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RESIDENTIAL

535 PARK AVENUE: MULTIPLE APARTMENTS

535 Park Avenue is located just ½ blocks south of the Upper East Side Historic District. The development of the general area began around 1807 when the City established Hamilton Square as a boon to real estate developers on the tacks of land north of 59th street. Northward expansion of the city was first fueled by growing influx of Irish and German immigrants following the Irish potato famine, and the Revolution of 1848. The completion of Central park in 1858 and construction of elevated railroads on the north-south avenues in the late 1870’s further drove the speculative development in this part of the city. According to History of Real Estate, between 1868 and 1873, the value of property above 59th Street rose over 200 percent.

In 1910 the New York Central Railroad decided to build a new Grand Central Terminal and to place the lines running along Fourth Avenue entirely below ground. Thus when the tracks were completely covered over. The name, Park Avenue came into general use replacing Fourth Avenue, and landscaped malls were placed down the middle of the road in the area which previously had been left partially open for ventilation above the railroad tracks.  Park Avenue quickly became lined with the same type of luxury apartment buildings which were rising on Fifth Avenue.

Once associated with the poor and working class, after the World War I apartment living began to become fashionable for wealthy New Yorkers. In 1909 A consortium of lawyers, bankers and a painter commissioned Herbert Lucas to design a 15-story 35-unit coop building on the southeast corner lot of Park Avenue and 61st Street. Named Number 535 Park Avenue the building was designed of steel frame structure with terra cotta and brick façade adorned with splayed lintels and half-oval balconies. When completed at a cost of approximately $550,000, the building comprised 86,000 square feet and provided hotel-like amenities, such as furnished lobby, uniformed doormen, and elevator operators.

Original mechanical systems included central ConEdison steam. Original apartments did not have central air conditioning or cooling, and most of the units had outdated electrical service.

Morozov provided MEP engineering design and approval services to several apartments in this building, working closely with architects and owners to integrate state-of-the-art mechanical systems into the existing historic features of the apartments.

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