- Year built
- 1930
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 43
- Landmark
- Designated
Carlyle House at 987 Madison Avenue is the residential cooperative that shares a blockfront — and an architectural lineage — with one of the most storied addresses in New York. Completed in 1930 to designs by Bien & Prince, the firm of Sylvan Bien and Harry M. Prince, it occupies the Madison Avenue side of the same East 76th–77th Street block as the Carlyle Hotel. The two were conceived as a single Art Deco composition in yellow brick and limestone, drawn to read as one seamless Madison Avenue façade, and Carlyle House carries that pedigree directly. Residents enter on the quieter side street at 50 East 77th Street, the building's address for cooperative purposes, while the building presents to Madison Avenue above its ground-floor galleries and boutiques.
The architectural and locational story is the building's defining asset. Madison Avenue between the mid-70s and the 80s is the gallery, design, and luxury-retail spine of the Upper East Side — a stretch where a residential address sits above some of the most desirable street-level retail in the city, one block from Central Park and Fifth Avenue and steps from the museum corridor. The low-rise building across Madison (long the Parke-Bernet auction galleries, now art dealers and boutiques) gives Carlyle House protected open outlooks unusual for the avenue.
At roughly 43 apartments across 17 stories, the building is genuinely intimate — a low unit count that produces an exclusive, owner-occupied character and a correspondingly limited transaction cadence. Apartments here trade infrequently, and each sale is a notable event in the building's record.
Architecture and unit composition
The 1930 Art Deco envelope — yellow brick over a limestone base, consistent with the adjoining Carlyle — frames apartments built to the late pre-war luxury standard: high ceilings, large windows, entry galleries, and formal layouts. Apartments here are generally larger than those in the hotel tower, and the openness created by the low-rise across the avenue gives many residences strong light and protected views. Select apartments have terraces.
Where original detail survives — moldings, hardwood floors, plaster work, period proportions — it is a meaningful value driver in a building of this caliber. Upper-floor apartments and those with favorable exposure carry the building's clearest premiums; some apartments remain in original, pre-renovation condition, an opportunity for buyers. Exact configurations vary by line and floor and should be reviewed individually.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $48,630/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $96
Facade safety — Local Law 11
Safe to live in today — but the last inspection flagged repairs that are due on a deadline, so facade work and its cost are coming. Whether that’s a real concern depends on the scope, the timing, and how the building plans to pay for it — reserves or an assessment — which is exactly what we’d dig into 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 →Recent sales
Sales context at Carlyle House:
- Turnover is low given the roughly 43-unit scale and owner-occupied character — only a small number of transactions in a typical year, and some years with very few or none.
- Pricing reflects the building's pre-war luxury caliber, marquee Madison Avenue location, the hotel-amenity access, and the architectural association with the Carlyle; condition, floor, and exposure drive apartment-level variation.
- The building's per-square-foot history sits among the strongest on the Madison corridor; apartment-level history should be reviewed line by line.
What to know if you’re buying
Scarcity is the defining dynamic. With roughly 43 apartments and low turnover, opportunities are rare; be prepared to move when an apartment that fits comes to market.
The hotel access is a singular amenity. Direct, private access to the Carlyle's spa, fitness, restaurants, and bars is unmatched among co-ops on the avenue and a durable differentiator.
The policy set is accommodating, the financing rule is not. Pets and pied-à-terres are permitted, but financing is capped near 25% — underwrite to a largely-cash purchase, and budget the 2% flip tax on a future sale.
Low maintenance is a real advantage. Retail income keeps carrying costs down relative to peers; weigh that in your total cost of ownership.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the Carlyle access, the Bien & Prince authorship, and the low maintenance. The hotel-amenity connection, the Art Deco lineage, and the carrying-cost advantage are the marketing core; the scarcity of inventory supports pricing discipline.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable work. With so few trades, comparable analysis should reach across the building's history and into closely matched Madison and Fifth Avenue peers; floor, exposure, terrace, and renovation history all matter.
Position the financing rule honestly. The ~25% financing cap narrows the buyer pool to the well-capitalized; marketing should target that audience directly.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. Plan for roughly 6–10 weeks from contract to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering Carlyle House, also evaluate nearby Madison and Fifth Avenue cooperatives:
- 955 Madison Avenue — nearby Madison Avenue cooperative
- 1025 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue pre-war co-op a few blocks north
- 1050 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue cooperative peer
- 35 East 85th Street — Carnegie Hill-edge cooperative
- 955 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue pre-war peer
The Roebling Team at Carlyle House
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Upper East Side, Central Park West, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because Madison Avenue buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, amenities, board policy, transactional mechanics, and apartment-level pricing — not generic market commentary. In a building this scarce, in-depth knowledge of the corridor's comparable inventory is essential.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at Carlyle House, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
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