740 Park Avenue

Residential building in Manhattan, New York

"740 Park" redirects here. For the book by Michael Gross, see 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building.

740 Park Avenue

740 Park in 2024

General information
Status| Completed
Type| Cooperative apartment building
Architectural style| Art Deco
Location| 740 Park Avenue
Coordinates| 40°46′15″N 73°57′53″W﻿ / ﻿40.7708°N 73.9647°W﻿ / 40.7708; -73.9647
Construction started| 1929
Opening| 1930
Height| 78.03 m (256.0 ft)
Technical details
Floor count| 19
Design and construction
Architect(s)| Rosario Candela and Arthur Loomis Harmon

740 Park Avenue is a luxury cooperative apartment building on the west side of Park Avenue between East 71st and 72nd Streets in the Lenox Hill neighborhood[1] of Manhattan, New York City, United States. It was described in Business Insider in 2011 as "a legendary address" that was "at one time considered (and still thought to be by some) the most luxurious and powerful residential building in New York City".[2] The "pre-war" building's side entrance address is 71 East 71st Street.[3]

The 19-story building was designed in an Art Deco architectural style and consists of 31 units, including duplexes and triplexes.[2] The architectural height of the building is 256.0 feet (78.0 m).

## History

[edit]

The three-storey penthouse at 740 Park Avenue

The building was constructed in 1929 by James T. Lee, the grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis – who lived there as a child as Jacqueline Bouvier  – and was designed by Rosario Candela and Arthur Loomis Harmon; Harmon became a partner of the newly named Shreve, Lamb and Harmon during the year of construction. The building was officially opened in October 1930, a year after the Great Depression began, and the poor timing was devastating. Even though the New York elite had moved in, the building had failed financially by 1933. It remained in the red for 50 years.[4] It was not until the 1980s that the building's apartments sold for incredibly high prices.[2][5]

In 1937, one of the first well-known residents was John D. Rockefeller Jr., who moved into 15/16B, a duplex that many still consider New York's crown jewel apartment. According to New York City real estate lore, "whoever inherits the biggest penthouse at 740 inherits the throne of New York society itself."[4][6] In 1971, Saul Steinberg bought that triplex for $285,000 (equivalent to $2,144,000 in 2023) and after two divorces sold it to Stephen Schwarzman for "slightly above or below $30 million" in 2000. This was the highest price ever paid on Park Avenue[7] until May 2012, when Howard Marks paid $52.5 million for two adjoining two-story duplexes (totaling 30 rooms), which set a short-lived record as the highest price ever paid for a co-op apartment.[8]

In 1979, the French government purchased an 18-room duplex for $600,000 to be used as their United Nations ambassador's residence.[9] The French government's duplex unit was sold in June 2014 for $70 million, reportedly $22 million over the asking price – a bidding war involving three prospective buyers escalated the eventual selling price. The buyer was hedge fund billionaire Israel Englander, who already lived in the unit directly above, and surpassed a record set just days earlier by Egypt's richest man, Nassef Sawiris, for a penthouse unit on nearby Fifth Avenue.[9]

Undergoing renovation in 2008

In 2005, author Michael Gross published a detailed book on the building and its history, 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building. According to Gross, builder Lee's daughter, Janet Lee Bouvier, and son-in-law Jack Bouvier, attained the final open lease; according to one account, they did not pay for the lease.[10] Hedge fund manager David Ganek paid $19 million for the childhood duplex home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 2005.[11]

The residents of 740 Park were heavily affected by the financial crisis of 2007–2008, as many of the residents are hedge fund billionaires as opposed to the titans of industry like Rockefeller who moved in during the 1930s.[4] The building was once home to one of the world's largest private collections of Mark Rothko works.[11] The former owner—alleged Bernie Madoff middleman and ex-financier J. Ezra Merkin—still lives there, but the paintings were sold during the Madoff scandal.

Hedge fund billionaire Charles Stevenson paid $9 million for an apartment in the building and was the head of the 740 Park Avenue cooperative in December 2011.[2]

In 2012, the Alex Gibney documentary Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream, based on the Michael Gross book, aired on the "Independent Lens" series of the PBS TV network. The film details that the building was home to the highest concentration of billionaires in the United States.[12]

## Notable residents

[edit]

* Rand Araskog – former CEO of ITT Corporation
* Thelma Chrysler Foy – heiress to the Chrysler fortune
* Woody Johnson – heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, owner of the New York Jets and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
* David H. Koch and Julia Koch – businesspeople, co-owner and board member of Koch Industries, occupied an 18-room duplex on the fourth and fifth floors said to have been purchased in 2004 for $17 million[3]
* Israel Englander \- hedge fund manager, founder of Millennium Management purchased apartment 12/13D for $71.3 million in 2014 from the French Republic, which used it as its Consul’s residence
* William H. Harkness – Standard Oil heir, businessman and philanthropist, lived from 1933 to 1947 in 12/13D.[3]
* Jerzy Kosinski – novelist
* Howard Marks – chairman of Oaktree Capital Management
* J. Ezra Merkin – hedge fund manager, son of late businessman Hermann Merkin[13]
* Steven Mnuchin – investment banker, film producer, and former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States[14]
* Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis – childhood home[3]
* Ronald Perelman – businessman[15]
* John D. Rockefeller Jr. – businessman and philanthropist, lived from 1937 to 1960 in a 24-room, 12-bath duplex.[3]
* Steve Ross – late CEO of Time Warner
* Julio Mario Santo Domingo – Colombian businessman lived in the building from the 1980s until his death in 2011
* Stephen A. Schwarzman – CEO of the Blackstone Group; bought the former Rockefeller apartment for just over $35 million[3]
* Jonathan Sobel – former partner at Goldman Sachs, director of Hilltop Holdings Inc., and business associate of billionaire Gerald J. Ford[16][17]
* Saul Steinberg – financier; owned the Rockefeller apartment until selling to Schwarzman.
* Allene Tew – American socialite in the Gilded Age. Occupied two different units in the building.
* John Thain – CEO of CIT Group, last chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch[18]

Applicants who have sought to purchase units in the building but have been refused include Barbra Streisand, Neil Sedaka and Russian billionaire Leonard Blavatnik.[2]

## References

[edit]

Notes

1. ^ "740 Park Avenue". Emporis. Emporis GMBH. 2000–2014. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
2. ^ a b c d e Zeveloff, Julie (December 29, 2011). "740 Park Avenue: Inside The Most Powerful Apartment Building In New York". Business Insider. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
3. ^ a b c d e f Gross, Michael. "Where the Boldface Bunk", The New York Times (March 11, 2004). Accessed October 8, 2007.
4. ^ a b c Doran, James (January 17, 2009). "Richest apartment block in US becomes a house of horrors". The Guardian. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
5. ^ Goldberger, Paul "The King of Central Park West" Vanity Fair (September 2008)
6. ^ "Peeking Behind the Gilded Walls of 740 Park Ave". The New York Times Magazine. October 9, 2005.
7. ^ Barbenel, Josh (October 29, 2006). "The Candidate as Landlord". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
8. ^ Zeveloff, Julie; Galante, Meredith (May 14, 2012). "House of the Day: Legendary Investor Howard Marks Officially Bought New York's Most Expensive Co-Op For $52.5 Million". Business Insider. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
9. ^ a b Alberts, Hana R. (June 17, 2014). "France's Palatial 740 Park Pad Sells for $70M, Way Over Ask". Curbed New York. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
10. ^ Rogers, Teri Karush. "Peeking Behind the Gilded Walls of 740 Park Ave.", The New York Times (October 9, 2005). Accessed August 15, 2007.
11. ^ a b "A look at the billionaire residents of 740 Park". The Real Deal New York. August 9, 2014.
12. ^ "Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream". PBS. Independent Television Service (ITVS). 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
13. ^ Van Voris, Bob (June 16, 2020). "Madoff Backer Merkin Claims $41 Million in 740 Park Fire Losses". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
14. ^ Gould, Jennifer (August 18, 2020). "Steven Mnuchin's 740 Park co-op returns with massive discount". New York Post. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
15. ^ Gross, Michael. "740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building". Retrieved July 13, 2017.
16. ^ "In Deed! Goldman Guru Jonathan Sobel Dropped $19 M. On 740 Park Spread". Observer. October 3, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
17. ^ Bruner, Raisa (May 2, 2016). "Meet the billionaires of 740 Park Avenue, one of New York's historic 'Towers of Power'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
18. ^ "Merrill Lynch CEO Thain Spent $1.22 Million On Office". CNBC.com. January 22, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2009.

Bibliography

* Alpern, Andrew. The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, Acanthus Press, 2001
* Gray, Christopher. "Streetscapes: 740 Park Avenue; Repairs for a '29 Luxury Co-op", The New York Times (October 21, 1990)
* Gross, Michael. "Where the Boldfaced Bunk", The New York Times (March 11, 2004)
* Gross, Michael. 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building, Broadway Books, 2005
* Horsley, Carter B. "740 Park Avenue" in The Upper East Side Book – gives references to articles about Candela's design for the building

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 740 Park Avenue.

* Michael Gross's "740Blog" with near complete list of residents.
* "The Root of All Evil and Home Sweet Home" (2005)
* Curbed
* Brick And Cornice: 740 Park Avenue

* v
* t
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Upper East Side (including Carnegie Hill, Lenox Hill, and Yorkville)

Manhattan, New York City

Buildings

| 59th–72nd Sts|

* 19 East 64th Street
* 36 East 72nd Street
* 131 East 66th Street
* 520 Park Avenue
* 535 Park Avenue
* 550 Park Avenue
* 620 Park Avenue
* 625 Park Avenue
* 655 Park Avenue
* 720 Park Avenue
* 730 Park Avenue
* 737 Park Avenue
* 740 Park Avenue
* 810 Fifth Avenue
* 820 Fifth Avenue
* 825 Fifth Avenue
* 834 Fifth Avenue
* 880 Fifth Avenue
* 907 Fifth Avenue
* Arthur Curtiss James House
* Barbizon 63
* Edward J. Berwind House
* Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House
* Harold Pratt House
* Henry Clay Frick House
* Herbert N. Straus House
* Imperial House
* Manhattan House
* Marshall Orme Wilson House
* Millan House
* Park Avenue Armory
* Park Avenue Houses
* Henry P. Davison House
* Oliver D. Filley House
* Percy R. Pyne House
* William Sloane House
* Park Cinq
* The Pierre
* Rowhouses at 322–344 East 69th Street
* Sara Delano Roosevelt Memorial House
* Trump Palace Condominiums
* Trump Park Avenue
* Trump Plaza
* United States Post Office

|

72nd–86th Sts|

* 10 Gracie Square
* 903 Park Avenue
* 927 Fifth Avenue
* 930 Fifth Avenue
* 960 Fifth Avenue
* 970 Park Avenue
* 980 Madison Avenue
* 995 Fifth Avenue
* 998 Fifth Avenue
* 1000 Park Avenue
* 1020 Fifth Avenue
* 1040 Fifth Avenue
* 1049 Fifth Avenue
* Belaire Apartments
* Benjamin N. Duke House
* Casa 74
* The Charles
* Cherokee Apartments
* Clarence Whitman Mansion
* Consulate General of France, New York City
* East 73rd Street Historic District
* East 80th Street Houses
* Edward S. Harkness House
* The Forum at 343 East 74th Street
* Harry F. Sinclair House
* Henry T. Sloane House
* Houses at 157–165 East 78th Street
* Houses at 208–218 East 78th Street
* James B. Duke House
* Joseph Pulitzer House
* Lewis G. Morris House
* Nathaniel L. McCready House
* Oliver Gould Jennings House
* Payne Whitney House
* Raymond C. and Mildred Kramer House
* Stuyvesant Fish House
* William Starr Miller House
* Yorkville Bank Building

86th–96th Sts|

* Andrew Carnegie Mansion
* Carnegie Hill Tower
* Edith Fabbri House
* Felix M. Warburg House
* George F. Baker Jr. Houses
* Gracie Mansion
* Holmes Towers
* Isaacs Houses
* James A. Burden House
* John Henry Hammond House
* Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House
* Mrs. Graham Fair Vanderbilt House
* Municipal Asphalt Plant
* Ogden Codman House
* Otto H. Kahn House
* Willard D. Straight House
* William Goadby Loew House
* Yorkville Bank Building

Former|

* C. Ledyard Blair House
* Elbridge T. Gerry Mansion
* George Blumenthal House
* George J. Gould House
* Henry Phipps House
* Hotel New Netherland
* Isaac Stern House
* James Speyer House
* Jay Gould House
* Lenox Library
* Mrs. William B. Astor House
* Ogden Mills House
* William A. Clark House
* William C. Whitney House
* William Salomon House
* William Ziegler House

Culture

| Shops, restaurants|

* A La Vieille Russie
* Albertine Books
* Bemelmans Bar
* Brasserie Julien
* Café Boulud
* Caravaggio
* Carlyle Restaurant
* Daniel
* Dorrian's Red Hand Restaurant
* Galerie Chalette
* J.G. Melon
* JoJo
* King's Carriage House
* La Goulue
* Lusardi's
* Kappo Masa Restaurant
* Orwashers Bakery
* Sasabune
* Serendipity 3
* Sushi of Gari
* Sushi Noz
* Sushi Seki
* Le Veau d'Or

|

Museums|

* Bernard Museum of Judaica
* Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
* Frick Collection
* Jewish Museum
* Metropolitan Museum of Art
* The Met Fifth Avenue
* Mount Vernon Hotel Museum
* Neue Galerie New York
* Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Theaters/performing arts|

* 59E59 Theaters
* Bohemian National Hall
* East 74th Street Theater

Galleries|

* Acquavella Galleries
* Anita Shapolsky Gallery
* Di Donna Galleries
* Doyle New York
* Florian Papp
* Gagosian Gallery
* Jane Kahan Gallery
* Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery
* Kraushaar Galleries
* Venus Over Manhattan

Hotels|

* Bentley Hotel
* Carlyle Hotel
* Lowell Hotel
* The Mark Hotel
* Hotel Plaza Athénée

Social clubs|

* 92nd Street Y
* Cosmopolitan Club
* Harmonie Club
* Knickerbocker Club
* Lotos Club
* Metropolitan Club

Former|

* Bodley Gallery
* Brasserie Julien
* Buck House NYC
* Cachaça
* The Colony
* Dangerfield's
* Elaine's
* Etats-Unis
* Magic Towne House
* Maxwell's Plum
* Met Breuer
* Quo Vadis
* Regine's
* Salon 94
* The Sign of the Dove
* Stable Gallery

Green spaces/recreation

* Carl Schurz Park
* Central Park
* John Jay Park

Education

| Libraries|

* Frick Art Reference Library
* Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive
* New York Society Library
* Robert Goldwater Library
* Thomas J. Watson Library
* Yorkville Library

|

Primary and secondary|

* Allen-Stevenson School
* Brearley School
* Birch Wathen Lenox School
* Buckley School
* Caedmon School* Chapin School
* Dalton School
* Eleanor Roosevelt High School
* Hewitt School
* Hunter College Elementary School
* Hunter College High School
* Julia Richman Education Complex
* Talent Unlimited High School
* Urban Academy Laboratory High School
* La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi
* Loyola School
* Lycée Français de New York
* Marymount School of New York
* Nightingale-Bamford School
* PS 6
* PS 158
* Ramaz School
* Regis High School
* St. Jean Baptiste High School
* St. Vincent Ferrer High School
* Sephardic Academy of Manhattan
* Spence School
* The Town School
* Trevor Day School

Post-secondary|

* Hunter College
* Assembly Hall
* Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College
* Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
* Marymount Manhattan College
* New York School of Interior Design
* Rockefeller University
* Nurses Residence
* Welch Hall

Other institutions|

* Cornell School of Nursing
* Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
* National Academy of Design

Religion

| Churches, chapels|

* Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
* Brick Presbyterian Church
* Central Presbyterian Church
* Christ Church United Methodist
* Church of the Epiphany
* Church of the Heavenly Rest
* Church of Our Lady of Peace
* Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
* Church of St. Vincent Ferrer
* Holy Trinity Church, St. Christopher House and Parsonage
* Jan Hus Presbyterian Church
* Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church
* Our Lady of Good Counsel Church
* Park Avenue Christian Church
* St. Catherine of Siena Church
* St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church
* St. James' Episcopal Church
* St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church
* St. Joseph Church
* St. Mary Church
* St. Monica Church
* St. Stephen of Hungary Church
* St. Thomas More Church
* Unitarian Church of All Souls
* Zion-St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church

|

Synagogues|

* Altneu
* Congregation Emanu-El of New York
* Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
* Congregation Or Zarua
* Edmond J. Safra Synagogue
* Fifth Avenue Synagogue
* Park Avenue Synagogue
* Park East Synagogue
* Temple Beth-El
* Temple Israel of the City of New York
* Temple Shaaray Tefila

Other|

* New York Zendo Shobo-Ji

Health

* Gracie Square Hospital
* Hospital for Special Surgery
* Laboratory for Bioregenerative Medicine and Surgery
* Lenox Hill Hospital
* Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital
* Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
* Weill Cornell Medical Center

| Defunct|

* James Ewing Hospital
* Madison Avenue Hospital
* Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic
* Trafalgar Hospital

|

Transportation

| Subway stations|

* Fifth Avenue/59th Street
* Lexington Avenue/59th Street
* Lexington Avenue/63rd Street
* Lexington Avenue/68th Street
* Lexington Avenue/77th Street
* Lexington Avenue/86th Street
* Lexington Avenue/96th Street
* Second Avenue/72nd Street
* Second Avenue/86th Street
* Second Avenue/96th Street

|

Streets|

* 66th Street
* 72nd Street
* 74th Street
* 79th Street
* 85th Street
* 86th Street
* 89th Street
* 93rd Street
* 95th Street
* 96th Street
* FDR Drive
* East End Avenue
* York Avenue
* First Avenue
* Second Avenue
* Third Avenue
* Lexington Avenue
* Park Avenue
* Madison Avenue
* Fifth Avenue

Other

* 107th Infantry Memorial
* Richard Morris Hunt Memorial

Related topics

* East 73rd Street Historic District
* Hardenbergh/Rhinelander Historic District
* Treadwell Farm Historic District
* Upper East Side Historic District

See also: Manhattan Community Board 8

* v
* t
* e

Structures on Park Avenue in Manhattan

Below 32nd Street|

* 770 Broadway
* Daryl Roth Theatre
* 44 Union Square
* 200 South (Everett)
* 201 South (W New York)
* 225 South
* 281 South (Church Missions House)
* Fotografiska New York
* 287 South (United Charities Building)
* 300 South
* 316 South (Met Life South Building)
* 324 South (Met Life North Building)
* 365 South (Hotel Giraffe)
* 370 South (New York Life Building)

32nd–59th Streets|

* 2
* 3
* 4
* 41 (Robb House)
* 57 (Douglas House)
* 58 (Scandinavia House)
* 59 (Our Saviour Roman Catholic Church)
* Union League Club
* 101
* 125 (Pershing Square Building)
* 175 (proposed)
* 200 (MetLife Building)
* 230 (Helmsley Building)
* 245
* 270
* 277
* 299
* 301 (Waldorf Astoria)
* St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church
* 345
* Park Avenue Plaza
* 370 (Racquet and Tennis Club)
* 375 (Seagram Building)
* 390 (Lever House)
* 399
* Park Avenue Tower
* 425
* 432
* 450
* 465 (Ritz Tower)
* 500

Above 59th Street|

* 502 (Trump Park Avenue)
* 520
* 535
* 550
* 593 (Central Presbyterian Church)
* 620
* 625
* 643 (Park Avenue Armory)
* 655
* Harold Pratt House
* Park Avenue Houses
* 680 (Percy R. Pyne House)
* 684 (Oliver D. Filley House)
* 686 (William Sloane House)
* 690 (Henry P. Davison House)
* 720
* 730
* 737
* 740
* 903
* 970
* 980 (Church of St. Ignatius Loyola)
* 1000
* Lewis G. Morris House
* 1010 (Park Avenue Christian Church)
* Brick Presbyterian Church
* George F. Baker Jr. Houses

Transportation|

| Subway stations|

* 18th Street (former)
* 23rd Street
* 28th Street
* 33rd Street
* Grand Central–42nd Street

|

Railroad stations|

* Grand Central Terminal
* Grand Central Madison
* 59th Street (unused)
* 72nd Street (former)
* 86th Street (former)
* 110th Street (former)
* Harlem–125th Street

Bridges and tunnels|

* Subway tunnel (14th–42nd)
* Road tunnel (30th–42nd)
* Road viaduct (40th–46th)
* Railroad tunnel and viaduct
* Railroad bridge

Former/unbuilt|

* Belmont Hotel
* 42nd Street Airlines Terminal
* 175 (Grand Central Tower)
* 112 South (Murray Hill Hotel)
* 270 (Hotel Marguery)
* 270 (Union Carbide Building)
* 430 (Hoffman Auto Showroom)

Authority control databases |

* VIAF

|

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