834 Fifth Avenue facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 834 Fifth Avenue |
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834 Fifth Avenue entry.
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| Alternative names | 834 Fifth |
| General information | |
| Type | Co-op |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| Address | 834 Fifth Avenue |
| Town or city | New York, NY |
| Country | USA |
| Coordinates | 40°46′03″N 73°58′13″W / 40.7676°N 73.9703°W |
| Current tenants | approx. 24-48 tenants |
| Construction started | 1929 |
| Completed | 1931 |
| Cost | $20-$30 million (average selling price for an apartment) |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Skyscraper |
| Floor count | 16 (24 apartments) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Rosario Candela |
834 Fifth Avenue is a very fancy apartment building in New York City. It is located on Fifth Avenue in an area called the Upper East Side of Manhattan. You can find it right across from the Central Park Zoo.
This building is known as one of the most important and fancy apartment buildings in New York City. It was designed by Rosario Candela, a famous architect. He created many luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan between World War I and World War II. The building is special because of its design, the large size of its apartments, and the famous people who have lived there.
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Building History and Design
The building was finished in 1931. It was one of the last luxury apartment buildings built before the Great Depression. This economic downturn stopped many big projects in New York City.
The outside of 834 Fifth Avenue is made entirely of limestone. It has Art Deco style details around its entrances. The building also uses "setbacks" on its upper floors. These are steps in the building's shape that create terraces for some apartments. They also make the building look interesting from far away.
The building is a housing cooperative. This means that people who live there own shares in the company that owns the building. These shares give them the right to live in a specific apartment. To buy an apartment here, you must pay for it all in cash. You cannot get a loan from a bank. Also, the building's board is said to require buyers to have a lot of extra money, much more than the apartment's value.
Apartments and Layout
834 Fifth Avenue has 24 apartments spread across 16 floors. The building sits on a large piece of land. This allows for very big apartments.
Most apartments are between 3,500 and 7,000 square feet. The average size is about 6,000 square feet. The biggest apartment is about 10,000 square feet. It was made by combining two apartments during the building's construction.
The original plan for 834 Fifth Avenue was for a narrower building. But during construction, the developers bought a nearby mansion. This allowed them to make the building wider. Because the steel frame was already in place, the extra space was used for a line of two-story apartments, called duplexes.
All apartments were designed with high ceilings. Many also have outdoor spaces like terraces. The main living areas have ceilings 11 to 12 feet high. The bedrooms have ceilings 9 to 11 feet high.
There are also three "maisonette" apartments. These are special units that have their own entrances from the street. They also have entrances from inside the building's lobby.
Different Apartment Types
The duplexes on the south side of the building are called the A Line. Each of these apartments is about 5,500 square feet. They usually have a large living room facing Central Park. They also have a dining room and a library on the 64th Street side. Most of these units have four to six bedrooms upstairs.
Some A-Line units have been made even bigger by adding space from neighboring apartments. One A-line duplex on the 7th and 8th floors was combined with parts of two other units. This created the largest apartment in the building, which is about 10,000 square feet.
The other apartments are in the B and C lines. In the original building, there were two large duplex maisonettes. Above these, there were two big duplex units, each about 7,000 square feet. When the building was expanded, three duplex maisonettes were created.
On the third and fourth floors, there are large duplex B and C units. Floors 5, 7, 9, and 10 have smaller B-Line apartments. These smaller units have about 60 feet of view facing Central Park. Other B-line apartments have a much wider view of the park.
Floors 6, 11, and 12 each have one large B-line apartment. These are between 6,500 and 7,000 square feet. On the C-Line, Floor 5 has a smaller apartment. Floors 9 and 10 have a larger duplex unit.
At the very top of the building is a special three-story penthouse. It is 8,000 square feet inside. It has private rooms on the 14th floor and main living areas on the 15th floor. The top level has a sun room or library. This penthouse also has a huge 4,000 square feet of outdoor space, including terraces.
There is also a 1,000-square-foot apartment for the building's superintendent. This apartment is on the ground floor behind the lobby.
Famous Residents
834 Fifth Avenue has always been home to many important and wealthy people. These include founders and heirs of major American families. Some of these families are linked to companies like Standard Oil, Johnson & Johnson, Woolworth Stores, Hearst Corporation, Ford Motor Co., and Chase Manhattan Bank. The building is also strongly connected to the Rockefeller family.
The building has also been home to many entrepreneurs. These are people who started their own successful businesses. Companies founded by residents of 834 Fifth Avenue include Charles Schwab, TLC Beatrice, the Limited, and Fox. This helped the building become known as a place for very successful people in New York society.
It's interesting to note that before the current building was built, other structures stood on this site. The famous actor Charlie Chaplin once visited this location. He was looking for his first love, Hetty Kelly, who was staying in a mansion that used to be at this address.
Notable Past and Current Residents
- Antenor Patiño: A wealthy businessman from Bolivia.
- Laurance Rockefeller: A member of the famous Rockefeller family. He owned the building before it became a cooperative. He lived in the penthouse for almost 50 years.
- Rupert Murdoch: The founder of the Fox Network.
- Robert Bass: A billionaire investor.
- Loida Nicolas-Lewis: A businesswoman and giver to charity.
- Les Wexner: The founder of L Brands, a retail company.
- John Gutfreund: A former chairman of Salomon Brothers, a financial company.
- Damon Mezzacappa: A financier.
- Elizabeth Arden: The founder of a famous cosmetics company.
- Harold Prince: A well-known Broadway producer.
- Carroll Petrie: A giver to charity.
- A. Alfred Taubman: A shopping mall developer and former chairman of Sotheby's.
- John DeLorean: A former car company leader.
- Joan Whitney Payson: An heiress and giver to charity.
- Robert (Woody) Johnson IV: An heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and owner of the New York Jets football team.
- Charles R. Schwab: The founder and CEO of the Charles Schwab Corporation.
- Frank Jay Gould: A wealthy businessman.
- Casey Johnson: An heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and socialite.
- Jessie Donahue: The daughter of F.W. Woolworth, who founded the Woolworth stores.
- Jean Flagler Matthews: The granddaughter and heiress of Henry Morrison Flagler, a powerful oil and railroad businessman.
- Hamilton E. James: A billionaire.
Images for kids
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834 Fifth Avenue entry.
