Century Apartments (Century Condominiums)

Completed in 1931, this Art Deco skyscraper at 25 Central Park West was named is a block-wide with twin thirty-story towers. The building's name was a nod to the Century Theater, a grand venue that opened at this location in 1909 and was renowned for its architecture but notorious for its poor acoustics and demolished in 1930. In keeping with Art Deco styles, the top of each tower features rounded geometric elements. The curtain walls of yellow brick are interspersed with bands of brown brick, giving the building a tapestry-like appearance. The Century was listed in the New York and National Registers of Historic Places in 1982 as part of the Central Park West Historic District. The building has been the Century Condominiums since the 1980s.

Surprisingly, the entire Central Park West block between W. 62nd and W. 63rd Streets was still undeveloped in 1894 (see the image below); the remainder of the lots up to Broadway were sparsely developed with wood frame buildings. The Central Park West block later became the location of the Century Theater, built in 1908. The Century Theater served as an opera house and had a rooftop nightclub, the Coconut Grove, but suffered from being in a relatively remote part of town when it came to entertainment. The Shuberts, who bought the theater in 1920, exchanged the property with Irwin S. Chanin for his interest in several Times square theaters. The abandoned Century Theater building was demolished in 1930.

Century Apartments took over $6 million to build and opened in 1931. News of the construction project's roughly 1,500 jobs was good news in the Great Depression era. The massive building was designed by the office of Irwin S. Chanin and built by Chanin Construction Company.

The Century Apartments property was bought in 1982 and the owners struggled for years to turn the building into a co-op. The cost offered to apartment dwellers was said to be too high, and the new owners reportedly let the building's conditions deteriorate. Eventually, a few hundred of the 410 apartments' dwellers were able to buy into the co-op at below market value by 1989.

Century Condominiums has been home to famed composed George Gershwin and Friends' Matthew Perry. Billionaire Jeff Bezos owned four units in the building worth $17.5 million including the penthouse with an observatory, and bought multiple floors of the building in 2019 and 2020. The building now houses 410 condominiums that are listed in 2021 at slightly over $1 million in the one-bedroom size to more than $10 million for a five-bedroom unit.

Horsley, Carter. Review of The Century, 25 Central Park West, City Realty. January 1st 2021. Accessed September 1st 2021. https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/central-park-west/the-century-25-central-park-west/review/451.

Howard, Alexandra Cushing. Building-Structure Inventory Form for The Century Apartments, New York, N.Y.. Albany, NY. Division of Historic Preservation, New York State Parks and Recreation, 1975.

Jacob, Mary Kay. Paynter, Sarah. "Jeff Bezos' $500M real estate portfolio: See all of his luxury houses." New York Post (New York, NY) February 4th 2021.

Street Easy. The Century Condominium at 25 Central Park West, StreetEasy. August 1st 2021. Accessed September 1st 2021. https://streeteasy.com/building/the-century-condominium.