costs that have outrun maintenance income in each of the last two fiscal years on file.
Architecture and unit composition
The West End Avenue elevation carries the ornament. LPC records a stone base, a two-story round-arched entrance surround with cable molding and a cartouche, a segmental window with carved side panels above the door, round-arched surrounds with blind tympana at the third and fourteenth stories, shouldered surrounds at the fifteenth, and a historic copper cornice. The 103rd Street facade repeats the design, but its cornice has been removed. LPC notes replaced windows and primary door, a marquee, and utility fittings. The offering plan's engineer described a fireproofed steel frame, red face brick over terra-cotta backing block, and stone facing at the two lower stories on both street fronts. The lot is about 61 by 80 feet.
As built, each floor held four apartments across lines A through D. The combinations are well documented. DOB filings cover 7A/7B (2001), 11A/11B (permit issued 2004), 9A/9B (2005), 2C/2D and 16C/16D (both 2009) and 6A/6B (2012), and ACRIS also carries combined 4C/D and 12C/D. Those combined apartments are the building's largest homes. The uncombined lines are one- and two-bedrooms with one bath. Listing records note good light because the neighboring rowhouses are low. Confirm the current apartment count with the managing agent.
Building operations
The staff are union-represented under the 32BJ residential contract, per the audited statements, and include a live-in superintendent. Payroll and related costs were about 31 percent of operating expense in fiscal 2025, and real estate taxes about 30 percent. The contract term cited in the statements ran to April 20, 2026, so payroll resets under the successor agreement.
Finances. The fiscal year ends May 31. In both fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025, operating expenses ran ahead of maintenance and other operating income — by about $98,000 and $71,000 respectively — before the capital assessment is counted. A capital assessment has been billed every year, at $5.49 per share in fiscal 2025, raising about $86,000. At May 31, 2025 the corporation held about $385,000 in cash, a certificate of deposit and a required reserve account. The statements note that the governing documents do not require a reserve fund and that no study of future major repairs has been done. Buyers should expect maintenance increases or a continuing assessment and should read the current budget closely.
Underlying mortgage. A $1.75 million mortgage, interest-only at a fixed 4.50 percent, matures November 1, 2032, per the audited statements. A $500,000 unsecured credit line with the same lender, also due in 2032, was undrawn at May 31, 2025. Because the loan is interest-only, the full principal comes due at maturity and will have to be refinanced.
Façade. The building's Local Law 11 filing for Cycle 10 (March 2025) was classified Safe. Cycle 8 (2016) and Cycle 9 (2021) were Safe With a Repair and Maintenance Program, and DOB records a façade restoration filed in 2019. Façade scope also goes through LPC.
J-51, start to finish. Department of Finance J-51 records show four benefits on this lot, begun in 1985, 1987, 1993 and 2000. The last, on the 2000 improvement program, abated taxes through the 2011 tax year. Nothing is active. The current roll shows only individual shareholder exemptions and the co-op abatement, which the corporation passes through to eligible shareholders.
Policy framework
Pets: Cats and dogs permitted, per listing records.
Pied-à-terre and guarantors: Pied-à-terre use is permitted and guarantors are accepted, per listing records. Both remain subject to board approval; confirm the terms.
Financing, flip tax, subletting, trusts and LLCs: Not documented in the records reviewed. Get all of these from the managing agent before pricing an offer.
Recent sales
878 West End Avenue trades steadily for its size. ACRIS carries share transfers in all four lines since the mid-2000s, typically a few a year. Since 2015 every recorded sale has been between individuals, and there is no block of sponsor or investor apartments in the recent record.
The building is priced per room, not per square foot. The uncombined one- and two-bedroom, one-bath apartments make up most of the volume and set the entry point. The combined apartments, especially the C/D combinations on high floors, set the top of the range, and a combined apartment should be compared with other combinations, not with the building average. Floor, exposure and condition account for most of the rest of the spread. Any market statement should be indexed to 2025, the last complete year.
Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent transfers at this building, sourced from NYC Department of Finance records. Apartment-level detail (line, condition, asking-price context) verified upon consultation request.
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2025 | 16CD | $2,045,000 |
| Jul 28, 2025 | 8D | $725,000 |
| May 1, 2024 | 15C | $760,000 |
| Dec 1, 2023 | 8C | $725,000 |
| Sep 25, 2023 | 2A | $750,000 |
| Apr 14, 2023 | 2CD | $1,650,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01874-0061) 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.
Buying here? Co-op closing costs typically run 2 to 3% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
Keep up with 878 West End Avenue and its market
The Roebling Report, monthly: Manhattan sales data and analysis, including buildings like878 West End Avenue. Unsubscribe anytime.
We’ll use your email for The Roebling Report and note your interest in this building. See our privacy policy.
What to know if you’re buying
Read the last two budgets. Operating costs have run ahead of maintenance, and the board has covered the gap with a recurring capital assessment. Ask what the fiscal 2026 and 2027 budgets assume for maintenance, the new union contract and the assessment.
Know the 2032 date. The mortgage is interest-only and matures in November 2032. The building's rate on the next loan will feed straight into maintenance.
Single-bath lines are the norm. Outside the combinations, apartments were built with one bathroom. Adding one is an alteration question for the board and, where it affects plumbing risers, for the managing agent's engineer.
Get the policy stack in writing. Financing ceiling, flip tax and sublet rules are not in the records reviewed.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with Candela and the corner. A 1923 Rosario Candela facade on a landmarked stretch of West End Avenue, a block from Riverside Park and the 1 train, is a clear story.
Price combinations against combinations. A combined C/D or A/B apartment belongs in a different comparison set from the single-bath lines. Using the building average undersells it.
Have the financials explained. Buyers' attorneys will flag the operating deficits and the assessment. A short note from the managing agent on the budget plan removes a likely objection.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 878 West End Avenue, also evaluate:
- 915 West End Avenue — Candela's other 1922 building in the district, at West 105th Street
- 755 West End Avenue — 1925 Candela cooperative at West 97th Street; the architect a few years later
- 280 Riverside Drive and 285 Riverside Drive — 1926 Candela cooperatives on the Drive
- 885 West End Avenue — 1915 Gaetan Ajello cooperative across West End at 103rd Street
- 890 West End Avenue — 1924 Schwartz & Gross cooperative one block north at West 104th
- 840 West End Avenue — George F. Pelham cooperative at West 101st Street
- 250 West 103rd Street (Alexandria House) — 1917 Rouse & Goldstone hotel-turned-cooperative on the same block
- 2681 Broadway (The Broadmoor) — prewar cooperative on the Broadway side of the same block
More West End Avenue buildings
- 845 West End Avenue — 1926 condominium by Schwartz & Gross
- 853 West End Avenue — 1896 co-op
- 871 West End Avenue — 1924 co-op
- 885 West End Avenue — 1915 co-op by Gaetano Ajello
- 890 West End Avenue — 1924 co-op by Schwartz & Gross
- 895 West End Avenue — 1912 co-op by Gaetano Ajello
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across West End Avenue — read The Roebling Team Guide to West End 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.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
Considering a move at 878 West End Avenue?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.