Four East 66th Street (aka 845 Fifth Avenue)
Circa 1920 // ARCHITECT: J.E.R. Carpenter // BUILDER: William Henry Barnum
This building may have the grandest apartments in all of New York. Clad completely in stone, with a four-story rusticated base. The classical inspiration can be seen in the Doric pilasters on the 66th Street front, but there is virtually no applied ornamentation whatsoever. Above the base, the stone is completely smooth, and the windows are almost flush with the stone cladding, and there is barely a hint of window sills. This treatment was quite ground breaking for the time.
The building site is very irregular, and one is keenly aware of this because the structure wraps around Temple Emanuel, and is consequently visible from the street due to the significant height variation between the two.
The full floor apartments have around 18 rooms, and very, very high ceilings. The side-by-side Living Room and Library are each 36’ by 23’ facing Central Park. The Formal Dining Room is only slightly smaller, 30’ x 22”. These are the largest formal rooms in town — really quite palatial.
NOTE: Four years ago the entire 5th Floor was on the market for $29M with Monthly Maintenance of $15,416
Hello! My name is David Lubell. This is my personal blog, a forum for me to talk about my passion for prewar buildings in NYC and related subjects. If any views are expressed here, they are mine, unless clearly presented as coming from someone else. You can read a little bit more 
This address was originally the residential property of John McKesson, Jr. whose father, John Sr.(my 3rd great uncle),founded McKesson and Robbins Drugs in the mid 1800′s. John Jr.’s home was listed in the New City Directory in 1874 (& other years)as 845 Fifth Avenue.
All apartments in the building were originally full-floor,except the duplex maisonettes at the firts 2 levels.The full floor apartatments are aprox 5700 sqf,therefore not the largest in NY.The largest are in 740 Park,were avegareg duplex apartment is 7000 sqf or slightly more.