720 Park Avenue is a historic residential building in

Lenox Hill Lenox Hill () is a neighborhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It forms the lower section of the Upper East Side—east of Park Avenue in the 60s and 70s. A significant portion of the neighborhood lies within the Upper East Side Historic Dist ...

on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, USA. A

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, the building has 34 apartments, a gymnasium and storage spaces. It is secured by a full-time doorman.

History

The 17-story building was completed in 1928. It was designed by

Cross & Cross Cross & Cross (1907–1942) was a New York City-based architectural firm founded by brothers John Walter Cross and Eliot Cross. History Cross & Cross was known as Old New York City Society's architectural firm of choice. John Cross (1878–1951) ...

and

Rosario Candela Rosario Candela (March 7, 1890 – October 3, 1953) was an Italian American architect who achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City, primarily during the boom years of the 1920s. He is credited with defining the ci ...

in the Neoclassical architectural style. It is 62.18 meters tall. In the 1930s,

Jesse I. Straus Jesse Isidor Straus (June 25, 1872 – October 4, 1936) served as the American ambassador to France from 1933 to 1936. Life and career Jesse Straus was born in Manhattan, the eldest son of the German immigrants Isidor Straus (1845–1912) and ...

, the co-owner of

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

who served as the

United States Ambassador to France The United States ambassador to France is the official representative of the president of the United States to the president of France. The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with France since the American Revolution. Relations we ...

from 1933 to 1936, lived in a duplex in this building. Billionaire Robert Ziff also owns an apartment at 720 Park Avenue In 2008, diplomat

Carl Spielvogel Carl Spielvogel (December 27, 1928 – April 21, 2021) was an American marketing executive and diplomat. He co-founded the advertising firm of Backer and Spielvogel (with Bill Backer), where he served as Chairman and CEO. Spielvogel has conduc ...

, who served as the United States Ambassador to the Slovak Republic from 2000 to 2001, sold his apartment in the building to businessman Peter S. Kraus, the chairman and chief executive officer of

AllianceBernstein AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB) is a global asset management firm providing investment management and research services worldwide to institutional, high-net-worth and retail investors. AllianceBernstein's headquarters are located in Nashvill ...

, for US$37 million. In 2013, an apartment was listed for US$25 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:720 Park Avenue Residential buildings completed in 1928 Condominiums and housing cooperatives in Manhattan Neoclassical architecture in New York City Upper East Side Park Avenue Residential buildings in Manhattan