River House is a co-op apartment building located at 435 East

52nd Street 52nd Street is a -long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan, New York City. A short section of it was known as the city's center of jazz performance from the 1930s to the 1950s. Jazz center Following the repeal of ...

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 most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

History

The 26-story River House was constructed in 1931 on the site of a former cigar factory and designed by

William Lawrence Bottomley William Lawrence Bottomley (February 24, 1883 – February 1, 1951), was an American architect in twentieth-century New York City; Middleburg, Virginia; and Richmond, Virginia. He was known for his Colonial Revival designs of residential buildings ...

in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style. Designed for cooperative ownership, the building featured 78 apartments with 12-rooms, 6 baths, and two fireplaces. Originally, the building featured a pier where residents could dock their yachts, but that amenity was lost with the construction of the FDR Drive. The building has a gated cobblestone courtyard featuring a fountain. During the Great Depression, residents defaulted on mortgage interest payments and the court ruled the property could be sold as a foreclosure in 1941. In 1948, the building was bought by

Tishman Realty & Construction Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc. is an American corporation founded in 1898 that owns and develops real estate. The company is known for being the contractor that built the original World Trade Center in New York City. Tishman Constructio ...

who wanted to split the suites into 170 smaller apartments. Tenants opposed the renovations and sought legal counsel to retain their apartments intact. Historically, the co-op board was notorious for turning away applicants who failed to meet strict liquidity requirements or those whose "comings and goings would attract unwelcome publicity to the River House". Famously, Gloria Vanderbilt was rejected by the board in 1980. She accused the board of racism (she was in a relationship with

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

singer

Bobby Short Robert Waltrip Short (September 15, 1924 – March 21, 2005) was an American cabaret singer and pianist, who interpreted songs by popular composers from the first half of the 20th century such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold ...

), while the board claimed she had been rejected on her merits. Other celebrities alleged to have been rejected by the board include

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was si ...

and, in 2014, the French Ambassador to the United Nations.

The River Club

Parts of the lower levels of the building are leased to the River Club, a private club that counts slightly more than half of the building's shareholders among its 900 or so members. It was the first social club with well-known members to accept both men and women. It featured a swimming pool, terrace overlooking the East River, tennis courts, and a ballroom. the members, who include

David H. Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...

and

Aerin Lauder Aerin Rebecca Lauder Zinterhofer (born April 23, 1970) is an American billionaire heiress and businesswoman. Family and education Lauder is the daughter of Jo Carole Lauder (née Knopf) and Ronald Lauder. Her father served as U.S. Ambassador to ...

, pay approximately $10,000 in annual membership fees. The club includes a restaurant, an indoor pool and tennis courts. After several years of negotiations where the club attempted to negotiate the purchase of its space, the co-op board listed the club's space for sale as a private residence. Featuring approximately , five floors and a private entrance, the board set an asking price of $130 million. If the asking price is met, it would be Manhattan's most expensive residence.

Notable residents

Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Cornelius "Sonny" Vanderbilt Whitney (February 20, 1899 – December 13, 1992) was an American businessman, film producer, government official, writer and philanthropist. He was also a polo player and the owner of a significant stable of Thorough ...

, businessman, film producer, philanthropist, polo player, government official, and owner of thoroughbred racehorses. * Edwin Howard Armstrong, inventor of FM radio *

Helen Bonfils Helen Gilmer Bonfils (November 16, 1889 – June 6, 1972) was an American heiress, actress, theatrical producer, newspaper executive, and philanthropist. She acted in local theatre in Denver, Colorado, and on Broadway, and also co-produced plays in ...

and George Somnes, Broadway producers * Catherine "Deeda" (Gerlach) Blair, wife of ambassador William McCormick Blair, Jr. * Donald M. Blinken, ambassador *

Philip Bobbitt Philip Chase Bobbitt, (born July 22, 1948) is an American author, academic, and lawyer. He is best known for work on U.S. constitutional law and theory, and on the relationship between law, strategy and history in creating and sustaining the S ...

, author, academic *

Barbara Taylor Bradford Barbara Taylor Bradford (born 10 May 1933) is a best-selling British-American novelist. Her debut novel, '' A Woman of Substance'', was published in 1979 and sold over 30 million copies worldwide. She wrote 39 novels, all bestsellers in Engla ...

, author * Ferdinand Eberstadt, investment banker *

Walter Hoving Walter Hoving (December 2, 1897 – November 27, 1989) was a Swedish-born American businessman and writer. He was the chairman of Tiffany & Company from 1955 to 1980. Early life Hoving was born in Stockholm on December 2, 1897. He was a son of J ...

, businessman and former chairman of

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. *

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Isabel Leighton Isabel Leighton Bunker (July 17, 1899April 22, 1995) was an American writer and actress. She was the writer of six Broadway plays, and had an extensive journalism career throughout the 1930s and 40s. Early life Leighton was born as Isabella Kahn ...

, actress and writer * Joshua Logan, writer and director *

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, magazine industrialist * Alexandra Penney, author and magazine editor * Holly Peterson, author *

Peter George Peterson Peter George Peterson (June 5, 1926 – March 20, 2018) was an American investment banker who served as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973, under the Richard Nixon administration. Before serving as Sec ...

, businessman and

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Kermit Roosevelt Kermit Roosevelt MC (October 10, 1889 – June 4, 1943) was an American businessman, soldier, explorer, and writer. A son of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, Kermit graduated from Harvard College, served in both Wo ...

, explorer and son of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Robert Rosenkranz Robert Rosenkranz (born August 5, 1942) is an American philanthropist and the chairman of Delphi Capital Management, an investment concern with over $35 billion in assets under management, and the founder of a group of investment and private equit ...

Quentin Reynolds Quentin James Reynolds (April 11, 1902 – March 17, 1965) was an American journalist and World War II war correspondent. He also played American football for one season in the National Football League (NFL) with the Brooklyn Lions. Early life ...

, journalist *

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...

, actress * Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, businessman

References

{{Midtown East, Manhattan 1931 establishments in New York City Apartment buildings in New York City Art Deco architecture in Manhattan Condominiums and housing cooperatives in Manhattan Midtown Manhattan Residential buildings completed in 1931