River House (435 East 52nd Street)
435 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10022
Midtown East
BBL 1013640022 · BIN 1040155
- Year built
- 1931
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 79
- Floors
- 26
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Permitted (dogs and cats)
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
- Financing
- Not formally published; confirm directly with on-site property management
- Flip tax
- Not formally published; confirm directly with on-site property management
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 4BR+ median
- $6.6M
- Recent range
- $1.8M – $8M
- Listing discount
- 5.2%
- Recorded transfers
- 81
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A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at River House 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.
River House at 435 East 52nd Street is one of Manhattan's most architecturally distinguished and most institutionally discreet pre-war cooperative buildings. Bottomley, Wagner & White designed it in 1931 on a through-block East River site as a 26-story Art Deco / Beaux-Arts hybrid — a central tower topped by a crown, with two massive 15-story wings flanking it. The composition is U-shaped in plan, with the wings producing extensive loggias, terraces, and balconies that exceed the outdoor-space provision of nearly any pre-war Manhattan building. Wood-burning fireplaces, high ceilings, and pre-war architectural detail throughout.
The building's premise was unusual at conception and remains distinctive a century later. Where contemporary 1931 luxury apartment commissions on Fifth, Park, and Central Park West optimized for prestige addresses and urban convenience, River House optimized for the riverfront — even commissioning a private pier for resident boat docking as part of the original design. The pier was eventually removed (the FDR Drive's construction in the late 1930s materially changed the building's relationship to the East River), but the aspiration remains visible in the building's positioning, the courtyard's water-facing orientation, and the integration with The River Club on the lower floors.
The River Club is itself a structural editorial element. The independent private club occupies the building's lower floors with its own entrance on East 52nd Street and includes three squash courts, two tennis courts, a gym, a swimming pool, a library, dining and bar facilities overlooking the East River, a ballroom, and guest rooms. Building residents commonly hold River Club memberships, producing a daily-life signature that combines residential and private-club infrastructure in a way no other Manhattan pre-war does at this scale.
The building's institutional culture is famously discreet. Resident lists are not publicly circulated; staff are explicitly trained to protect privacy; transactions are typically conducted off-market through private broker networks rather than via public listing channels. This is part of the building's brand and a meaningful screening mechanism — buyers who want public visibility for their address should look elsewhere; River House's residents have explicitly chosen the building's discretion as a feature.
For buyers, River House represents a particular tier of pre-war Manhattan cooperative inventory: Art Deco / Beaux-Arts architectural pedigree of the first rank, the River Club integration, the East River views, and a cultural posture that combines old-world architectural seriousness with explicit privacy. The buyer pool is small and self-selecting. The board exercises selectivity calibrated to that posture.
Architecture and unit composition
The 79–80 apartments span the central tower and the two 15-story wings, with configurations ranging from substantial 2BRs to large 4BRs, full-floor apartments, and duplexes. The U-shaped plan produces apartments with multiple exposures — combinations of East River, courtyard, and Manhattan skyline views — and the loggia / terrace / balcony provision exceeds nearly any pre-war Manhattan building of comparable era.
Bottomley, Wagner & White's pre-war signatures throughout: 11–12 foot ceilings in primary rooms, formal entry galleries, library-living combinations, wood-burning fireplaces (a distinguishing River House feature — many apartments have multiple), service wings characteristic of 1931 luxury apartment design.
East River views are the building's defining exterior orientation, with sight lines across to Queens (Long Island City and Roosevelt Island) and the East River bridges (Queensboro, then Williamsburg further south). View permanence is essentially absolute on the East River exposure; courtyard-facing apartments enjoy quieter exposures with the cobblestoned courtyard and Manhattan skyline as the view.
Apartment-by-apartment heterogeneity is meaningful across the building's nearly century-long history.
Building operations
River House operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative with concierge, live-in superintendent, fitness center, pool, bike storage, laundry, basement/storage units, and covered parking. The building's on-site property management team — the managing agent with the on-site manager William Fertidos and the riverhouseny.com domain — handles day-to-day operations with the unusual continuity characteristic of the most institutionally serious Manhattan co-ops.
The privacy culture is structural. The building lists its public policy block in unusually abbreviated form — specific financing, flip tax, and subletting policies are intentionally not published publicly. Buyers should obtain these directly from on-site property management during due diligence.
The pied-à-terre allowance is notable — many tier-one pre-war buildings restrict pied-à-terre purchases; River House's posture is more accommodating in this respect).
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $243,200/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $263
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as Unsafe — conditions requiring corrective action, which under FISP means a protective sidewalk shed and repairs. Review the subsequent filings, the repair status, and the building’s board and financial materials — we pull the repair scope and funding picture for you.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2025–30. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
River House — Bottomley, Wagner & White's 1931 Sutton Place cooperative — is among the more architecturally distinct and operationally selective East Side trophy buildings, known as much for the private River Club at the building's base as for the rigor of its board approval process. The mid-tier B-line is instructive on the building's pricing positioning: its roughly 4,000-square-foot three-bedroom residences with East River exposure trade materially below Park Avenue tier-one peers despite comparable architectural credentials. This gap reflects the operational reality that River House's board approval and house-rule discipline is among the most demanding in the city, narrowing the buyer pool relative to comparable inventory elsewhere.
Three patterns run through the building's transactional record. First, the G-line trades with unusual price stability. Full-floor G-line apartments have held their value across resales. Second, well-priced apartments on the most desirable lines clear, despite the building's discount-prone reputation. Third, the marquee tower-level inventory exhibits a trophy ceiling. Large tower duplexes have repeatedly been relisted without closing on the open market.
In the 2009 downturn, trophy-tier apartments here corrected meaningfully but not dramatically, consistent with the building's small and self-selecting buyer pool that limits both peaks and troughs.
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 28, 2026 | 15A | 3 BR · 4 BA · 3,170 sf | $4,100,000 | $1,293/sf | -4.7% |
| Apr 20, 2026 | 6C | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,000 sf | $2,300,000 | $1,150/sf | -2.1% |
| Mar 31, 2025 | 13B | 3 BR · 4.5 BA · 4,000 sf | $3,300,000 | $825/sf | -5.7% |
| Jul 9, 2024 | 12C | 2 BR · 2.5 BA | $1,750,000 | off-mkt | |
| Mar 26, 2024 | 6 | 3 BR · 4.5 BA · 5,000 sf | $4,995,000 | $999/sf | +0.0% |
| Mar 26, 2024 | 9G | 5 BR · 5.5 BA · 5,335 sf | $8,000,000 | $1,500/sf | -27.3% |
| Dec 12, 2023 | 8 | 4 BR · 5 BA · 4,460 sf | $6,650,000 | $1,491/sf | -11.3% |
| Dec 1, 2023 | 10G | 5 BR · 6.5 BA · 5,335 sf | $6,540,500 | $1,226/sf | -5.9% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,284/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 5.9% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2003 | 11B | $8,500,000 |
| Aug 4, 2003 | 12G | $10,495,000 |
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 1-01364-0022) 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.
At the recent median sale of $3.3M (3 transfers since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $64,050 to close, or 1.9% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $49,500
- No mortgage recording tax or title insurance on a co-op purchase
- Attorneys, lender, building fees and filings: $14,550
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
The building's privacy culture is part of the screening. Buyers should be prepared to engage with on-site property management directly for building documents and policy specifics — the building's public policy block is intentionally abbreviated. Brokers familiar with River House's process will navigate this efficiently; brokers who treat the building as a typical co-op will encounter friction.
The River Club is part of the value proposition. Many residents hold River Club memberships, and the integration of the private club with the residential building is unique in Manhattan inventory. Buyers should understand the relationship and consider whether River Club membership matches their lifestyle.
Pied-à-terre is permitted. Unusual flexibility for a tier-one pre-war; the building has historically accommodated globally mobile buyers and residents with multiple primary homes.
Confirm financing, flip tax, and sublet specifics with on-site management. Because the building's public policy block is intentionally abbreviated, these specifics should be obtained directly from the property manager during the contract review process. Tier-one pre-war Manhattan co-ops commonly require 100% cash; confirm whether River House carries that requirement.
Board approval follows tier-one pre-war norms, with River House's specific privacy emphasis. The screening framework includes financial review, professional and personal references, and explicit attention to fit with the building's institutional culture. Discretion is itself a vetting criterion.
East River views are the defining exterior orientation. Buyers should view apartments at multiple times of day to evaluate the view envelope (which has been stable post-FDR Drive construction) and the orientation relative to morning vs. evening sun.
Renovation is constrained by the building's pre-war character. The board reviews scope and quality with attention to preservation of original Art Deco detail.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing is largely private. Most River House transactions occur with limited or no public marketing. The buyer pool is small, institutional, and accessible primarily through private broker networks. Sellers should expect (and value) the building's discretion as part of the marketing posture rather than fighting against it.
Pricing requires apartment-level context. The building's heterogeneous inventory — wings vs. central tower, river-facing vs. courtyard-facing, original vs. renovated — produces meaningful within-building variation. Comparable analysis at the apartment-configuration level is critical.
The River Club membership is a marketing asset for buyers who value it. Brokers should understand which buyer profiles respond to the River Club integration and which prefer pure-residential buildings.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. 6–10 weeks from contract signing to closing, with substantial board package work and the building's privacy considerations factored into the marketing-to-closing timeline.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering River House, also evaluate:
- 778 Park Avenue — Candela 1931; full-floor configuration; similar tier-one prestige with Park Avenue rather than East River positioning
- 1 Sutton Place South — Hand & Stieg 1927; East River and Sutton Place trophy; full-floor configuration
- 820 Fifth Avenue — Starrett & Van Vleck 1916; smaller scale; Fifth Avenue rather than East River
- 740 Park Avenue — Candela/Cross & Cross 1930; the apex of Gold Coast pre-war
- The Carlyle (35 East 76th Street) — mixed-use trophy with hotel and residential
- Sutton Place inventory (1 Sutton, 25 Sutton, 60 Sutton Place South)
More Sutton Place buildings
- The George, 433 East 56th Street — 1967 co-op
- 434 East 52nd Street — 1928 co-op by Emery Roth
- 434 East 58th Street — 1930 co-op
- Beekman Mansion, 439 East 51st Street — 1925 co-op
- 440 East 57th Street — 1961 co-op
- Sutton Manor, 440 East 56th Street — 1955 co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Sutton Place — read The Roebling Team Guide to Sutton Place.
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.
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