- 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
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 Daytonian's Tom Miller documents)
- 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 — Daytonian's Tom Miller's headline on his 2010 Ansonia post is "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.
Recent sales
Last 10 recorded deeds from the NYC Department of Finance. ACRIS records the legal transfer; apartment-level detail (square footage, beds/baths, line, condition) is not in the public feed.
| Recorded | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 7, 2026 | 5O | $749K |
| Mar 16, 2026 | 2G | $1.48M |
| Feb 18, 2026 | 7/8BT | $8.25M |
| Jan 13, 2026 | 12102 | $563K |
| Jan 8, 2026 | 3-65 | $885K |
| Jan 2, 2026 | 13-31 | $925K |
| Dec 19, 2025 | 15157 | $2.95M |
| Dec 5, 2025 | 10104 | $949K |
| Nov 25, 2025 | 13-02 | $600K |
| Sep 11, 2025 | 4-126 | $2.60M |
Data source: NYC Department of Finance ACRIS · BBL 1-01165-7503. Recorded transactions reflect the legal transfer price; apartment-level facts (square footage, line, condition) are layered in by the Roebling Team when curated.
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.
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.