- Year built
- 1899
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 385
- Floors
- 17
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Permitted under condominium rules
- Subletting
- Permitted under the condominium declaration
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $2,077
- Listing discount
- 3.5%
- Recorded sales
- 349
- On record
- 2003–2026
The Ansonia is one of the most iconic residential buildings in New York City — an architectural and cultural landmark whose identity has been bound up in the New York performing-arts community for more than a century. The Paul Emile Duboy 1904 Beaux-Arts composition was conceived by developer William Earle Dodge Stokes as an explicit architectural statement. Stokes — an heir to the Phelps Dodge mining fortune — specified three-foot soundproof walls between apartments and grand piano-width apartment doors, anticipating that the building's tenants would be musicians, opera singers, and conductors who would require both acoustic isolation and physical access for their instruments. The architectural anticipation proved correct.
Notable original and early residents. The Ansonia's tenant roster across the first half of the 20th century reads as a comprehensive index of New York's classical music and opera community. Among the most consequential:
- Enrico Caruso — the most celebrated opera singer of his era
- Arturo Toscanini — the conductor whose Metropolitan Opera and NBC Symphony work defined American classical music
- Igor Stravinsky — the composer of The Rite of Spring, who maintained an Ansonia apartment during his New York periods
- Lauritz Melchior — Wagnerian tenor, who used the building's hallways for archery practice (a quirk preserved in architectural histories)
- Babe Ruth and other early-century Yankees — the building's substantial unit count and walk-up convenience to the Polo Grounds attracted athletes alongside the musicians
- Theodore Dreiser — the Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy novelist
- Pianist Yehudi Menuhin and a substantial population of other classical musicians
Notable historical events. The Ansonia is most famously the location where the 1919 "Black Sox" World Series fix was reportedly arranged — gambling-syndicate meetings held inside the building's hotel apartments helped orchestrate the throwing of the World Series by the Chicago White Sox.
In the building's mid-20th-century decline period, the basement housed the Continental Baths (1968–1977) — a gay bathhouse that hosted live cabaret performances and where Bette Midler launched her career as a performer, with Barry Manilow accompanying her on piano. The Continental Baths is itself a notable cultural-history landmark in the history of New York gay culture and entertainment.
Architecture and unit composition
The Ansonia's Beaux-Arts exterior is among the most exuberantly ornamented residential buildings in the United States. The 17-story massing rises through stone and brick to a copper-domed curved mansard roof. The corner towers (curved mansards over copper-domed turrets) and the central rounded mass produce a silhouette that reads as wedding-cake confection — architectural historians have dubbed the building the "Wedding Cake of the West Side."
The building's interior is similarly elaborate. The grand lobby originally featured a seal fountain. The roof originally hosted a working farm — chickens, ducks, and even a small bear at one point — to provide fresh food for hotel guests. The original tenant roster's musical inclinations were reflected in three-foot soundproof walls and grand piano-width doors specified by Stokes.
The 385–425 condominium residences include studios, one-bedrooms, and multi-bedroom configurations. Apartment scale varies meaningfully — the original residential-hotel format produced a wider range of unit sizes than typical luxury apartment building inventory. Some units retain elaborate original architectural detail; others have been substantially renovated across the building's century-plus operational life.
Building operations
The Ansonia operates as a full-service luxury condominium. The 24-hour doorman, concierge, fitness center, and residents' lounge constitute the modern amenity program. The condominium structure (since 1992) provides full flexibility — pied-à-terre, sublets, pets, foreign-buyer ownership all permitted under the condominium declaration.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $394,250/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $85
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
The Ansonia's 382-record DEED history (2005–2026) is one of the deepest condo datasets in Manhattan — a function of the building's ~400-apartment scale resulting from the 1992 conversion of the original 1904 Paul E. M. Duboy Beaux-Arts hotel. Most trades cluster in the $500K–$2M studio/1BR band that characterized the original condo conversion's small-unit inventory.
Three editorial frames anchor the dataset. First, the trophy-combination ceiling. The defining datapoint is #6-77 at $7M (Aug 2015), which closed at -41.67% under the $12M asking on a 7BR/4.5BA 4,500-sqft mega-combination — a $5M absolute-dollar gap and among the deepest ask-to-close discounts in the Ansonia's modern dataset. The same building's #6-60 mega-listing (7BR at 5,700 sqft) was offered at $16.185M in March 2018 and never closed publicly. The pattern documents that the Ansonia's largest-apartment tier has historically shown the building's widest discount discipline and most persistent trophy-ceiling failures. Counterpoint: #7/8BT closed at $8.25M in February 2026 (off-market), the highest-floor Beaux-Arts tower combination trade in the modern dataset.
Second, premium-to-ask trades occur with editorial frequency at the smaller-unit tier. The June 2024 #16-67 at $1.25M closed at +25.63% over the $995K asking — among the largest premium-to-ask trades in the Ansonia's modern dataset. The 2015 #16-16 at $11M (5BR trophy combination) cleared at +2.33% over ask, the 2013 #10-77 at $5.55M (4BR) at +1.83%, the 2018 #15-79 at $2.551M at +6.51%, and the 2018 #1665 at +17.93%. These document competitive bidding on aligned-priced 1BR-2BR inventory across cycles.
Third, the modern dataset shows tight discount discipline on substantive 2024-2026 trades. Recent 2BR-3BR closings cluster at -1% to -8% from asking: #4-126 full-ask at $2.6M, #4-160 full-ask, #5-131 +1.16%, #17-131 -2.86%, #11-79 -7.16%, #4-144 -3.89%, #5-41 -8.89%, #14-92 -6.21%. The 2024 #16-67 +25.63% premium and the 2025 #4-126 / #4-160 full-ask trades signal a stabilized market for the building's mid-tier inventory after the wider 2020-2022 discount pattern that recurred from the 2010 post-crisis cycle.
The Ansonia's hybrid scale — hundreds of small-unit trades alongside occasional 4-7BR mega-combinations — means buyers and sellers should evaluate comp sets at the floor-plate level rather than the building level: a 5-77 7BR combination has fundamentally different market dynamics than a 13-65 studio at the same building.
Recent closings 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2026 | 15-06 | 1 BA · 337 sf | $700,000 | $2,077/sf | off-mkt |
| Jan 2, 2026 | 13-31 | 553 sf | $925,000 | $1,673/sf | off-mkt |
| Jan 13, 2026 | 12102 | 587 sf | $563,000 | $959/sf | off-mkt |
| Jan 8, 2026 | 3-65 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 750 sf | $885,000 | $1,180/sf | -11.1% |
| Dec 19, 2025 | 15159/15157 | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,350 sf | $2,950,000 | $2,185/sf | -1.5% |
| Dec 5, 2025 | 10104 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 577 sf | $949,000 | $1,645/sf | off-mkt |
| Nov 11, 2025 | 1302 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 738 sf | $600,000 | $813/sf | off-mkt |
| Sep 11, 2025 | 4-126 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,264 sf Closed Sep 9, 2025 at $2.6M — full-ask, 0% off. 4-126 — 2BR at 1,264 sqft = ~$2,057/sqft. Clean full-ask trade on substantial 2BR inventory. | $2,600,000 | $2,057/sf | +0.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $2,077/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 3.5% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2, 2022 | 12160 | $1,350,000 |
| Jan 31, 2018 | 16-65 | $972,937 |
| Jan 26, 2018 | 1665 | $972,938 |
| Dec 6, 2017 | 16-65 | $889,667 |
| Jun 20, 2016 | 15-06 | $650,000 |
| Sep 3, 2013 | 5-131 | $1,350,000 |
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 1-01165-7503) 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 from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
The architectural and cultural pedigree is genuinely distinct. No other Manhattan apartment building combines the Beaux-Arts façade significance, the century-long association with the New York performing-arts community, and the cultural-history layer (Black Sox 1919, Continental Baths 1968–77) at the same intensity.
Apartment quality varies widely. The building's 120-year operational history and the wide-range residential-hotel-to-condominium evolution have produced apartments of materially different renovation states. Diligence on specific apartment condition is essential.
The condominium structure provides flexibility. 10% minimum down payment, sublets permitted, pied-à-terre and foreign buyers welcome — a structural advantage over neighboring CPW co-op stock.
The Broadway / 72nd–74th positioning is central UWS. Immediate transit access (72nd Street 1/2/3 hub), substantial retail and dining at the building's doorstep, and walking proximity to Riverside Park, Lincoln Center, and the broader UWS amenity base.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Ansonia, also evaluate:
- The Apthorp (2207 Broadway) — Clinton & Russell 1908, full-block UWS condominium peer
- The Belnord (225 West 86th) — Hiss & Weekes 1909, full-block UWS condominium peer
- The Dorilton (171 West 71st) — Janes & Leo 1902, Beaux-Arts UWS peer
- The Chatsworth (344 West 72nd) — John E. Scharsmith 1902, Riverside / 72nd Street pre-war
The Roebling Team at The Ansonia
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Upper West Side, Central Park West, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because Ansonia buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, condominium structure, transactional mechanics, and pricing at the apartment level.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at The Ansonia, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Upper West Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper West Side.
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