Carter's Review

This pleasant, 14-story building, at 535 Park Avenue on the northeast corner at 61^st Street was erected as a co-operative in 1909.

It was designed by Herbert Lucas, the architect also of The Marquand at 11 East 68^th Street and One Lexington Avenue.

It has 31 apartments.

Bottom Line

An attractive, red-brick and terracotta pre-war at a prime Park Avenue location with an elevator operator and a roof deck.

Description

It has a two-and-a-half-story, rusticated terracotta base and a canopied entrance and sidewalk landscaping. The red-brick façades are boldly composed with large windows and curved wrought-iron balconies, flared window-top decorative elements and some diamond shaped decorative elements on some spandrels. The building has inconsistent fenestration and some protruding and some discrete air-conditioners.

The western group of windows on the side-street only has one window although the decorative element over them is much broader.

Amenities

The building has a doorman, an elevator operator, a live-in superintendent, a roof deck, storage and a laundry, but no garage.

It is pet-friendly.

Apartments

The building has some wood-burning fireplaces and decorative wrought-iron balconies.

Apartment 14C is a one-bedroom apartment that has a 13-foot-wide entrance gallery that leads to a 25-foot-long living room with a wood-burning fireplace and a decorative balcony, a 16-foot-long library and a 19-foot-long eat-in kitchen.  The apartment has 10-and-a-half-foot-high ceilings.

Apartment 15A is a one-bedroom unit with a 19-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 23-foot-long living room with a fireplace, 15-foot-long sitting room, a 16-foot-long office with a fireplace, a 20-foot-long dining room next to an enclosed 12-foot-long kitchen, and a 66-foot-long terrace.

Apartment 12C is a one-bedroom unit that has a small entry foyer that leads to a 13-foot-long gallery that leads to a 24-foot-long living room with a fireplace, a 16-foot-long library and an open 21-foot-long eat-in kitchen.

History

In his August 1, 2013 “Streetscapes” column in The New York Times, Christopher Gray noted that “although to contemporary eyes 535 Park Avenue seems fairly tame, The Architectural Record in 1911 saw it differently. ‘It aims at the palatial and attains the sham-palatial,’ the anonymous reviewer wrote, describing the projecting cornice as ‘huge, umbrageous, unmeaning, irrelevant’ and characteristic ‘of the cheapest and vulgarest kind of tenement houses.’ The writer also was offended at the combination of red brick and white terra cotta, denouncing it as ‘cheap finery’ and pronounced the building ‘Palazzo Spotti.’ Whew.”  That writer obviously was having a bad hair day for at least the building had a cornice and thankfully has retained it!

Location

The building is directly across the avenue from the Regency Hotel.  It is a choice location convenient to midtown, fashionable restaurants and boutiques, clubs and religious institutions and very attractive side-streets. There is a fair bit of traffic in this neighborhood, but it is also close to public transportation.