The Parkview

45 East 66th Street | also 777 Madison Avenue, 773 Madison Avenue, 779 Madison Avenue | Upper East Side | built 1908

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1908

    Harde & Short design the neo-Gothic Parkview Apartments

    Developer Charles F. Rogers hired architects Harde & Short to design the Parkview Apartments at 45 East 66th Street, completed in 1908 for about $1 million. The neo-Gothic facade combined intricate terracotta screens, likened at the time to rows of lace, with unusually large, multi-paned windows for an apartment building of that era. Early residents included publisher Henry W. Poor and tennis champion Karl Behr, a Titanic survivor.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1912

    April 16

    Resident Karl Behr is first listed missing, then reported saved, in the Titanic sinking

    Karl Behr, a lawyer and Davis Cup tennis player, lived at the Parkview with his parents and had boarded the Titanic at Southampton. On April 16, 1912, the New York Times listed him among the missing. Later that day his family received a telegram saying he was among the passengers saved.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1915

    A Parkview resident's lawsuit over her allowance makes national news

    In 1915, Parkview resident Olga Kohler Florman petitioned Surrogate's Court, arguing that her $25,000 annual allowance could not cover her apartment, summer cottage, and household staff. The New York press covered the case closely, and it reportedly raised eyebrows among working-class Americans nationwide. Two years later, a judge agreed and raised her annual allowance to $120,000.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1924

    September 18

    The Prince of Wales eats a light supper with a couple living in the building

    The Prince of Wales came for a light meal on September 18, 1924, with a couple named Williams who lived in the building. The Times placed their home in a large apartment house. They then took him to the Gaiety Theatre, where he entered after the play began and stood unseen on the steps between acts, so Mrs. Williams could enjoy the attention only when newspapers appeared the next morning.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1926

    A window cleaner on parole steals jewelry from the Gleason apartment

    In 1926 Carlisle J. Gleason hired Terence Stuart, 28, to wash the many windows of the family's Madison Avenue apartment. Stuart had been convicted for a 1919 holdup, escaped from Clinton Prison and been recaptured, and was paroled in 1925. After he left, Gleason found $20,000 in jewelry missing, and Stuart returned to prison with a new ten-year sentence.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1927

    January 5

    Resident Stephen Pell receives the French Legion of Honor for restoring Fort Ticonderoga

    Stephen Pell, who lived in the building with his wife, commissioned architect Alfred C. Bossom to restore Fort Ticonderoga, which stood on Pell property, and set up a museum there. On January 5, 1927 the French government awarded him the Legion of Honor for the work. His wife, a member of the National Woman's Party's national finance committee, hosted its meetings here.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1973

    Tenants bet on landlord Sigmund Sommer's racehorse in a fight over the elevator operator

    After the racehorse owner Sigmund Sommer bought the building in July 1973, he allegedly fired a doorman and an elevator operator, automated the elevator and swapped antique bulbs for cheaper neon tubes. Tenants sued and withheld rent, and some went to Belmont Park to bet on his horse, hoping to win $100,000 to hire the operator back. They lost their money, but courts later ordered an operator to be employed.

    “The protesting tenants bet on Sommer's horse, in the hope that they would win $100,000 to hire the elevator operator, although they lost their money.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 1977

    November 15

    The city designates the Parkview Apartments a landmark

    New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Parkview Apartments an individual landmark on November 15, 1977, protecting Harde & Short's ornate Gothic facade. The building was added to the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1980, and later became a contributing building in the Upper East Side Historic District on the National Register. By then, ground-floor storefronts had replaced the original entrance following a 1929 renovation, and many apartments upstairs had been subdivided into smaller units after World War II.

    Source: Wikipedia

  9. 1988

    September

    The Parkview becomes a cooperative and its facade is restored

    In 1985 developer Martin J. Raynes agreed to buy the building from Bing & Bing and convert it into cooperative apartments. The conversion took effect in September 1988, after which engineer Vincent Stramandinoli supervised a facade restoration and Hydro Kleen cleaned the exterior. Raynes ended his involvement in 1990, when Classic Properties took over the unsold apartments.

    “The co-op conversion took effect in September 1988.”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 93 buildings with stories in Upper East Side