- Year built
- 1906
- Type
- Cooperative
- Pets
- Permitted — cats and dogs allowed
- Subletting
- Permitted in the event of job relocation
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
- Flip tax
- **2% of gross sale price**, payable by the Seller
The Orwell House is a 1906 Mulliken & Moeller prewar cooperative on the southwest corner of 86th Street and Central Park West — directly across from Central Park, with the Onassis Reservoir, the Great Lawn, and the broader Upper West Side cultural infrastructure within blocks. The 12-floor building combines the Central Park West prewar building register with a permissive policy posture relative to the broader CPW prewar cooperative cohort: both pets (cats and dogs) and pied-à-terre purchases are explicitly welcomed, and financing up to 75% of purchase price is permitted — meaningfully broadening the qualifying buyer pool relative to the more restrictive trophy CPW prewar inventory.
The crown jewel of the building's amenity stack is the fully furnished rooftop deck — among the most spectacular in Manhattan — with unobstructed views over Central Park, the Onassis Reservoir, and the broader Manhattan skyline. The amenity package additionally includes a fitness center, central laundry, bike room, package room, and private storage; the operating staff includes 24-hour doormen, full-time concierge, and a live-in superintendent.
Building operations
The Orwell House operates as a full-service prewar cooperative with the Central Park West white-glove operational standard:
- 24-hour doormen
- Full-time concierge
- Live-in superintendent
- Full building staff
- Elevator
- Fitness center
- Central laundry
- Bike room
- Package room
- Private storage (locker/cage)
- Fully furnished rooftop deck with unobstructed views over Central Park, the Onassis Reservoir, and the skyline
[Add: managing agent, deeper operational detail, capital project posture, recent maintenance trend.]
Inside The Orwell House
Recent sales
The Orwell House's 2024–2026 transaction set reflects active turnover across the building's full apartment-type range from studios to four-bedroom combinations. The defining 2026 closing — 9A at $5,100,000 in April (14.93% below the $5,995,000 ask) — sets the recent three-bedroom benchmark on 2,600-sqft Park-adjacent inventory. The August 2024 transaction at 11AB ($9,100,000, 4 BR / 3 BA combination, 9% under the $10M ask) anchors the recent combination ceiling. March 2024's 10C at $2,325,000 (2 BR / 2 BA, 3.13% under ask) and February 2026's 7F at $2,800,000 (4 BR / 2.5 BA, 3.28% under ask) bracket the recent two-to-four-bedroom benchmark range. Across the broader 2022–2026 transaction set, listing-side closings cluster within 3–6% of ask with several at-ask transactions — 12E (September 2022, $1,700,000 at 3.03% over the $1,650,000 ask) and the August 2011 closing at 6A ($3,900,000 at 2.38% under ask) reflect periods of disciplined offer-and-package processes when pricing is calibrated to the building's tier.
Sales context at The Orwell House:
- Apartment-type pricing corridors: studios approximately $325K–$435K (recent activity around $400K); one-bedrooms approximately $590K–$1.6M; two-bedrooms approximately $1.55M–$2.5M; three-bedrooms approximately $2.2M–$5.1M; four-bedrooms and combinations approximately $3.9M–$9.1M.
- The combination premium is meaningful — combinations across multiple lines (AB, FG, JK, FGH, AH) trade at the upper end of their respective configuration tiers; the August 2024 transaction at #11AB ($9,100,000) represents the recent documented combination upper bound.
- Inventory turnover is active relative to the broader Central Park West prewar cooperative cohort, with consistent annual closings across the full apartment-type stack and post-2018 transaction depth running 40+ documented closings.
- Larger discount-to-ask transactions (5–15% under ask) typically reflect apartment-level renovation status, exposure, or specific apartment-line variation rather than building-level pricing pressure. The April 2026 #9A closing at 14.93% under ask is the meaningful recent outlier.
For the curated Roebling Team recent sales feed across all covered buildings, see /sales.
What to know if you’re buying
The 75% financing cap is unusually flexible for the cohort. Most Central Park West prewar cooperatives cap financing at 50–70%; the 75% cap at The Orwell House is a substantive structural feature for buyers using debt-side leverage.
Both pets and pied-à-terre purchases are permitted. The more permissive policy posture relative to the broader CPW prewar cohort makes The Orwell House a meaningfully easier entry point for buyers requiring either or both dimensions.
The rooftop deck is a substantive amenity differentiator. The fully furnished rooftop with unobstructed Central Park views, Reservoir views, and skyline views is among the more substantial amenity offerings in the CPW prewar cooperative cohort and is a meaningful daily-use building feature.
Apartment-line variation is substantial. 1906-period prewar floor-plate variation produces meaningful differences between apartment lines on light, exposure, layout, and ceiling height. Apartment-level diligence should be apartment-line-specific.
Still to verify against the by-laws and proprietary lease. Working-capital-contribution mechanics, board-application timeline, and alteration-agreement processing framework should be confirmed against the by-laws and proprietary lease during diligence.