45 East 66th Street

45 East 66th Street is on the northeastern corner of 66th Street and Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The building has an alternate address of 777 Madison Avenue. The rectangular land lot covers , with a frontage of on 66th Street to the south and on Madison Avenue to the west. Nearby structures include the Sara Delano Roosevelt Memorial House at 49 East 65th Street, on the block to the south, and the Seventh Regiment Armory between 66th and 67th streets, on the block to the east. Prior to the current building's construction, the site at 777 Madison Avenue had been occupied by a four-story stone house and a brick-and-stone church. When the building was developed in the 1900s, the surrounding area was occupied by rowhouses. A small number of luxury apartments were built nearby before World War I, including the Verona two blocks south. == Architecture ==

The building was designed by Harde & Short It contains decorative details inspired by the French Gothic style; The historian Christopher Gray described the decorations as similar to those of the Leuven Town Hall in Leuven, Belgium. The decorations at 45 East 66th Street resemble those of several other buildings designed by Harde & Short. Before designing 45 East 66th Street, Harde & Short had designed the Red House at 350 West 85th Street, which also included large amounts of Gothic decoration. The turret at the building's corner was adapted from another Harde & Short building at West End Avenue and 80th Street; The building's decorations also influenced the design of 44 West 77th Street, which was built shortly afterward. Facade 45 East 66th Street is mostly clad in red brick, with light-colored terracotta details, The northernmost bay on Madison Avenue and the easternmost bay on 66th Street protrude slightly from the facade, with twisting engaged columns on either side, and consist of five windows on each story. The other bays on both facades are narrower; the two western bays on 66th Street have three windows per story, while the two southern bays on Madison Avenue have four windows per story. On both elevations of the facade, there is a balustrade with scrollwork in front of the fourth-story windows. On the fourth through tenth stories, there are pointed ribs and terracotta key patterns on both sides of each bay. In addition, the windows above the fourth and fifth stories have terracotta spandrels with arch decorations. A Gothic canopy with ogee arches, finials, crockets, and tracery is located above each of the sixth-story windows. The canopies above the narrower bays are connected by trefoil arches with finials. At the seventh through ninth stories, the spandrels above each window consist of arches and corbels. Within each bay, there is an ogee arch above the tenth-story windows, which is decorated with tracery. A penthouse is placed above the roof. However, the building initially had 20 apartments, By the late 20th century, some of the apartments on the intermediate floors remained intact, but only the tenth floor retained its original layout. == History ==

Development and early years The building was developed by Parkview Real Estate Company, which was led by Charles F. Rogers. Parkview Real Estate hired Harde and Short that May to design an apartment building on the site. The Century Investing Company lent Parkview Real Estate $315,000 to pay for the building's construction. The structure was initially called the Parkview, a tribute to the fact that Central Park was one block west. Originally, the building's valuation was assessed at $1 million. In spite of the recent Panic of 1907, many of the building's apartments had been rented out shortly after its completion. Other tenants included the socialite Helen Phelps Stokes, as well as the businessman Anson Wood Burchard. In 1910, Albert J. Bodker was hired to add some bathrooms. The structure soon went into foreclosure, The Barney Estate Company took over the building. The new owners obtained a $500,000 mortgage from the Title Insurance Company and a $500,000 mortgage from United States Realty. 777 Madison Avenue was resold in 1919 to I. Randolph Jacobs and Everett Jacobs; The building had originally been surrounded by a recessed areaway, but this was infilled in the early 20th century as Madison Avenue became more commercial in character. Bing and Bing ownership Gresham Realty, led by the real-estate investor Alexander Bing, bought 777 Madison Avenue in February 1928. At this point, the structure was valued at $1.5 million. The antiques dealer Walter Philipp leased a storefront in 1938. Among the building's residents in the mid-20th century were the singer Morton Downey, the politician Grafton D. Cushing, and the socialite Nelly Régine Beer (the wife of banking magnate Robert de Rothschild). Most of the apartments remained intact during the Great Depression, but rental income decreased due to temporary rent regulation restrictions imposed during World War II. and the retailer Henry Greenhut moved into the building the next year. In addition, Betty Metcalf opened a dress shop there in 1963. Sommer ownership and Bing repurchase The racehorse owner Sigmund Sommer bought 45 East 66th Street in July 1973; at the time, the building's residents included United Nations ambassadors and theatrical personalities, who paid up to $2,500 a month. After taking over, Sommer allegedly fired three employees, Sommer also changed the lightbulbs from antique ones to cheaper neon tubes, a move protested by several tenants. The dissenting tenants claimed that the building was being neglected and that the employees' dismissals made the building less safe, though Sommer claimed that he had lost over $33,000 in one fiscal year. The tenants filed suit to prevent Sommer from dismissing the staff, and they also went on a rent strike, withholding thousands of dollars until the staff were reinstated. Several of the building's residents went to the Belmont Park horse track to protest Sommer. Sommer agreed to employ a doorman 24 hours a day. Even though the elevator had just been automated, the board ordered Sommer in late 1974 to hire an elevator operator. although the $2,500 fine was waived. The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, upheld the Supreme Court ruling in 1976, mandating that an elevator operator be hired. Afterward, the tenants sought to have the building designated as a city landmark, and they commissioned Christopher Gray to write a report about 45 East 66th Street. The owners, who opposed the designation, hired the architect Percival Goodman, who claimed that the preservation movement "will be cheapened by dubious designations". and the commission granted the designation on November 15, 1977. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. By the early 1980s, the building's retail tenants included the shoe store Botticellino and the jeweler Fred Leighton. In addition, the building had an Italian shoe boutique, Flaminia Shoes. Co-op conversion In 1985, the developer Martin J. Raynes agreed to buy 45 East 66th Street and several other properties from Bing and Bing, with plans to convert the structures into condominiums or cooperatives. Raynes began converting 45 East 66th Street into cooperative apartments. Several retailers opened stores at the building in 1987, including the clothing retailer Alexon Group, the clothing retailer David Berk, and the jeweler Matthew Hoffman. This was followed in 1988 by the opening of Christian de Castelnau's clothing boutique, which operated in the building for only two years. After the co-op conversion went into effect, the engineer Vincent Stramandinoli supervised a restoration of the facade, Raynes ended his involvement with the co-op conversion in 1990. Classic Properties took over the remaining unsold apartments, while the Executive Life Insurance Company became a limited partner in the conversion. Twelve of the building's apartments were still rental units by then, even as the remaining tenants had bought into the co-op offering plan. and the Italian shoe boutique Pancaldi. Friedland Properties bought the retail space for $22.55 million in 2001; it was estimated to be the most costly commercial-real-estate transaction in New York City. The same year, part of the ground-floor interior was renovated to accommodate an expansion of the Fred Leighton store. A Judith Ripka jewelry boutique opened at the building in 2005. The LPC approved plans for a penthouse structure atop the building in 2014, with a bedroom, bathrooms, and dressing rooms. reportedly opposed the penthouse's construction because he did not want his apartment to lose its status as the building's penthouse. The building continued to operate as a co-op, with a doorman, into the 2020s. == Reception ==

When the building was being considered for landmark designation in 1977, the historian Paul Goldberger said the "eccentricity of its lavish detailing and round tower strikes just the right note on bustling Madison Avenue" because the decorations redirected observers' attention upward. In a 1992 book about apartment buildings in New York City, Andrew Alpern wrote that the facade's decorations "show an intricate complexity of surface treatment and a flamboyance that has few equals in all the city". Christopher Gray, writing for The New York Times in 1988, called the structure a "high-water mark in early apartment styling", as buildings erected in the city after World War I were generally designed in a more conservative style. Not all commentary was positive; Goodman felt that the building had a mediocre design and that its architects had had little influence. ==See also==