- Year built
- 1927
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 403
- Floors
- 22
- Landmark
- Designated
- Financing
- Up to 80% permitted
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 1BR median
- $540K
- Recent range
- $503K – $740K
- Listing discount
- 1.8%
- Recorded transfers
- 69
Prospect Tower is one of the tall towers that give the Tudor City enclave its skyline — and it carries the enclave's most famous single feature, the illuminated "TUDOR CITY" rooftop sign that has read out the neighborhood's name since 1927. Built that year by the Fred F. French Company as part of its planned residential community on Prospect Hill, the tower is an authentically pre-war Tudor Revival building, converted to cooperative ownership in 1988 — the same year the surrounding district was designated a New York City landmark.
Tudor City itself is one of New York's quiet originals: the first large-scale residential skyscraper community in the world, planned by the Fred F. French Company in the late 1920s on the bluff that rises above First Avenue between East 40th and 43rd Streets. The idea was radical for its day — a self-contained residential enclave in the middle of Midtown, set apart from the congestion below by its elevation and its own private gardens. Prospect Tower faces those private greens directly, and its upper floors look out toward the United Nations, the East River, and the Midtown skyline beyond.
The rooftop sign is more than decoration; it is a piece of the city's history that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has explicitly chosen to protect. When the cooperative applied to remove the aging sign in 2005, the Commission rejected the application, calling it a piece of real estate history. For buyers, the tower offers an entry point into a protected, genuinely residential Midtown enclave — with the rare practical advantage that electricity, heat, and water are all included in the monthly maintenance.
Architecture and unit composition
Prospect Tower is a roughly 22-story masonry tower in the Tudor Revival idiom, with Gothic Revival detailing in its crown and terra-cotta ornament below many of its window sills. The original steel casement windows are part of the building's protected character — and a practical fact of life, since the building has no central HVAC; cooling is by window or through-wall units, consistent with its 1920s construction.
The unit mix runs heavily to studios and small apartments — the legacy of a 1920s building conceived for the dense, efficient living the enclave was designed to offer, with some double-height and duplex studio layouts on the upper floors. Across roughly 403 apartments, the building offers genuine entry points into a Midtown co-op address, a meaningful contrast to the small, tightly held pre-war stock elsewhere on the East Side. Upper-floor apartments carry the views toward the parks, the United Nations, and the river; the lower floors trade altitude for the quiet of the enclave and the gardens.
The decorative tower crown and the rooftop sign give Prospect Tower an identity on the skyline that few buildings of its size can claim — a marketing asset as much as an architectural one.
Building operations
Prospect Tower operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative with a 24-hour doorman, a live-in superintendent, a roof deck, a fitness room, laundry, bike storage, and access to the enclave's gardens. The amenity set is deep for a pre-war co-op of this vintage.
The co-op's policies are accommodating by Manhattan standards. Electricity, heat, and water are included in the monthly maintenance — a genuine carrying-cost advantage and a frequent selling point. Financing is permitted up to 80%. Pieds-à-terre are permitted. Subletting is permitted with board approval after an owner-occupancy period. A share-based transfer fee applies on resale rather than a percentage flip tax. The board reviews financials and the purchase application in the standard co-op manner; pet specifics and the precise sublet waiting period are confirmed with the managing agent during contract review.
Recent sales
Because Prospect Tower spans roughly 403 apartments, turnover is regular — several apartments typically change hands in a given year across the studio-heavy unit mix. Pricing tracks the pre-war Tudor City co-op market at its accessible end: studios anchor the entry tier in the high-two-hundred-thousands, one-bedrooms reach into the five-hundreds, and larger or combined units climb toward and past the high-six-figures. Building-wide averages reflect the studio-heavy mix and are best read alongside apartment-level comparables — floor, exposure (park-and-river views are the prize on the higher floors), and renovation state drive value. The utilities-included maintenance structure and the 80% financing allowance tend to broaden the buyer pool and support liquidity.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 2026 | 1515 | 1 BR · 2 BA · 1,000 sf | $740,000 | $740/sf | off-mkt |
| Nov 1, 2024 | 1318 | 1 BR · 1 BA | $523,000 | -0.4% | |
| Mar 18, 2024 | 707 | 1 BR · 1 BA | $550,000 | -8.2% | |
| Oct 5, 2023 | 818 | 1 BR · 1 BA | $505,000 | +15.0% | |
| Sep 28, 2023 | 1511 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 600 sf | $502,500 | $838/sf | -3.2% |
| Aug 24, 2023 | 1015 | 1 BR · 1 BA | $516,000 | -1.7% | |
| Jul 24, 2023 | 901 | 1 BR · 2 BA | $575,000 | -4.0% | |
| Apr 27, 2023 | 910 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 600 sf | $540,000 | $900/sf | -1.8% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $740/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 2.3% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2021 | 319 | $995,000 |
| Feb 4, 2020 | 1514 | $898,000 |
| Jul 18, 2019 | 1910 | $651,680 |
| Oct 2, 2017 | 1904 | $525,000 |
| Nov 29, 2016 | 915 | $550,000 |
| Nov 1, 2016 | 1515 | $995,000 |
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01335-0022) 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
The entry-price-plus-utilities case is the core. Prospect Tower offers an accessible entry into a protected Midtown co-op enclave, with electricity, heat, and water bundled into maintenance — model the all-in carry, which is more favorable than it first appears.
Understand the casement-window reality. The building has no central air; cooling is by window or through-wall units, consistent with its 1920s construction and protected by its landmark status. Factor that into your renovation expectations.
Floor and exposure drive value. Upper-floor apartments facing the parks, the United Nations, and the river carry the premium; lower floors trade altitude for quiet. Confirm the line's exposure before you commit.
Confirm the board specifics during contract review. Financing is permitted to 80% and pieds-à-terre and subletting are allowed, but confirm the sublet waiting period and pet policy with the managing agent.
The setting and the sign are the differentiators. The private gardens, the protected-district quiet, and the famous rooftop sign give the building an identity few Midtown co-ops can match.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the setting, the utilities, and the sign. The Tudor City gardens and historic-district protections are the emotional hooks; the utilities-included maintenance and 80% financing allowance are the rational ones; the landmark rooftop sign is the building's signature.
Position each apartment on exposure and condition. Higher-floor park-and-river view homes should be benchmarked against the best comparable lines in the building and the surrounding Tudor City stock; renovated kitchens and baths command clear premiums in this studio-heavy inventory.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. Six to ten weeks from contract signing to closing, with board approval the gating step.
Comparable buildings
If you're weighing Prospect Tower, these nearby Tudor City and Midtown East co-ops and condos make a useful comparison set:
- Tudor Tower (25 Tudor City Place) — the other tall pre-war tower on the Tudor City spine
- Hardwicke Hall (314 East 41st Street) — the Tudor City "Three H's" cooperative at the enclave's 41st Street edge
- 2 Tudor City Place — the postwar Tudor Gardens co-op at the enclave's southern edge
- 845 United Nations Plaza — the Trump World Tower condominium overlooking the UN
- 860 United Nations Plaza — a landmark mid-century cooperative on the UN gardens
- 870 United Nations Plaza — its twin-tower co-op neighbor on First Avenue
The Roebling Team at Prospect Tower
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Midtown East, Tudor City, Turtle Bay, and the broader East River co-op and condo market. We publish this profile because buyers and sellers evaluating a Tudor City co-op deserve building-specific intelligence — the history of the enclave, the architecture and protected status of Prospect Tower, the practical advantages of the utilities-included maintenance, and where individual lines and exposures sit in value.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at Prospect Tower, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Midtown East — read The Roebling Team Guide to Midtown East.
Get the full picture on this building.
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