133 East 80th Street

Apartment building in Manhattan, New York October 2026 October 2026 Building at 133 East 80th Street 133 East 80th St NYC.jpg 133 E 80th St, Manhattan, New York, US dms region:US-NY_type:landmark inline,title Manhattan#New York City#New York#USA Late Gothic Revival 2010-08-16 less than one acre 100005532013a New York State Register of Historic Places 2010-06-25Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation November 7, 2014 https://cris.parks.ny.gov/ July 20, 2023 April 4, 2019 http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20190404141934/https://cris.parks.ny.gov/ live 06101.017261 133 East 80th Street is a cooperative apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Designed by Rosario Candela, the 15-story building contains elements of the Tudor Revival and Gothic Revival styles. The exterior is made of limestone and brick, and the interior consists of three ground-level stores, a doctor's office, and 20 residential units. The site was acquired in 1929 and the building opened in October 1930. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Description 133 East 80th Street is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.National Park Service 2010 3Netto David Goldberger Paul Pennoyer Peter Rosario Candela & The New York Apartment: 1927-1937 The Architecture of the Age Rizzoli International Publications October 15, 2024 978-0-8478-6782-0 https://books.google.com/books?id=N278EAAAQBAJ&dq=Building+at+133+East+80th+Street&pg=PA171 August 12, 2026 171 The site is at 80th Street's northwestern corner with Lexington Avenue,National Park Service 2010 3February 24, 1930 Apartment Going Up In Section of Fine Homes: Calvin Morris Syndicate Is Building It in 80th Street New York Herald Tribune 34 1941-0646 1113615995 measuring 70 ft wide on 80th Street to the south and 100 ft wide on Lexington Avenue to the east.December 7, 1929 More Trading In Downtown Real Estate New York Herald Tribune 34 1941-0646 1112011470 May 15, 1929 Adelson Sells Lexington Ave. Corner at Profit: Price Paid by the Tishmans for 54th St. Highest Recorded for Avenue in Weeks New York Herald Tribune 45 1941-0646 1109553920 The adjacent buildings on Lexington Avenue are mixed-use 12- to 17-story buildings, along with a church immediately to the southeast. Along 80th Street are 5-story residences,National Park Service 2010 3 including the East 80th Street Houses immediately across the street,NYCityMap http://maps.nyc.gov/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20150610011753/http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/ June 10, 2015 March 20, 2020 NYC.gov New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications along with 49 East 80th Street and other townhouses one block west.Gray Christopher March 7, 2004 Streetscapes/East 80th Street From Madison to Park Avenues; A Block With Rare Windows and Unusual Statues https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/realestate/streetscapes-east-80th-street-madison-park-avenues-block-with-rare-windows.html August 5, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 https://web.archive.org/web/20251105061845/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/realestate/streetscapes-east-80th-street-madison-park-avenues-block-with-rare-windows.html November 5, 2025 live The building was designed by Rosario Candela,National Park Service 2010 7 a prolific luxury apartment designer in New York City during the mid-1920s, who continued to design buildings after the Wall Street crash of 1929.Gray Christopher February 5, 2006 A Renowned Architect's Less Renowned Designs https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/realestate/a-renowned-architects-less-renowned-designs.html August 12, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 https://web.archive.org/web/20231022232730/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/realestate/a-renowned-architects-less-renowned-designs.html October 22, 2023 live When 133 East 80th Street was completed, Marcia Davenport of The New Yorker magazine wrote in November 1930 that the building "has a peculiarly simple sort of charm, and therefore has appealed to some delightful people".Davenport Marcia Clarke November 1, 1930 for Artists and Nostalgics https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1930/11/08/family-paradise-simplex-and-duplex-for-artists-and-nostalgics August 19, 2026 The New Yorker Davenport conversely wrote that the structure was not architecturally outstanding. Over the years, the building has been overlooked because its address did not readily indicate its location in the Manhattan street grid. This contrasted with other addresses such as 200 West 57th Street or 1 East 72nd Street, whose locations could be easily calculated by the Manhattan address algorithm.Gray Christopher September 5, 2004 An Elegant 1920's Building at an Unshowy Address https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/realestate/an-elegant-1920s-building-at-an-unshowy-address.html August 18, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 The architectural historian Christopher Gray retrospectively wrote that the building was among Candela's "most successful works".Gray Christopher September 11, 1988 IN THE NATION; Apartments by Candela: Grandest of the Grand https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/11/realestate/in-the-nation-apartments-by-candela-grandest-of-the-grand.html August 19, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 https://web.archive.org/web/20240501143017/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/11/realestate/in-the-nation-apartments-by-candela-grandest-of-the-grand.html May 1, 2024 live Exterior The exterior rises 15 stories and has elements of the Tudor Revival and Gothic Revival styles. It generally has sash windows, and the upper stories contain setbacks.National Park Service 2010 3–4 The two-story base is clad in limestone and brick, and is divided into five bays on the 80th Street elevation and six bays on the Lexington Avenue elevation. On 80th Street, there is a Tudor entrance arch made of terracotta, with wood-and-glass doors and metal sconces.National Park Service 2010 3 The Lexington Avenue facade has three storefronts, each containing windows with anthemion cresting, topped by metal marquees.National Park Service 2010 3 There are rolldown gates in front of the storefronts, and the northernmost bay has a service entrance with a decorative wrought iron door. A cornice runs above the base.National Park Service 2010 3 The rest of the facade has Gothic Revival decorations including gargoyles, masks, crests, a balcony, and an embrasure. The 3rd to 13th stories form the midsection, which have weathered brick laid in common bond. The corners have limestone quoins which reach down to the 2nd floor, and the windows have moldings similar to those above the 80th Street entrance. On the 3rd and 4th stories, the facade is designed like a piano nobile and has brickwork laid in a diaper pattern.National Park Service 2010 3 The 4th floor has motifs of jester heads, and there is another terracotta cornice running above the 9th floor.National Park Service 2010 3 The 12th to 15th stories contain terraces, as well as Gothic arches made of corbel bricks (the arches are absent from the 13th floor).National Park Service 2010 3–4 The roof has a water tower enclosure surrounded by a balustrade, along with brick crenellations. The enclosure's decorations include Gothic arches with terracotta medallions, in addition to diaper-patterned walls and brick buttresses.National Park Service 2010 4 Gray wrote that the pinnacle was "a craggy, romantic top that could double as a mountain castle redoubt in a Harry Potter movie". Interior The interior consists of three ground-level stores, a doctor's office, and 20 residential units (including a penthouse apartment at the top).National Park Service 2010 3 The ground level has several entry spaces decorated with marble floors and wood moldings, illuminated by sconces. Just inside the entrance is a wainscoted foyer leading to a lobby. In turn, wood-paneled doors lead from the lobby to an elevator hall, as well as to other spaces including a service elevator, mailroom, staircase, and rear areaway.National Park Service 2010 4 The 2nd floor is the only story with three apartments. The 3rd to 5th floors have two units each, while the other floors have one apartment each.National Park Service 2010 3–4 As originally envisaged, the 6th to 11th floors contained several two-floor duplex apartments.November 1, 1929 Work Started on Tall East Side Apartment: 13-Story Tenant-Owned Building for Lexington Ave. Corner New York Herald Tribune 45 1941-0646 1111740736 These apartments originally included 6 to 13 rooms each.October 12, 1930 Walter Damrosch Takes Over East Side Apartment New York Herald Tribune E2 1941-0646 1113250355 By the 2000s, the building contained only one duplex: the penthouse on the 14th and 15th floors.National Park Service 2010 3–4 On floors with two apartments, these units' communal rooms (i.e. libraries and living and dining rooms) are at the northeastern and southeastern corners, while residents' bedrooms are at the center of the Lexington Avenue elevation. On floors with one apartment, the communal rooms are on 80th Street and the bedrooms are on Lexington Avenue. The servant spaces on each floor face the western elevation, and there are additional servant spaces on the northern edges of floors with one apartments. The communal rooms and bedrooms have symmetrical openings, plaster walls, wood-paneled doors, and ceilings with coves or cornices. Many kitchens, bathrooms, and servant rooms have been modernized or repurposed over time.National Park Service 2010 4–5 History Development thumb|left|Detail of the top stories During the early and mid-1920s, Fifth Avenue, on the western edge of the Upper East Side, was developed with luxury cooperative apartment buildings.National Park Service 2010 8 Similar structures were developed on Madison and Park avenues immediately east of Fifth Avenue, as well as along Central Park West on the Upper West Side.National Park Service 2010 8 Luxury apartment development was slow to come to Lexington Avenue until the late 1920s, when a lack of available space on Park Avenue led developers to construct buildings on Madison and Lexington avenues.National Park Service 2010 8 In May 1929, the Calvin Morris Corporation, operated by Moses Ginsberg (who was also developing the nearby Carlyle HotelFebruary 2, 1930 Towering Apartments Give East River Loftier Skyline; Gracie Square Development Tall Madison Avenue Building. https://www.nytimes.com/1930/02/02/archives/towering-apartments-give-east-river-loftier-skyline-gracie-square.html October 25, 2024 The New York Times 0362-4331 https://web.archive.org/web/20251011161858/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/02/02/archives/towering-apartments-give-east-river-loftier-skyline-gracie-square.html October 11, 2025 live ), bought three land lots at 131–135 East 80th Street.May 15, 1929 Builders Assemble New Housing Sites; General Realty and Utilities Corporation Buys East End Av. Corner for Improvement https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/15/archives/builders-assemble-new-housing-sites-general-realty-and-utilities.html August 12, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 Ginsberg immediately announced plans to construct a 13-story luxury cooperative for $1.75 million, to be developed by Rosario Candela. Candela's plans originally called for 14 one-story apartments and 5 two-story apartments, each with 6 to 11 rooms. Excavation for the site began in November 1929,National Park Service 2010 13 and Brown, Wheelock: Harris, Vought & Company were hired that month to sell the apartments.November 3, 1929 Lexington Avenue Cooperative. The New York Times RE2 0362-4331 104712000 Within a month, they had reported that the building had attracted "an unusual amount of interest". Construction of the above-ground superstructure took place rapidly, starting on January 4, 1930;National Park Service 2010 13 by that February, half the apartments had been sold. Residents formed a cooperative called the 133 East 80th Street Corporation, which bought the building from the Calvin Morris Corporation in September 1930, taking a $50,000 mortgage loan from Calvin Morris.National Park Service 2010 14September 11, 1930 Manhattan Mortgages The New York Times 47 0362-4331 98826851 The cooperative also assumed responsibility for an existing $800,000 mortgage,National Park Service 2010 14 the maturity (due) date of which was postponed to 1935.September 18, 1930 Real Estate Transactions in City and Suburbs: Millions Turned Into Mortgages On City Realty Title Companies Announce Investments Totaling Six Millions on the Property New York Herald Tribune 44 1941-0646 1113204644 Operation thumb|The building as seen from across Lexington Avenue, with stone storefronts on the ground level and a brick facade above The building was completed on August 19, 1930,National Park Service 2010 14 and formally opened to residents on October 10 that year.October 11, 1930 Cooperative House Open.; Buliding Controlled by Walter Damrosch is Turned Over to Tenants. https://www.nytimes.com/1930/10/11/archives/cooperative-house-open-buliding-controlled-by-walter-damrosch-is.html August 19, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 At the time, 60% of the units had been sold. Among the first buyers were the painter Allen Tucker,December 11, 1929 Allen Tucker Buys East Side Suite From Plans: Apartment Now Under Construction on Lexington Avenue New York Herald Tribune 50 1941-0646 1112012893 the neurologist Irving H. Pardee,March 28, 1938 Miss Margaret S. Pardee Engaged to Wed Talcott Bates of Cornell Medical College https://www.nytimes.com/1938/03/28/archives/miss-margaret-s-pardee-engaged-to-wed-talcott-bates-of-cornell.html August 19, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 and the composer Walter Damrosch (who bought two apartments there).March 20, 1930 Damrosch Buys Two Apartments In Co-operative: Veteran Music Conductor Acquires Large and Small Suites in 80th Street New York Herald Tribune 45 1941-0646 1113225111 March 20, 1930 Review of the Day in Realty Market; Washington Street Purchase by the New York Central Features Manhattan Trading. More Funds on Mortgages Brokers Obtain Loans on Business and Residential Properties-- Damrosch Buys Two Suites. New York Central's Purchase. https://www.nytimes.com/1930/03/20/archives/review-of-the-day-in-realty-market-washington-street-purchase-by.html August 19, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 Early advertisements for 133 East 80th Street referred to the apartment block and the adjacent buildings as creating "a little corner of New England on East Eightieth Street".National Park Service 2010 14 Because of the ongoing Great Depression, there was initially reduced demand for ownership of apartments within the building, leading Brown, Wheelock to rent out some apartments.National Park Service 2010 14-15 In the mid-20th century, the building continued to attract many well-off residents who worked in the literary, artistic, business, and legal fields.National Park Service 2010 15 These residents included the broadcaster Jack R. Howard, the writer Edward Streeter, and the diplomat McGeorge Bundy.National Park Service 2010 7 The building was still not fully occupied in 1945 when one of the 133 East 70th Street Corporation's shareholders, Henry L. O'Brien, took over the mortgage, thereby becoming the building's landlord.National Park Service 2010 15 After the city government temporarily banned evictions and rent increases under the Housing Act of 1949, O'Brien sued to invalidate the bans; a judge initially ruled against him,National Park Service 2010 15November 4, 1949 Landlord Loses in Court; Dineen Refuses to Restrain City From Enforcing Sharkey Law https://www.nytimes.com/1949/11/04/archives/landlord-loses-in-court-dineen-refuses-to-restrain-city-from.html August 19, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 but this was overturned on appeal.February 1, 1950 Court Studies Action to Kill City Rent Law https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-court-studies-action-to-kill/204175271/ August 19, 2026 Daily News 392 O'Brien held the mortgage until 1966, when the 133 East 70th Street Corporation took over ownership again. The cooperative's shareholders own their apartments and, for the most part, occupy them; some apartment owners rent out their units.National Park Service 2010 15 In 1969, the cooperative was found guilty of discriminating against a Jewish prospective resident.Shipler David K. September 24, 1969 Co-Op on East Side Fined in Bias Case https://www.nytimes.com/1969/09/24/archives/coop-on-east-side-fined-in-bias-case-east-side-c00p-is-fined-for.html August 19, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 A fire in 1975 killed three residents and destroyed the duplex spanning the 10th and 11th floors,King Martin January 14, 1975 Mother, 2 Girls Die in Blaze That Spreads From Hearth https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-mother-2-girls-die-in-blaze/204175717/ August 19, 2026 Daily News 225 McQuiston John T. January 13, 1975 3 in Family Die in East Side Fire The New York Times 1 0362-4331 120601412 after that apartment's owners left their fireplace unattended.Seigel Max H. January 14, 1975 Untended Fireplace Cited In Fatal East Side Blaze https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/14/archives/untended-fireplace-cited-in-fatal-east-side-blaze.html August 19, 2026 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 The building's facade underwent renovation in the mid-2000s.National Park Service 2010 15 This work involved facade cleaning, reproduction of damaged architectural details, and window replacements.National Park Service 2010 15 In 2010, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets References Sources https://catalog.archives.gov/medialz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/10000553.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Building at 133 East 80th Street National Park Service 2010 National Park Service 2010 Category:1930s architecture in the United States Category:1930 establishments in New York City Category:Gothic Revival architecture in New York City Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Category:New York State Register of Historic Places in New York County Category:Residential buildings completed in 1930 Category:Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Category:Apartment buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Category:Upper East Side