220 Central Park South is a residential skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, situated along Billionaires' Row on the south side of Central Park South between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 220 Central Park South was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and SLCE Architects, with interiors designed by Thierry Despont. It is composed of two sections: a 70-story, tower on 58th Street, which is the 21st-tallest building in New York City, and an 18-story section on Central Park South, both of which contain a limestone facade. Most of the 118 apartments are duplex apartments, although some of the units have been combined to create larger units. The building has a porte-cochère, a wine cellar, private dining rooms, and various recreational facilities.
Vornado Realty Trust developed the building on the site of a rent-stabilized apartment complex constructed in 1954 and acquired in 2005; a lawsuit from the building's tenants delayed the demolition of the existing structure to 2012. Vornado also had to settle a dispute with Extell, which owned a garage on the site and had expressed concern that Vornado's structure would block northward views of Extell's adjacent Central Park Tower. Robert A. M. Stern's designs were released in early 2014, and the plans were approved that March. Work on the base started in 2015 and most exterior work was done by the time the first residents moved into the building in 2018.
220 Central Park South contains some of the most expensive apartments in New York City, with a secretive purchasing process and many anonymous buyers. Two of the building's units have sold for over $100 million, including a $238 million unit purchased by billionaire hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin in 2019, the most expensive home ever sold in the United States at the time.
Site 220 Central Park South is in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, just east of Columbus Circle and south of Central Park. It has frontage on 58th Street to the south and Central Park South to the north, in the middle of a city block bounded by Seventh Avenue to the east and Broadway to the west. The building carries the alternate addresses of 225-231 West 58th Street. The building sits on an L-shaped site covering four land lots: three on West 58th Street measuring a combined , and a fourth lot between Central Park South and 58th Street measuring . The site has frontage of along 58th Street and along Central Park South, with the Central Park South wing on the far eastern portion of the site.
Nearby buildings on the same block include Gainsborough Studios and 240 Central Park South to the west, as well as 200 Central Park South, the Helen Miller Gould Stable, and the firehouse of Engine Company 23 to the east. 220 Central Park South is across from the Central Park Tower, the American Fine Arts Society (also known as the Art Students League of New York building), the Saint Thomas Choir School, and the Osborne Apartments to the south. The building is close to two New York City Subway stations: the 57th Street–Seventh Avenue station of the , and the 59th Street–Columbus Circle station of the . 220 Central Park South is one of several major developments around 57th Street and Central Park that are collectively dubbed Billionaires' Row by the media. Other buildings along Billionaires' Row include 432 Park Avenue five blocks southeast, 111 West 57th Street and One57 one block southeast, and the adjacent Central Park Tower. Prior to the construction of the current building, the site was occupied by a 20-story cooperative apartment house completed in 1954.
Architecture
Robert A.M. Stern Architects designed the massing and exterior of 220 Central Park South, and SLCE Architects was the architect of record. The building is one of several skyscrapers designed by Stern in Manhattan, which include 15 Central Park West, a few blocks to the north; 30 Park Place in the Financial District; and 520 Park Avenue, east of Central Park. Thierry Despont designed the interior spaces. Other firms involved in construction included structural engineer DeSimone Consulting Engineers and general contractor Lendlease.
Form and facade The structure is composed of two sections: a 70-story tower on 58th Street and a shorter 18-story section on Central Park South. The massing of the building is influenced by the two zoning districts that the building occupies; different height restrictions were determined by the floor area ratios for each respective zoning district. One quarter of the site is on Central Park South, while the remaining three-quarters of the lot are on 58th Street. The two wings of 220 Central Park South abut a motor court with a porte-cochere, where vehicles could drop off and pick up residents and their guests. The porte-cochere is accessed by a pair of gates.
The main structure, on 58th Street, is tall, rising 70 stories above the ground. The floor slabs of the upper floors measure , with the longer dimension extending west to east, and each of the upper floors contains an area of about , giving the upper floors a slenderness ratio of 18:1. Due to its slenderness, the building has been characterized as part of a new breed of New York City "pencil towers". The upper floors rise above the southern section of the site, both because of the light restriction and because the position of the floor slabs would enable all the residential units to face north toward Central Park. During construction, three alternatives for the massing and twenty-three alternatives for the floor slabs were studied.
The base of the building includes a smaller section on Central Park South, called The Villas.; This section is 18 stories tall, with a deep setback above the sixth floor and several smaller setbacks on upper floors. Portions of the Villas' facade contain metal balconies in front of the windows. According to Emporis, The Villas stands tall. Both sections of the building share a lobby and a three-story basement.
Both buildings have a limestone facade similar to other buildings by Stern, such as 15 Central Park West. 220 CPS's facade of Alabama Silver Shadow limestone has a "marbled" appearance (in contrast to 15 CPW's more uniform Indiana limestone).; The usage of limestone was intended to blend with the more traditional facades of other buildings on Central Park's perimeter. According to Stern, 220 Central Park South's design was intended to make it "belong to the family of buildings that have framed Central Park for generations". Because of 220 Central Park South's height, it was infeasible to use hand-set or precast limestone sections, so the facade was instead designed as a curtain wall with window openings. The facade contains windows with detailed designs as well as a decorative rooftop crown. The Villa is also clad with the same Alabama limestone.
Structural features 220 Central Park South's foundation consists of three concrete mats, each measuring thick and collectively containing over of concrete. The foundation mats sit on a layer of bedrock over deep, and 142 rock anchors were drilled into the bedrock and foundations to prevent overturning within the tower.
220 Central Park South's superstructure is concealed within its curtain walls. To maximize floor area, four large columns were installed along the northern side, a structural core on the southern side, and three smaller columns each on the western and eastern sides. This design was chosen over an alternative that would have placed several smaller columns on each side, but which was rejected because the developer did not want columns to be so closely spaced along the facade.
To maximize usable space on the upper floors, and thus maximize revenue from apartment sales, the mechanical equipment was placed at the base of the main tower on 58th Street. The mechanical equipment occupies six stories, each with ceiling heights of , taking advantage of a zoning provision to maximize the tower's height. Accordingly, the mechanical equipment takes up of the tower's height, and the lowest condominiums in the main tower are above ground level. The roof of the main tower contains a slosh damper, which uses a huge tank of water to reduce vibrations. The damper weighs .
Interior The building's reception area has a round table, as well as a black-lacquered reception desk with a clock embedded into it. Leading off the reception area is a lounge with a fireplace and a Hiroshi Sugimoto painting depicting Anne of Cleves. Next to it is a library decorated in a mustard-and-scarlet color scheme, with another painting by Manolo Valdés. The second floor has a communal amenity suite with a double-height ceiling and a fireplace. This space has an saltwater swimming pool, private dining rooms, an athletic club, a juice bar, a library, a basketball court, a golf simulator, and a children's play area. A balcony overlooks the second-floor amenity suite, with a game room and screening room. Also on the second floor is a 54-seat restaurant for residents and their visitors, led by the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The building also has a wine cellar.
There are 118 apartments, most of which are duplex apartments. The apartments contain features such as oak flooring, custom millwork, and marble cladding of the kitchen islands and restrooms. Sources disagree on how many apartments are within the Villas section of the building. According to 6sqft, the Villas contains 13 condominium units, while according to The New York Times, the Villas has 10 condos. The reporter Katherine Clarke wrote in 2023 that the Villas was home to 11 families.
Details of interior designs are scarce; The Wall Street Journal reported in late 2018 that the building's developer, Vornado, refused to publish renderings of apartment interiors. Some of the upper floors are designed so that they contain a single unit on each floor, or units spanning multiple floors. Some of the units have been combined to create larger penthouse or duplex apartments. For example, Vornado created a four-story "mega condo" by combining the duplex on the 50th and 51st floors with three units on the 52nd and 53rd floors.; The top four stories of the Villas also comprise a single apartment with a spiral staircase connecting each floor.
History
Planning
Acquisition of old building The previous building at the address 220 Central Park South was a 20-story structure with either 120 or 125 apartments, constructed in 1954. It was developed by the J. H. Taylor Management Corporation and designed by Albert Mayer and Julian Whittlesey, all of whom had previously been involved with developing 240 Central Park South. The old 220 Central Park South had a concrete frame and white-brick framework, and consisted of two "towers" connected by a promenade and garden. Real estate investor Sarah Korein ultimately came to own the old 220 Central Park South, operating the building as a rent-stabilized development. After Korein died in 1998, her estate continued to operate the old building but did not maintain it well; among other things, its residents complained of rodent infestations and burst water pipes. The old 220 Central Park South was a nondescript building, and Robert A. M. Stern—who later designed the building's replacement and, separately, co-wrote the architecture book New York 2020—said its loss elicited "few tears".