- Year built
- 1927
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 180
- Floors
- 27
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Permitted under cooperative rules (verify specifics at offer stage)
- Subletting
- Verify at offer stage
One Fifth Avenue is the iconic anchor of the Lower Fifth Avenue corridor. Constructed in 1926–27 by Helmle & Corbett in association with Sugarman & Berger, with Harvey Wiley Corbett as chief designer, the 27-story tower was developed as an apartment hotel — a building type that combined residential apartments with hotel services — and operated in that mode for nearly half a century before its 1976 conversion to a cooperative.
Corbett's design produced a building whose architectural register sits at the precise intersection of late-1920s Art Deco and the institutional Manhattan residential tradition. The telescoping setbacks rise from a substantial brick-and-limestone base through a sequence of architectural transitions to a single central tower top — a profile that, viewed from Washington Square Park three blocks to the south, has anchored the southern entry to Lower Fifth Avenue for nearly a century. Village Preservation describes the building as "a defining landmark visible from many spots in the neighborhood."
For buyers, One Fifth represents a particular position within the modern Greenwich Village cooperative market: the most architecturally significant Lower Fifth Avenue address, the most institutional cooperative culture on the corridor, and one of the deepest and most well-documented celebrity-resident registers in downtown Manhattan.
Architecture and unit composition
The building was constructed with approximately 200 hotel apartments — typically two- and three-room configurations with serving pantries rather than full kitchens, reflecting the apartment-hotel operational model that defined the 1920s luxury tier. The cooperative conversion in 1976 reshaped much of the inventory; today the building's unit composition runs from compact studios and one-bedrooms through penthouse-tier combinations and floor-through configurations on the upper stories.
Corbett's interior architectural vocabulary survives in the lobby — a two-story space with original detailing — and in the building's overall structural character. Apartment interiors vary substantially across the building, reflecting fifty years of post-conversion combination, renovation, and design intervention.
Building operations
One Fifth Avenue operates as a full-service cooperative with 24-hour doorman and concierge, live-in superintendent, central laundry room, bike room, and a two-story lobby — the institutional amenity package consistent with the building's apartment-hotel origins. The cooperative culture is, by Lower Fifth Avenue standards, on the institutional and selective end of the spectrum; board policies on financing, subletting, and pied-à-terre use should be confirmed directly with the managing agent during due diligence.
Recent sales
Last 5–10 closed sales at One Fifth Avenue (replace with current ACRIS data at the time of marketing):
[Recent sales table to be populated from ACRIS]
Recent celebrity-anchored sales include the early-2025 acquisition of a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom penthouse by Gracie Abrams at approximately $5.5 million, followed by Abrams's late-2025 acquisition of a second unit on the 18th floor at approximately $4.5 million.
What to know if you’re buying
The architectural pedigree is the structural feature. Corbett's 1927 Art Deco design is among the most consequential downtown towers of the late-1920s building cycle and the most architecturally significant address on Lower Fifth Avenue.
The cooperative culture is institutional. The board's selectivity is consistent with the building's significance and the depth of the celebrity register. Buyers should plan for a substantive board review process.
The apartment inventory is heterogeneous. Combinations and renovations have produced significant unit-to-unit variation; pricing requires apartment-specific comparable analysis.
The Greenwich Village Historic District streetscape is protected. Exterior alterations are subject to LPC review; the surrounding context is structurally protected.
Confirm specifics directly with management. Pet policy, pied-à-terre permissions, subletting framework, financing percentages, and flip-tax structure should all be confirmed against the offering plan and current board policies during due diligence.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing should emphasize the architectural and cultural pedigree. Corbett 1927 Art Deco, the building's celebrity register, the geographic position at the southern entry to Lower Fifth Avenue.
Pricing requires apartment-level comparable analysis. The unit-to-unit variation is substantial; recent comparables on the specific apartment line, exposure, and configuration should anchor the marketing approach.
Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Plan for 60–90 days from contract through board approval to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering One Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 45 Fifth Avenue — Sugarman & Berger 1925; corridor peer; boutique-scale one-bedroom prewar
- The Brevoort (11 Fifth Avenue) — Boak & Raad 1955; mid-century full-service peer
- 24 Fifth Avenue — Emery Roth 1926; corridor peer; Brodsky-managed
- 15 Central Park West — Stern 2008; uptown trophy condominium peer
- The Greenwich Lane — DDG 2015; Greenwich Village new-construction trophy
- 150 Charles Street — West Village trophy condominium
The Roebling Team at One Fifth Avenue
The Roebling Team at Compass works the Lower Fifth Avenue corridor as part of our broader Park-facing Manhattan practice. We publish this building profile because One Fifth Avenue buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architectural attribution, board context, apartment-line comparable analysis — not generic neighborhood commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at One Fifth, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.