820 Fifth Avenue ranks among the supreme residential addresses in the world. It’s one of the so-called ‘good buildings,’ a real estate term that describes the most coveted morsels of property on the island of Manhattan.
Its exterior is simple. The east and south facades are broken into five sections by four horizontal bands and adorned by balustraded balconies. Bronze lanterns flank the canopied entrance. Not to be fooled by the restrained exterior, this 12-story limestone palazzo has only 12 apartments. Two duplex maisonettes occupy the lower two floors, while the other ten stories have only one apartment per floor. Each apartment has a 44-foot-long gallery, five bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, seven servants’ rooms, five fireplaces, and large entertaining areas. (The Upper East Side Book: Fifth Avenue: 820 Fifth Avenue. )
Photos from NYT article “The Fifth Avenue Home of Jayne Wrightsman Goes on the Market“
Current and former residents of the building include an impressive list of socialites, financiers, philanthropists, and billionaires. The apartments rarely change hands, but when it happens, they are priced around $40 million. Potential buyers are required to pay cash; the apartments cannot be mortgaged. On top of it, as required by the board, prospective owners have to be in possession of liquid assets ten times the value of the apartment.
820 Fifth Avenue is notorious for rejecting wealthy prospective buyers, including some billionaires.
From New York Observer/Real Estate:
820 Fifth Claims Another Boldface Turn-Away; Even Call From Hizzoner Doesn’t Help | Observer.
“According to a source at 820 Fifth Avenue, the building has turned away real estate developer Jeff T. Blau, the self-made 41-year-old president of the Related Companies. He had been willing to pay about $31 million, more than anyone’s spent on a piece of New York real estate this year, for the home builder Ara Hovnanian’s fourth-floor apartment, Tommy Hilfger’s old place.
But Mr. Blau and his wife, Lisa, never got to sit for an interview with the building’s board, which sent a message that ‘it would not be appropriate to go forward with the application,’ the source said. It’s not clear why the handsome couple wasn’t welcome, but 820 Fifth Avenue, where billionaires like Ron Perelman, Steve Wynn and the oil heir Fred Koch have been spurned, is famous for its near-Victorian pickiness.”
Built 1916
Located 820 Fifth Ave at East 64th street.
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