Rosario Candela buildings have defined some of New York City’s toniest neighborhoods — and a century later, his name remains every bit a selling point.
It’s hard to imagine that a single architect almost singlehandedly transformed Fifth Avenue from a boulevard of stately mansions to an unbroken wall of skyward manses. Italian-born Rosario Candela (1890-1953) accomplished just such a feat, both through his own commissions and the trends he’d set. Candela also gifted Park Avenue with a similar status during the building boom that emerged as the railroad tracks, then recently electrified, were decked over. And, he helped conceive of Sutton Place, expanding what had been a tucked-away row of brownstones into a larger enclave of luxury towers, four of which he designed.
“More than just an architectural story, Candela and his work represents a story of social and urban transformation,” said Donald Albrecht, who curated Elegance in the Sky, the 2018 Candela exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. “He actually designed more buildings on the Upper West Side, but the exhibition concentrates on the Upper East Side residences because of the New York elite who called them home, people like John D. Rockefeller, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Mrs. [Brooke] Astor.”
Candela — and the people who hired him — thought carefully about how to introduce a new way of living to their wealthy clients, as evidenced from their floor plans and marketing materials. “Their ads and brochures pointed out some of the advantages,” Albrecht says, “such as river and park views from high up and the organizational structure of the co-op itself, which was a fairly new concept at the time and allowed the owner to buy shares of their home while exercising control over just who their neighbors were. There’s that extra whiff of exclusivity. At the same time, they were showing potential buyers how the apartments still can feel like a house, with a clear separation between public and private spaces.”
With their steel construction and sheer massing, the towers brought another appeal: the sheen of modernity. While most of Candela’s buildings feature rather restrained exteriors, they also contain happy surprises. The red brick 41 Fifth, in Greenwich Village, includes Florentine-inspired motifs. And in a series of towers on Park Avenue, he fashioned elaborate terraced setbacks out of over-the-top compositions of pediments, pavilions, and bay windows that read, observes Albrecht, “like Italian hill towns in the sky.”
Above all, it was his masterful approach to space-planning that stood out most. “Typically, you walk into a spacious foyer that visually orients you to the main rooms — the library, the living room, the dining room — that come off of it,” Albrecht says. “Then there’s usually a separate corridor leading to the bedroom area.” Another characteristic innovation, continues Albrecht, was Candela’s “ingenious introduction of duplex and even triplex units into the mix.” Higher ceilings, thicker walls, larger windows — all were Candela signatures, too.
“There’s an urbanist quality to his life, as well as an architectural one,” Albrecht says. “A practical one along with an artistic one. Those fusions have had real and lasting impact on the shape of the city.”
“On the Upper East Side, few architects—even a century later—carry the cachet of Carpenter."
Licensed RE Salesperson
- Cathy Franklin
BY INHABIT EDITORS
The 1930 Candela building at 770 Park Avenue, on the southwest corner of East 73rd Street, offers 40 units spread across 19 floors. The five-room fully renovated Apartment 2C features two classically proportioned entertaining rooms with treetop views and a gorgeous new kitchen with a pop of red tiling, a breakfast bar, tons of storage, and appliances by Liebherr, BlueStar, and Miele. From the semi-private elevator landing, you step into an entrance gallery with a large coat closet. The south-facing living room features a pair of oversized windows, a decorative fireplace, and handsome built-in bookshelves. The library/dining room, also south facing and with custom bookshelves, has three large windows. Other design details include wide-plank hardwood floors, high ceilings with moldings, custom lighting, wide hallways, a laundry area, and discreet through-the-wall air conditioning. The private quarters hold a primary suite with a sitting area, an en suite with an oversized shower, and six closets, one of which is a large dressing room. The south-facing second bedroom has a bathroom with a tub.
Many Candela aficionados say that 740 Park Avenue is his best building, the crown jewel of the whole Upper East Side — perhaps all of New York. Apartment 6/7C, a magnificent 15-room duplex, offers five bedrooms, three staff bedrooms, six full bathrooms, and one powder room. Design details include grand-proportioned rooms, private elevator landings on both floors of the duplex, a nearly 35-foot-long entrance gallery, oversized windows with treetop views, two wood-burning fireplaces, ceilings up to 11 feet, Versailles floors, and the original Candela sweeping staircase, moldings, and doors. The sixth-floor public rooms include formal living and dining rooms, a wood-paneled library, a windowed kitchen with a separate breakfast room, and a serving kitchen for entertaining. The upstairs primary suite features a dressing room, five closets, and an enormous en suite with a window.
Also at 740 Park, the newly renovated Apartment 2/3D features a large gallery with an elegant curved staircase leading to the upstairs private quarters. The rectangular gallery opens to a corner living room with a high-walled terrace, a wood-paneled library, and a formal dining room with an adjacent conservatory. This floor also holds a new all-white kitchen and butler’s pantry. The primary suite features a sitting area/office, dual closets, and marble bathrooms. Architectural details in the five-bedroom, seven-bath duplex include three wood-burning fireplaces, high ceilings, oversized windows, and herringbone floors.
740 Park, 6-7C
770 Park, 2C
Residence 5AD at Candela's 40 West 67th, completed in 1928. The 10-story tower lies between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.
VIEW LISTING
770 Park Avenue, 2C
CO-OP | 2 BEDS | 2 BATHS
740 Park Avenue, 6/7C
CO-OP | 5 BEDS | 6 BATHS | 1 HALF BATH
740 Park Avenue, 2/3D
CO-OP | 5 BEDS | 5 BATHS | 2 Half Baths
VIEW LISTING
VIEW LISTING
Located on a gorgeous block between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, 40 West 67th Street offers 40 apartments spread across 10 floors. Flooded with bright natural light, the seamlessly combined and fully renovated 5AB has four en suite bedrooms and a handsome powder room. One of the bedrooms is now a sitting room/den with a TV. From the windowed foyer, you step into side-by-side living and dining rooms, each with working fireplaces, window seats, and leaded Grisaille stained glass windows. The open kitchen offers a center island, Caesarstone countertops, a walk-in pantry, a service door, and Sub-Zero and Viking appliances. All of the bathrooms have windows, and fixtures by Lefroy Brooks and Dornbracht. Other winning architectural details include a tucked-away home office, lots of built-in bookcases, new double-hung, and double-paned windows throughout, along with a neutral color palette, and period hardware, sconces, and hardwood floors. The building is half a block from Central Park and two blocks from Lincoln Center.
40 West 67th Street, 5AB
CO-OP | 4 BEDS | 4 BATHS
VIEW LISTING
Represented by The Cathy Franklin Team.
Represented by the Leighton Candler Team
Represented by Douglas J Albert, Brian G Rice, and Rob Jackson
search homes
Find your place in Manhattan.
ROSARIO CANDELA (1890-1953).
Marketing materials for 3 East 77th (c.1928), a collaboration with Grand Central architects Warren & Wetmore, showcase a variety of smart floor plans — something Candela was famous for.
Represented by The Cathy Franklin Team.