PRESS
860/870 United Nations Plaza has been a favorite topic for writers interested in New York City real estate, architecture and culture since the buildings' construction in the mid-1960s.
THE CO-OP WHERE EVERYONE'S AN ARCHITECTURE CRITIC
When Paul Goldberger moved into U.N. Plaza last year, he joined a cadre of design-obsessed owners.
When people walk into Paul Goldberger’s new apartment for the first time, they gasp. A wall of windows 45 feet wide seems to hang over the East River, offering a view of at least three miles of the Queens and Brooklyn waterfronts. Between the Queensboro Bridge to the north and the Williamsburg Bridge to the south is a skyline made for an architecture critic. Goldberger, a Pulitzer Prize winner, could deliver a lecture on the state of contemporary architecture from his living room and not need slides. There’s also the river. His view from the eighth floor at 870 United Nations Plaza includes as much water as land, and it’s mesmerizing. “Fifteen minutes of looking out the window is like an hour of therapy,” he says. “And cheaper.”
ROBERT F. KENNEDY'S FORMER NYC HOME HAS LISTED FOR 1.79M—
and for the first time in 53 years
The New York Post, October 2025
An East River co-op once owned by Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy — the father of US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — is on the market for the first time in more than half a century, Gimme Shelter can reveal. And even the appliances in the kitchen, as well as the oven, remain the same — though they don’t appear in the listing images. The 2,000-square-foot three-bedroom, three-bath corner co-op is asking $1.79 million. Then-Senator Kennedy bought the 14th-floor residence at 860 United Nations Plaza in 1965, the year the building launched. He was slated to move into the glass-walled unit in the fall of 1965, according to a report in the New York Times.
The sleek mid-century chic spread, with 48 feet of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the UN garden, has been preserved like a fly in amber ever since. “It has been relatively untouched for more than 50 years, with original marble in the baths and the same oven in the kitchen,” listing broker Mary Barbrack, of Compass, told Gimme.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
The Real-Life Homes of Truman Capote's Swans
With his earnings from the acclaimed true-crime novel In Cold Blood in 1965, the writer bought himself a swanky spot in Manhattan. The 23rd-floor residence in the United Nations Plaza afforded him views of the East River and the United Nations.
THE 6 FILMING LOCATIONS OF FEUD: CAPOTE VS. THE SWANS
TELL THE STORY OF A BYGONE NEW YORK
Based on biographer Laurence Leamer’s book Capote’s Women, the FX series chronicles Truman Capote’s banishment from the reigning social set in a story spanning four decades. But as we watch his relationships unravel, we’re treated to glimpses of a bygone era in the form of meticulously constructed sets depicting the lifestyle of Manhattan’s upper crust in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, the same year Babe and Bill Paley upgraded to their sprawling Upper East Side abode, Capote moved from a rented Brooklyn Heights basement apartment to one on the 25th floor of 860 United Nations Plaza that he bought for $62,000 (or about $590,000 today) using his royalties from In Cold Blood. “I found the floor plan, and there were a fair number of photos,” says Ricker. “I added a couple [additional] elements like a passthrough in the kitchen to open [the set] up a bit more for shooting.” The designer even had Capote’s views of the East River and the United Nations reproduced. “We went to the [actual] apartment—that a lovely woman lives in now—so that we could photograph the view and blow it up to put outside the [set] window.”
MANHATTAN HOME OF CLINTON ADVISOR AND "BLACK PIONEER" CLIFTON WHARTON LISTS FOR $2M
The Turtle Bay residence has sweeping views of the city from almost every room
The Manhattan residence of Clifton Wharton Jr., a former U.S. deputy secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, and his wife, business executive and arts advocate Dolores Wharton, hit the market Wednesday for $2 million, Mansion Global has learned.
Located at 860 United Nations Plaza, a 1966 co-op on East 52nd Street in the borough’s Turtle Bay neighborhood, the 2,185-square-foot home offers sweeping views of the city through floor-to-ceiling windows in almost every room, according to the listing with Lara Mizrack and Elaine Clayman of the Clayman-Bray Team at Brown Harris Stevens. “It has stunning panoramic views of iconic New York City buildings, the East River, the [Ed Koch] Queensboro Bridge and beyond,” Ms. Mizrack said in an email. “Light pours into every major room … and at night, the vista is breathtaking.”
NYC PENTHOUSE IN TOWER KNOWN FOR JOHNNY CARSON AND CAPOTE ASKS $4.2M
A penthouse duplex at 860 United Nations Plaza — a building once home to TV legend Johnny Carson, Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, actor Yul Brynner, writer Truman Capote, photographer Richard Avedon and news anchor Walter Cronkite — has hit the market for $4.2 million. The four-bedroom, 4½-bath co-op is around 4,000 square feet. The apartment boasts stunning views of the city skyline and the East River. It opens with a 25-foot entrance gallery, anchored by a curved staircase. A large living room features a woodburning fireplace and floor to ceiling windows while the dining room boasts a built in serving café. There’s also a large eat-in chef’s kitchen with a butler’s pantry. The second level features the main suite, with a large walk-in closet and sitting area. Details include hardwood floors, Lutron lights and an interior private elevator. The building, which dates to 1966, is one of two 39-story twin towers designed by (Wallace) Harrison & (Max) Abramovitz, the lead architects of the United Nations Headquarters complex, the Time-Life Building at Rockefeller Center and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Building amenities include a gym, billiards room, golf simulator, two conference rooms, four sundecks with panoramic city views, a library, garage and private full block circular drive — the city’s longest private driveway.
PRINCE HARRY AND MEGHAN MARKLE STAYED AT
LUXURY U.N. BUILDING ON NYC TRIP
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle skipped the Carlyle hotel during their most recent New York City visit, instead staying in a luxury apartment at 860 United Nations Plaza on Manhattan’s East Side, Page Six has exclusively learned. A source told us that while the pair stayed at the exclusive building, “They had eight bodyguards and a surveillance van on site — and they’d go in and out through the basement.” The insider added, “They were staying in a friend’s four-bedroom apartment with river views.”
THESE VINTAGE PHOTOS OF CELEBRITIES IN THEIR NEW YORK CITY APARTMENTS WILL TAKE YOU BACK IN TIME
House Beautiful, November 2021
All different kinds of famous people have called New York City home over the years—from artists to actors and politicians to athletes. Some of them lived the glamorous life in sky-high penthouses, but many started out in far humbler abodes. We're taking you inside the apartments of some of NYC's most illustrious residents of the past century—from luxurious Upper East Side digs to artsy spots in the Village.
LATE SULZBERGER MATRIARCH'S HOME NEAR U.N. HITS MARKET
The New York Post, October 2019
A duplex that once belonged to the late philanthropist and civic activist Marian Sulzberger Heiskell, of the New York Times family, is on the market for $2.99 million. Heiskell, whose husband Andrew Heiskell was chairman of Time Inc., died earlier this year at age 100. The four-bedroom, five-bathroom home, at 870 United Nations Plaza, features window walls that showcase East River and city reviews. The co-op opens to an entry gallery and a large living room that features a wood-burning fireplace. There’s also a formal dining room, and a kitchen with a butler’s pantry and laundry. A grand staircase, plus an interior elevator and a back staircase, lead to an upper level that features the private quarters, including a three-room master suite with a windowed dressing room, closets and a spa-like bathroom.
MIDTOWN EAST PENTHOUSE ONCE OWNED BY DAVID KOCH SEEKS $5.75M
The Turtle Bay residence has sweeping views of the city from almost every room
A penthouse in one of New York’s first steel and glass apartment buildings is looking for a new buyer for $5.75 million. Penthouse 37/38E sits high atop 860-870 United Nations Plaza—the far east side dual tower development by Harrison & Abramovitz—the prolific midcentury architects behind Rockefeller Center’s Time-Life Building and the master plan for Lincoln Center. The penthouse is situated at the southeast corner of 870 United Nations Plaza, giving it unobstructed views of the East River, Queens, and Brooklyn. The entry foyer features a curving sculptural staircase and Venetian plaster walls that frame the living room’s open views. The corner living room stretches 32 feet along the river and features a stone-framed wood-burning fireplace. The apartment retains a more traditional layout, with a formal dining room and closed-off kitchen, though the kitchen’s been fully updated with a Wolf six-burner range and double ovens, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Bosch dishwasher, and a built-in banquette.
ALAN GREENSPAN'S FORMER UNITED NATIONS PLAZA CO-OP HITS THE MARKET
This retro-chic residence is so money.
A two-bedroom, 1,610-square-foot co-op that once belonged to former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan hit the market Thursday for $1.48 million. We hear Greenspan, who’s now 93, purchased the home at 860 United Nations Plaza for $672,000 in 1989 — $1.38 million in today’s dollars. He lived there until the 1990s. Inside, a foyer leads to a living room with views of the East River through floor-to-ceiling windows. The dining area looks out to the city skyline. Elsewhere, there’s an eat-in kitchen and two bathrooms. Of particular note is the property’s untouched-by-time flair. The living area has emerald-green tones on the walls and the carpeting; listing images also show a bedroom with floral patterns. Building amenities include a 24-hour doorman, a roof deck and a bike room.
PENTHOUSE ATOP STORIED 1960s MANHATTAN TOWER SELLING FOR $5.75M
Past residents of the building include luminaries from Walter Cronkite to Johnny Carson
The duplex penthouse atop one of the most storied buildings in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood has hit the market for $5.75 million, Mansion Global has learned. The twin-tower structure was one of the first glass-and-steel apartment buildings in New York City, giving residents sun-filled units and stunning panoramas through floor-to-ceiling windows. “The breathtaking views and natural light make you feel like you are floating above the Manhattan skyline,” said listing agent Mark Jovanovic.
IN HONOR OF U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 5 RESIDENCES NEAR ALL THE ACTION
Prices range from $2.6 milltion to $13 million in these homes with U.N. Plaza addresses
Mansion Global, September 2017
860 United Nations Plaza, 30A
Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 4.5 Price: $5.9 million
This 2,880-square-foot corner residence was recently renovated to the highest level of quality. The residents can enjoy the southeast views of downtown Manhattan and the East River through floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall windows in every room. The co-operative building, completed in 1966, was designed by master architects Wallace Harrison & Max Abramovitz, who served as the lead architects for the United Nations Headquarters complex and other iconic buildings, including the Rockefeller Center. The 38-story building is adjoined with 870 United Nations Plaza, a tower with the same height.
THE PLACE CAPOTE, CARSON AND CRONKITE CALLED HOME IN MANHATTAN
In the 1960s, two identical, 39-story towers called 860/870 United Nations Plaza were the "it" buildings for luminaries for business and entertainment
1960s Glamour With Amazing Views: Inside two apartments for sale at 860/870 United Nations Plaza. The major selling point: sweeping views of the New York City skyline and East River. Capote, Cronkite and Carson all called 860/870 United Nations Plaza home. Since opening in the glamorous ’60s, these identical, 39-story towers in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood were the “it” buildings for luminaries of business and entertainment.
'HOUSE OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE' AUTHOR BUYS HOME OF MORE MODEST FORTUNE AT UN PLAZA
A source familiar with the apartment search of House of Outrageous Fortune author Michael Gross and his wife, Barbara Hodes, who just picked up a $1.18 million co-op at 860 United Nations Plaza, according to city records, recently told the Observer that the building was "the 15 Central Park West of its day."
CRONKITE'S CO-OP SELLS FOR $2.5M; OFFICE TO REMAIN UNCHANGED
Known by his colleagues as Old Ironpants, by his viewers as Uncle Walter and by the world as the Most Trusted Man in America, Walter Cronkite provided the narrative of American history for the better part of the last century. So, it is no surprise that after his July 2009 death the media struggled to continue that narrative, following every thread that the newsman left behind. One such thread was his glass-walled co-op at 870 United Nations Plaza. A little over a week ago, New York reported that Cronkite’s three-bedroom, five-bathroom apartment was in contract and due to close any day. Well, the day has come. According to city records, the 25th-floor tower apartment sold for $2.5 million to Citi Private Bank managing director Georgia S. Mouzakis Tavlarios—and you thought Greeks were in trouble.
IF YOU'RE THINKING OF LIVING IN THE TURTLE BAY NEIGHBORHOOD
In U.N.'s Shadow, Elegance, Convenience
The New York Times, March 1999
Two of the most prestigious addresses in the area are 860 and 870 United Nations Plaza, on 49th Street, where many co-ops have views of the United Nations, Beekman Place and the East River. Originally these twin 1966 buildings were planned to be the I.B.M. World Trade Center. At 860 U.N. Plaza, a 1,400-square-foot, two-bedroom co-op is available for $600,000, while a 3,000-square-foot three-bedroom, five-and-a-half bath co-op is on the market for $1.995 million with a monthly maintenance of $3,800, said Roberta Kaye, a broker with the Halstead Property Company.
KAY GRAHAM'S OLD UN PLAZA CO-OP SELLS FOR $2.3M
It Was Above R.F.K.'s but Below Truman Capote's
After publishing In Cold Blood, Truman Capote spent his royalties on a 25th-floor, $62,000 apartment in the high-nosed twin-towered co-op.
Graham’s three-bedroom pied-à-terre, four floors lower than her old friend’s, has finally been sold, six and a half years after her death. City records show her estate, apparently handled by Washington Post CFO John Morse Jr. and board director George Gillespie III, sold the apartment last month for $2.3 million. “She used that apartment all the time,” Mr. Morse said.
NEW YORK 1960: ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM BETWEEN THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND THE BICENTENNIAL
Set on 2.3 acres of land, the buildings [of 860/870 UN Plaza] housed 334 apartments, including fifty-six duplexes on the top eight floors, some as large as nine rooms and many with wood-burning fireplaces; their lavish size and logical plans represented a level of accommodation that was extremely rare in the postwar era. The UN Plaza, as the development was commonly referred to, quickly became a fashionable address for the power elite, including many high-level corporate executives. The first wave of residents included the lawyer Christian Herter Jr., the novelist Truman Capote, the philanthropist Mary Lasker, the former Attorney General William Rogers and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
TOP POSTWAR APARTMENT BUILDINGS
The New York Times, September 1979
United Nations Plaza 860‐870 United Nations Plaza Two identical glass towers completed in 1965 to the designs of Harrison & Abramovitz are set atop a common sixstory base of commercial space. When U.N. Plaza was new, its glass walls were a daring departure for New York apartment design, though similar — and better — buildings had been built in Chicago by Mies van der Rohe more than a dozen years before. Now, U.N. Plaza has taken on a cool, established air, rather like that of a discreet and solid Park Avenue building. But the apartments here are more varied than in any Park Avenue building, with a range of units from one bedroom to nine‐room duplexes. The huge expanses of glass obviously provide the dominant visual theme; the spectacular light and views are intended to distract the eye from the fact that the room arrangements are fairly routine and the ceilings not much more than eight feet high. Some apartments have large windowed kitchens, and when there are maid's rooms, they are generous in size.
THE HOME: PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES
In U.N.'s Shadow, Elegance, Convenience
“This is a building of high achievers,” says Joanne Carson. “People who live here are not climbing. They have arrived.” The building is United Nations Plaza, a 32-story cooperative apartment complex that hovers above Manhattan and the East River, across the way from U.N. headquarters. The “high achievers” certainly include Joanne’s husband Johnny, along with Author Truman Capote, TV Producer David Susskind, Actor Cliff Robertson, Dress Designer Bonnie Cashin and assorted corporation executives. Robert F. Kennedy had a six-room pied-a-terre on the 14th floor. Secretary of State William Rogers’ one regret about his duties in Washington is that they keep him away from his six-room suite in U.N. Plaza. “Gee, how I miss that apartment,” he says.