| Sutton House | |
| Building Type: | Housing cooperative |
| Architectural Style: | Modernist |
| Address: | 415 East 52nd Street |
| Location Town: | New York, NY |
| Location Country: | US |
| Coordinates: | 40.7553°N -73.9642°W |
| Start Date: | 1954 |
| Completion Date: | 1956 |
| Inauguration Date: | February 1956 |
| Floor Count: | 19 (building C) and 12 (A and B) |
| Elevator Count: | 7 |
| Unit Count: | 289 (original) |
| Main Contractor: | Kolyer Construction Corporation |
| Architect: | John M. Kokkins and Stephen C. Lyras[1] |
| Architecture Firm: | Kokkins & Lyras |
| Awards: | 1998 "New York's Top Ten Residences" by The Cooperator Magazine.[2] |
| Website: | Sutton House, Inc |
Sutton House is a three-building residential cooperative with a private garden at 415 East 52nd Street on the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by John M. Kokkins and Stephen C. Lyras in the modern style and was built by Kolyer Construction Corporation, originally as a luxury rental building managed by Douglas Elliman and owned by seven owners, including Kokkins, Lyras, Greek executive Manuel Kulukundis. The 19-floor building C faces East 53rd Street, and is technically therefore part of the Sutton Place neighborhood, while the 12-floor buildings A and B face East 52nd Street. Constructed between 1954 (when the building plot was acquired) and 1956, Sutton House was developed to be a "Symbol of town Living for Perfectionists"", per its marketing brochure found at Columbia University New York Real Estate Brochure Collection.
In 1998, Sutton House was picked as one of "New York's Top Ten Residences" by The Cooperator Magazine, side-by-side with 1185 Park Avenue, 300 East 74th Street, The Ardsley, The Boulevard, Castle Village, The Chateau, Hudson Tower Condomunium, Kensington Lofts, and The Oxford.[3]
The French restaurant Le Périgord, owned by Georges Briget operated at Sutton House from 1964 until 2017.[4]
Sutton House is located at 415 East 52nd Street on the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The 19-floor building C faces East 53rd Street, and is technically therefore part of the Sutton Place neighborhood, while the 12-floor buildings A and B face East 52nd Street.
As of 1815, the Sutton House area was farmland.[5] According to The Iconography of Manhattan Island Volume 6, Block 1364, which is where Sutton House Lies, was split diagonally between the Edmund Seaman Farm and the George Youle Farm, also known as Spring Farm.[6]
By 1879 a stoneyard had been developed and a planning mill had been erected where currently build C stands, facing E 53rd street, while townhouses faced 52nd st, in the area still owned by the descendants of Edmund Seaman.[7] The 1891 map shows the planning mill replaced by a building owned by Consumers Ice Co, and the stoneyard still active, at the site of building C.[8]
In 1930, the Sutton House site continued occupied by townhouses facing 52nd St, and by the Knickerbocker Ice Company ice house facing 53rd Street.[9] Given that the Knickerbocker Ice company closed to the public in 1924, the area was not being used when construction started in 1954.
Sutton House was designed by John M. Kokkins and Stephen C. Lyras in the modern style and was built by Kolyer Construction Corporation, originally as a luxury rental building managed by Douglas Elliman. The 19-floor building C faces East 53rd Street while the 12-floor buildings A and B face East 52nd Street. Sutton House was developed to be a "Symbol of town Living for Perfectionists"", per its marketing brochure found at Columbia University New York Real Estate Brochure Collection.
The three buildings are connected by a T-shaped glass walled lobby,[10] approached through a landscaped entrance, facing 52nd St on the south. Open areas between the buildings are private parklike setting.[11] The complex features a 2-story 160-car garage facing 53rd street, for easy access from FDR Drive, and totals 290 apartments, from suites to 5-bedroom penthouses. Most of the apartments feature balconies, and some include fireplaces. Sutton House is a white brick building designed in the modernist period, a style share with the contemporaneous Manhattan House, which regained popularity in the 2010s.[12]
Sutton House's lobby and ground floor were described by the New York Times in 1956 as "landscaped", not "decorated".[13] The public space design was done by Virginia Conner Dick, a prominent interior designer and a furniture designer. According to the Times "The indoor-outdoor effect of the lobby and the glass-enclosed corridors connecting the building's three sections are achieved with large plantings near the large windows facing the private garden".
The facade is made of white bricks. Sutton House was the first of many buildings designed by Kokkins & Lyras using white bricks in their exterior between 1956 and 1959.The building entrance is at 415 E 52nd St, with the restaurant space at 405 E 52nd St, and two offices also open towards E 52nd St. The building service entrance is at 420 E 53rd Street, with the Sutton House Garage entrance to the east.The building was built with air conditioner outlets on every room, and window space for air conditioners, so they could be at the center of the room. The building is going through a conversion from window air-conditioners to PTACs, as can be seen on the images.Balconies are present at most apartments, and terraces on the top floors of all three buildings. Buildings A and B have 2 elevators each, one reaching the basement, while the larger building C has 3 elevators, one reaching the basement and the lower basement towards the garage.
Building A has five apartments per floor, A through E, on floors 2 to 9, where apartments B, C and D have balconies. Floors 10 and 11 have four apartments, including a terrace on the 10th floor for apartment D. The twelfth floor, the penthouse floor, has three apartments, all with terraces.
Building B has six apartments per floor, A through F, on floors 1 to 9. The first-floor apartments are connected to the main lobby through a lounge with windows toward the B–C garden. On floors 2 to 9 apartments C, D and E have balconies. Floors 10 and 11 have five apartments, with balconies in apartments B, C and D. Apartments A and B on the 10th floor have terraces. The twelfth floor, the penthouse floor, has three apartments, all with terraces.
Building C has thirteen apartments per floor, A–G and H–N, on floors 1–9. The first-floor apartments are connected to the main lobby through a corridor with windows on both sides, defining the border of the A–C and B–C gardens. On floors 2–9 apartments G, and H have balconies. Floors 10 and 11 have twelve apartments, with balconies on apartments G, and H. Apartments D, E, K and L on the 10th floor have terraces. The penthouse floor on floor twelve has nine apartments. Apartments E and F have balconies. All apartments other than A on this floor have terraces.Building C tower, floors 13 to 19, has three apartments per floor. On the thirteenth floor, all apartments have terraces.
The ground level has a lobby connecting the three buildings, each with a different sub-lobby.The garage was built to support 160 vehicles at 53rd Street. The garage continues to operate.[14] Sutton House Lobby contains windows facing the internal and external gardens, and feature floor to ceiling mirrors.Sutton House has a kid's playroom, a modern gym/health center, bicycle storage, and three East River-viewing rooftop decks.
In 1954 a group of 7 individual investors, including Kukkins, Lyras, and Kulunkudis, bought the parcels necessary to purchase the land to build Sutton House. Construction happened between 1955 and 1956, with the building designed by John M. Kokkins and Stephen C. Lyras and built by Kolyer Construction Corporation.
| Rooms | September 1955 | December 1955 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | $145.00 | $155.00 | |
| 3 | $180.00 | $215.00 | |
| 4.5 | $267.00 | $275.00 | |
| 5 | $442.00 | $385.00 |
In November 1964, Chatham Associates purchased 76% of Sutton House, leaving 26% in the hands of Kulukundis.[15] At that point in time, Kulukundis, once a shipping magnate, was already bankrupt.[16] The purchasing company, Chatham Associates, was only a front for Alex DiLorenzo Jr., Sol Goldman's business partner.[17]
With DiLorenzo's death in 1975, Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo III (who inherited 74% of Sutton House from his late father), decided to split the old business partnership... with a coin flip. That said, there was a serious difference of opinion between the two about the value of Sutton House... which made Sutton House be sold in its entirety to Michael Kulukundis, for more than $7M. And with that, as of June 1979, Sutton House belonged entirely to Michael Kulukundis.[18] [19] Later in 1979, as the New York Times reported during the trial of Anthony Scotto, the American New York mobster and labor union racketeer in the Gambino crime family, it become public that Kulukundis had sold 13% of the corporation owning Sutton House for $26, while this portion of the building had been assessed to be worth $6.1M, and to have been sold to Mr Scoto for $7.1M in May 1978.[20] On November 16m 1979, Mr Scotto sold his interest in the Sutton House Corporation.[21]
Given the sponsor's financial and legal situation, on January 8, 1980, a cooperative initial offering plan was put together, and in 1981, Sutton House was converted from a rental building into a cooperative.Per the initial offering plan, renters interested in becoming shareholders were to pay $97.50/share. This put a 2-bedroom 2-bathroom 1250sqft apartment at the cost of $90,187.5. At the same point in time, a typical 2-bedroom apartment in Sutton Place costed $265,000 to $550,000.[22]
In 1998, Sutton House was picked as one of "New York's Top Ten Residences" by The Cooperator Magazine.[33] Sutton House was hailed for its three rooftop decks with views of the East River, its glass-enclosed lobby designed with marble floors and wood paneling, overlooking the gardens in front of the building and the courtyard in the center of the complex. Its glass-enclosed walkway from the lobby to the center building, behind the courtyard, was also praised, as well as its health club, on-site garage, basement storage, package room and a 24-hour doorman and concierge. The building was also praised for having apartments featuring European kitchens, hardwood floors, washers and dryers, marble bathrooms and lots of closets, also for many units with balconies or terraces with East River views. And all that with a relatively low maintenance cost, especially when compared to similar buildings in Sutton Place and the surrounding neighborhoods.