- Year built
- 1929
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 66
- Floors
- 16
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Permitted
975 Park Avenue is one of the architecturally most idiosyncratic pre-war cooperatives on Park Avenue — distinguished by a single ornamental motif structurally unusual within the broader Manhattan residential architectural tradition: bucrania, the classical-revival cow-skull ornament running along the building's upper-story façade. The architectural detail is a deliberate reference to ancient Greek and Roman temple decoration, and its application to a 1929 New York apartment house produces a building whose visual signature is unmistakable within the broader Carnegie Hill streetscape.
The 1929 commission by J.M. Felson for developer Edgar Ellinger sits at the absolute terminus of the pre-Depression Park Avenue building cycle. Felson — whose broader Manhattan and Bronx body of work includes substantial apartment-house construction across the 1920s — produced a building whose architectural register combines the conventional Renaissance Revival vocabulary of the period with structurally distinctive ornamental detailing. The limestone base supports corner quoins above the second floor; the bucrania run along the upper-story façade; diaper-work brickwork articulates the parapet; three-story arched window surrounds frame the top-floor compositions.
The 1964 cooperative conversion places 975 Park among the broader post-war Park Avenue cooperative conversion wave. The 66-apartment scale (originally 63 in the offering plan) places the building in the mid-size Carnegie Hill cooperative tier.
975 Park sits within the Park Avenue Historic District designated April 29, 2014 — the building is a contributing structure within the broader corridor's architectural-protection framework.
Architecture and unit composition
The 66 cooperative apartments distribute across the building's 16 stories in configurations carrying the substantial 1929 Park Avenue layout discipline. Apartment-level features documented across the building's inventory include the architectural fabric characteristic of pre-Depression Park Avenue luxury construction: substantial ceiling heights, formal entry galleries, library-living combinations, formal dining configurations, and the staff-wing infrastructure characteristic of late-1920s Park Avenue planning.
The Penthouse configuration is the building's structural apex apartment, currently listed by Brown Harris Stevens at $22,000,000 (Listing RLS10074405) — a pricing position at the upper end of the broader Carnegie Hill cooperative distribution and consistent with the building's pre-Depression architectural pedigree and substantial upper-floor outdoor space.
Recent transaction pricing has positioned in the $2,000+ per square foot range across the building's apartment inventory.
Building operations
975 Park operates as a full-service cooperative with full-time doorman, concierge, and live-in resident manager. The amenity infrastructure includes a recently renovated state-of-the-art fitness center, bike room, private storage, and central laundry — an unusually developed amenity inventory for the pre-war Park Avenue cooperative tier.
The cooperative policy framework — 50 percent maximum financing, pet-friendly — supports a structurally specific buyer pool calibrated to the trophy pre-war Park Avenue cooperative tradition. Specific flip tax structure, pied-à-terre allowance, and sublet duration limits should be verified directly against current management documents.
What to know if you’re buying
The bucrania ornamental detail is structurally distinguishing. Among the few Manhattan apartment houses with the classical-revival cow-skull motif applied to the façade; the architectural detail produces a structurally unmistakable visual signature.
The J.M. Felson architectural pedigree is real. The architect's broader 1920s body of work places 975 Park among his most architecturally consequential Manhattan commissions.
The 1929 vintage represents the absolute terminus of the pre-Depression Park Avenue building cycle. Construction completed at the threshold of the broader 1930s economic collapse.
The amenity infrastructure is unusually developed. Recently renovated fitness center, bike room, private storage, and central laundry are substantial for the pre-war Carnegie Hill cooperative tier.
The Park Avenue Historic District protection applies. Designated LP-2547 by the NYC LPC on April 29, 2014; the building is a contributing structure within the district.
The Penthouse configuration is structural. The current $22 million asking position is the building's apex apartment and produces meaningful pricing reference for upper-floor inventory.
Verify operational specifics during due diligence. Specific board approval framework, flip tax structure, sublet duration limits, current capital project pipeline, and the LL11 façade cycle on the 1929 vintage should be reviewed against current management documents.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Plan for 6–10 weeks from contract through board approval to closing.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing should emphasize the bucrania ornamental detail and the J.M. Felson architectural credential. Both are real architectural-pedigree features that distinguish the building from peer Carnegie Hill cooperative inventory.
The amenity infrastructure supports premium positioning. The recently renovated fitness center and the broader amenity inventory are real assets.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. Substantial variation between the standard floor inventory and the Penthouse configuration; recent comparables should anchor positioning.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 975 Park Avenue, also evaluate:
- 983 Park Avenue — Schwartz & Gross 1927; immediate same-block Carnegie Hill peer with St. Ignatius light-and-air exposure
- 970 Park Avenue — pre-war Carnegie Hill peer (already on the existing 186-slug list)
- 990 Fifth Avenue — pre-war Fifth Avenue peer (already on the existing 186-slug list)
- 998 Fifth Avenue — McKim, Mead & White 1912; pre-WWI Fifth Avenue trophy peer (already on the existing 186-slug list)
- 925 Park Avenue — Schwartz & Gross; nearby same-block Carnegie Hill peer (already on the existing 186-slug list)
The Roebling Team at 975 Park
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Central Park West, the Upper East Side, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because Park Avenue Carnegie Hill buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architectural attribution, board context, and pricing at the apartment level.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 975 Park, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.