NYC Apartments Under a Million: Murray Hill, Park Slope

The living room of this Murray Hill two-bedroom, as shown in listing photos, is large with extensive built-ins spanning the length of one of the 20-foot walls.
Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photo: Compass

For under a million dollars, one can find all sorts of housing configurations: park- and subway-adjacent studios, one-bedrooms hidden in carriage houses or former shoe factories, and even the occasional true two-bedroom. We’re combing the market for particularly spacious, nicely renovated, or otherwise worth-a-look apartments at various six-digit price points. 

This week, a lovely two-bedroom in Murray Hill with herringbone floors and so many built-in bookshelves.

50 Park Avenue, Apt. 4C

The larger of the two bedrooms in this Murray Hill apartment, as shown in listing photos, has charm and space, accommodating a desk, bed, bookshelf, sidechair, nightstand, and more.
Photo: Compass

Here’s a dreamy apartment full of pretty prewar details and built-in bookshelves. There’s a large living room with a wall of built-ins running the whole length of the 20-foot wall, beamed ceilings, herringbone floors, and a well-sized dining room off the decently sized kitchen. (It’s a galley, but it has a big window and nice streamlined details, like an oven built into the cabinetry, that makes it look more spacious than it is.) The main bedroom is big, with two closets, and the second one, while smaller, is reasonably sized. It is currently used as an office and somewhat open to the main living space, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to add a wall and door. Located in a full-service doorman building, but with a not too terrible maintenance of $2,060 a month (especially considering that it’s a co-op, so that includes real-estate taxes.) The building also has a roof deck, bike room, and private storage bins for a “small fee.” A quick walk to Grand Central or Bryant Park and right around the corner from the Morgan Library & Museum.

70 Haven Avenue, Apt. 1F

This Washington Heights two-bedroom, as shown in listing photos, has a large living room with broadly appealing finishes like built-ins and lighting built into the ceiling.
Photo: Compass

This apartment features a nicely proportioned living room with built-in bookcases. And while not quite as swanky as the Murray Hill place — the floors are parquet, and the ceilings do not feature beams or ornate plaster moldings — the details are pleasant, as is the recentish renovation. (There’s built-in and track lighting throughout, and the finishes are neat and broadly appealing.) With a long foyer, windows in every room (one in the kitchen and one in the bath, two in every other room), and ample closets, it’s a very nice apartment for the price point with a reasonable maintenance of $1,020 a month (plus a $295 a month assessment for façade work with an indefinite end date, but that hits all co-ops sooner or later). And while there are no views to speak of, there are big windows, and the Hudson River is nearby for walking and exercise, as is Haven Plaza, a pedestrian plaza, and the Nike Track & Field Center at the Armory.

235 East 73rd Street, Apt. 1G

This Upper East Side studio, as shown in listing photos, with quirky details like a glassed-in sleeping alcove and a galley kitchen with coffee-cup wallpaper.
Photo: Coldwell Banker Warburg

Although it’s technically a studio, there are a lot of discrete spaces in this apartment: a foyer the size of a small room steps down into a sunken living room with a glassed-in sleeping alcove off to one side. There’s a galley kitchen with jaunty wallpaper featuring Greek “We Are Happy to Serve You” takeout coffee cups and a little dining area between them. While it’s on the first floor, without charming views, the ceilings are high and the building has a gym and a full-time door attendant. It’s also in a transit-dense corridor of the Upper East Side, on 73rd between Second and Third, around the corner from JG Melon.

498 11th Street, Apt. 2 

The living room of this Park Slope railroad-style apartment, as shown in listing photos, is exceptionally large: Spanning the width of the building, it’s nearly 25 feet long.
Photo: The Agency

For the price, this is an amazing amount of space in a prime Park Slope location. It’s true that this apartment will require some work and creativity to revamp the finishes and make good use of its double-barreled shotgun layout, but it has hardwood floors and nice trim and moldings throughout. An unusual combination of two railroad-style units with North and South exposures (but no windows on either of the sides), it has 1,453 square feet, including a living room that’s nearly 25 feet wide with a fireplace at either end. The kitchen, as with many of these Park Slope limestone co-ops, is at the back of the building, on the opposite side of the apartment from the street-facing living room, with lots of space in between to be used for bedrooms or offices or a dining room with a table that seats 12. There are currently two bathrooms at the rear. By Pasta Louise on Seventh Avenue, in a building with a very reasonable (especially for so much space) maintenance of $900 a month, a garden, and bike storage.