# 740 Park Avenue
**740 Park Avenue** is a 17-story luxury cooperative apartment building at the southwest corner of [Park Avenue](https://www.edgepedia.org/park-avenue) and East 71st Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side, completed in 1929–1930 and designed by architect Rosario Candela in association with Arthur Loomis Harmon of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, the firm then building the [Empire State Building](https://www.edgepedia.org/empire-state-building).[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) • [2](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc) Developed by builder James T. Lee, maternal grandfather of [Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis), it has for decades been described as Manhattan's richest apartment building and one of the most sought-after addresses in the world.[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3) • [4](https://www.mgross.com/books/740-park/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Completed | 1929–1930, at Park Avenue and East 71st Street, Lenox Hill, Manhattan[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) • [5](https://www.newyorkbefore.com/place.php?building=740_park_avenue) |
| Architect / developer | Rosario Candela with Arthur Loomis Harmon; developed by James T. Lee[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) • [6](https://www.bhsusa.com/development/the-740-corporation) |
| Apartments | 31 cooperative apartments across 17 floors, from full-floor units to duplexes and triplexes; most exceed 4,000 square feet, some span 8,000+ square feet[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) |
| Landmark status | Not an individual landmark; located within the Upper East Side Historic District[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) |
| Board expectations | Applicants reportedly need a liquid net worth of $100 million to be considered; purchases have historically required all cash[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf) • [1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) |
| Record sale | $71 million paid by Israel Englander in 2014, then the most expensive co-op sale in New York City history[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3) |
| Recent sales | Unit 4 sold for $45,000,000 in February 2025; PH17 for $28,000,000 in December 2023[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) |
## Architecture and design
The seventeen-story limestone structure keeps its facade deliberately plain: an unbroken monolithic entrance framed by fluted shafts, a bracketed cornice over the second floor, and, near the summit, carved panels and urns accompanied by iron railings on the balconies.[8](https://nycid.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) Along Park Avenue the building recedes above the 12th floor; it has a corrugated stone base rising two stories, shallow pilasters ornamenting its midsection, and entry doors in stainless steel bearing intricate geometric ornamentation.[2](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc)
Behind the restrained facade are 31 apartments, nearly all duplexes and one a triplex, many laid out with a large entrance gallery and a freestanding curved stair rising from it.[8](https://nycid.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) The walls between rooms are masonry rather than partition, the limestone facade has punched openings with solid wall between, and the original plans were drawn generously and are largely intact.[8](https://nycid.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) The division of labor between the two architects is a matter of inference: the Museum of the City of New York records that Candela most likely focused on apartment planning while Harmon probably styled the exterior.[2](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc)
The building is not individually designated but lies within the Upper East Side Historic District, according to [New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-city-landmarks-preservation-commission) records.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue)
## Development and early history
James T. Lee developed the site, where his own house had stood, and the building opened as a cooperative in 1929–1930.[2](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc) • [3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3) The original 1929 offering plan's Schedule C lists the size and purchase price of each apartment when new; almost immediately the [Great Depression](https://www.edgepedia.org/great-depression) began, the apartments became virtually worthless, and it took about forty years for them to recover their value.[4](https://www.mgross.com/books/740-park/) Conceived as a co-op, the building was forced to operate partially as a rental for some years and did not become financially solvent until the real estate boom of the 1980s.[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3)
Early tenants included Lee himself, whose granddaughter Jacqueline Bouvier, later Kennedy Onassis, spent part of her childhood in the building.[2](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc) In 1937 [John D. Rockefeller Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-d-rockefeller-jr) created a triplex apartment for his family, a 20,000-square-foot, 37-room residence.[2](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc) • [3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3) In its early days the building was nicknamed the [Standard Oil](https://www.edgepedia.org/standard-oil) building for its large share of residents connected to the oil giant.[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3)
## Co-op structure and governance
Formally, cooperatives are corporations that own a building and issue stock; each owner has exclusive occupancy of an apartment but does not own it, owning instead shares in the corporation that owns the building.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf) At 740, purchases require board approval after a package and interview, and the building's permitted financing percentage is on the restrictive end of the Manhattan co-op range; it has historically prohibited mortgage financing on most transactions, requiring all-cash purchases.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue)
The board's financial bar is unusually high. [Michael Gross](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-gross), the author of the principal book on the building, reports that the 740 board has let it be known that applicants must have a liquid net worth of $100 million to even be considered for admission.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf) Reported rejections include [Joan Crawford](https://www.edgepedia.org/joan-crawford), Neil Sedaka, Barbara Walters, Nelson Peltz, and Leonard Blavatnik, and board president Ronald Jeançon declined to consider [Barbra Streisand](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbra-streisand) because she was an actress and singer.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf) Reports of rejected applications, including the widely reported initial rejection of Steven Mnuchin's purchase before his eventual approval, do not establish an approval rate or a comparative ranking of board selectivity.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue)
The board also mandates that renovations be limited to summer months; Stephen Schwarzman and [David Koch](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-koch) each waited more than a year to occupy their apartments because renovations stretched over two summers.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf)
## By the numbers
The building was reported to have been constructed with 31 cooperative apartments distributed across 17 floors, in configurations ranging from full-floor apartments to multi-level duplexes and triplexes; most exceed 4,000 square feet, some span 8,000+ square feet, and primary rooms have 12–14 foot ceilings.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) One apartment had 37 rooms, 14 bathrooms, 43 closets, 11 working fireplaces, a private elevator and his-and-hers features.[4](https://www.mgross.com/books/740-park/) Maintenance charges for a typical 740 apartment were about $10,000 per month at the time Gross wrote.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf)
To fix the deteriorating exterior of the building, a special assessment exceeding $250,000 was levied on the typical shareholder at 740 in 1990, with [Saul Steinberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/saul-steinberg) owing roughly double that amount.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf)
Sources disagree on the original apartment count: the Museum of the City of New York records 30 original apartments,[2](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc) while the sales-history database and the architectural reference give 31.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) • [8](https://nycid.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) The corner location is also reported differently, as the southwest corner by the sales database and the northwest corner by the architectural database.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) • [5](https://www.newyorkbefore.com/place.php?building=740_park_avenue)
## Notable residents and social status
Beyond Lee, Rockefeller, and Jacqueline Bouvier's childhood, documented residents include Stephen Schwarzman, founder of the Blackstone Group, who purchased Rockefeller's former apartment; David H. Koch, who bought an 18-room duplex for $17 million in 2003; and finance figures John Thain and [Israel Englander](https://www.edgepedia.org/israel-englander).[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3) Six of Forbes magazine's 2004 list of the richest New Yorkers, all billionaires, either lived or had lived there.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf)
In 1971, with the American economy and the building itself in difficulty, Saul Steinberg acquired a unit at 740 Park, and a front-page scandal later turned him into a problem for the board.[7](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf) The building's social standing has been documented in Michael Gross's 2005 book *740 Park: the story of the world's richest apartment building*, held by the [Smithsonian Institution](https://www.edgepedia.org/smithsonian-institution), which records that one apartment at one time had a live-in service staff of 16, and in [Alex Gibney](https://www.edgepedia.org/alex-gibney)'s documentary *Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream*.[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3) • [9](https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_801262)
## Sale prices and the market since 2023
Recorded sales in recent years show both the building's price level and the size of discounts from asking: unit 6 (5 bedrooms, 7 baths) sold July 17, 2025 for $14,990,000 at ask; unit 4 sold February 7, 2025 for $45,000,000, 6.3 percent below ask; PH17 (3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths) sold December 18, 2023 for $28,000,000, 18.8 percent below ask; and unit 10 sold October 12, 2023 for $17,000,000, 34.6 percent below ask.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue) Earlier sales include unit 2 (5,590 square feet) at $12,500,000 in October 2022 ($2,236 per square foot, 35.9 percent below ask) and unit 8 at $22,500,000 in July 2021.[1](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue)
The building's place among New York's trophy co-ops rests on its record sales. Israel Englander, founder of hedge fund Millennium Management, set a then-record for the most expensive co-op sale in 2014, spending $71 million for a lower-floor duplex; as of early 2016 that remained the second-most expensive co-op purchase in city history, after the 2015 $77.5 million purchase at 834 Fifth Avenue.[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3) Of the top 10 co-op sales in the city's history, 740 Park accounts for two: the 2014 $71 million purchase and a $52.5 million sale of a six-bedroom, six-bathroom apartment in 2012.[3](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3)
## References
1. [740 Park Avenue: Sales, Prices & History of a Landmark Co-op, The Roebling Team](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/740-park-avenue)
2. [740 Park Avenue, Mapping NYC, Museum of the City of New York](https://mappingnyc.mcny.org/o/mcny/post/880f91bc-2bd5-482c-b216-9a4a3769bffc)
3. [740 Park Avenue: A Rich Legacy, CityRealty](https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/get-to-know/740-park-avenue-a-rich-legacy/3)
4. [740 Park, Michael Gross (author's site, including the 1929 Offering Plan)](https://www.mgross.com/books/740-park/)
5. [740 Park Avenue, NewYorkBefore architectural database](https://www.newyorkbefore.com/place.php?building=740_park_avenue)
6. [740 Park Avenue, The 740 Corporation, Brown Harris Stevens](https://www.bhsusa.com/development/the-740-corporation)
7. [740 Park (book excerpt PDF), Michael Gross](https://www.mgross.com/uploaded/740Park.pdf)
8. [740 Park Avenue, NYC Interior Design Guide](https://nycid.com/buildings/740-park-avenue)
9. [740 Park: the story of the world's richest apartment building, Smithsonian Institution catalog record](https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_801262)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Architecture, buildings, and civil works › Buildings and architectural ensembles › Apartment and multi-unit residential buildings*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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