Customer Reviews

740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Don't be fooled by the exciting sounding "apartment porn" review by Forbes -- this is one tedious book. While there were some very interesting sections (on the building's architect Candela, a brief history of cooperative apartments in NYC, and John D. Rockefeller), they were few and far between. The majority of the text is dull and repetitive. The author was able to get dirt on a number of current and former residents of 740 Park, but he could not get his hands on a floor plan or any decent photos of these luxurious apartments? All in all, quite a disappointing read.

When I read a book like this one, that describes the history of a building or how the rich are very different from you and I, I want photos to help fill out the story. This book contains two mediocre pictures of two different rooms in the fabled structure on Madison where only the super rich can reside. I pass by this building every day and was naturally curious to see what all the shouting was about. To me, it looks like hundreds of other bland, brick structures that line Park and Fifth Avenue. Perhaps that's the first tip-off that the ultra-rich want to live quietly behind barricades of stone and marble. I wish there were pictures of the some of the residents and the interiors. Word descriptions can only go so far.

Well, the author definitely spent a lot of time researching this book. That is obvious. I really thought this would be another Bonfire of the Vanities type of book about the rick and famous and their habits, lifestyle etc. I am half way through the bookand I've had enough. There are about 5 paragraphs about each tenant that ever lived in 740 Park.This book is almost like a school textbook with a little history of this and that person except this book is about an apartment building. Not enough information on each tenant for me to develop an interest in the subject, just enough information on who lived in which apartment during which years.

The book started off well enough but after awhile, I lost complete interest in the history of each unit and who lived there, etc. I actually can not remember half the people who subleased, leased or bought the apartments after awhile.

Great attempt. The writer, as I mentioned, definitely did a through research on the history of this building and is obviously a gifted writer. However, a short and brief background information on each tenant failed to draw me in. I would recommend this book to anyone who is doing research in real estate in NY, but would not recommend this book for just reading for enjoyment.

The author seems to be fond of hyperbole. While it is difficult to quantify social prestige in a republic, the notion that 740 Park is New York's most prestigious Cooperative is laughable at best. There are plenty of other buildings (998 & 960 Fifth, River House, at the risk of being indiscreet) that have a better claim to that title, and it makes one wonder if Mr. Gross turned his pen on the residents of 740 because they were more willing to talk than others.

It's true many of the tales have been told before and Mr. Gross' writing style will never equal the acerbic wit of Andrew Alpern or the folksy storytelling of Jerry Patterson and Stephen Birmingham in their chronicles of the apartment-dwelling rich and the book reads like an extended gossip column, which some may adore and others may loathe. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a gossipy read about the rich and shameless this book will not disappoint.

I don't know what made me take a look at this let alone read it. It's not normally my type of book and the subject matter whilst interesting, isn't also my type of subject. However, I must say this was surprisingly interesting and kept me interested for some time. I did take off a star for length. It is almost 600 pages, but the well researched information in here is not too hard to get through.
The tenants in the past and now in the present (and their abundant wealth) plus the history of the building itself is fascinating and makes this a good read (especially if you can put aside one rainy afternoon curled up in bed). You'll learn a lot from this.

With a story that includes the ten year old Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy sending a Valentine to her just-moving-in upstairs neighbor John D. Rockefeller Jr. - then chronicles the apartment swapping antics of 80's nouvelles Henry Kravis, Ronald Perelman and Saul Steinberg (whose "night of the dueling locksmiths" reads like the Marx Brothers meets Fatal Attraction) - while at the same time letting us into the world of the true aristocrats - those bluebloods who abhor publicity, live quietly, and think of themselves as "just regular folks" (all the while living on the income of their incomes and keeping fourteen live-in servants) 740 PARK: THE STORY OF THE WORLD'S RICHEST APARTMENT BUILDING is an amazing story that would be deemed impossibly over the top as fiction. Yet each savory detail, every word - including the "ands" and the "thes" rings convincingly true.

Who knew a history of American capitalism could be so damn juicy!

Like the other reviewers here, I too found some passages tedious and repetitive. Seemed like the author just didn't get his teeth into the book....kind of like he just "whetted" the appetite. Since I purchased this on this website, I was hoping to see lots of photos but that's not the case. That was disappointing. It was still an interesting read about people who have too much money and sometimes, too much time on their hands. Does anyone need a 76 room 3 story apartment where only 2 people live?

740 Park was developed by Jackie Onassis' maternal grandfather, and became her childhood home. It was conceived in 1929 as the most expensive, best apartment house in the world, but instead turned into a financial sinkhole for its first 50 years. Its exterior walls are 2.5 feet thick, and the floors 1.5 feet.

740 Park is a co-op - owners are both tenants and, collectively, the equivalent of the landlord in a rental building. The concept was invented to allow little groups of like-minded people to buy and control communal homes. Maintenance charges at 740 Park are not about $10,000/month, and applicants must have a liquid net worth of $100 million. Renovations can only be done in the summer months when many of the residents are away and would not be bothered.

The most exclusive apartment (about 20,000 square feet) at 740 Park is at the top of the building - bought from Mrs. Rockefeller's estate in 1971 for $225,000, and sold in 2000 for about $30 million.

The bulk of "740 Park" is taken up with the story of its construction during the Depression, and the lives of its occupants from that point forward - not a topic of great interest for me.

I'm on pg 184, and vow to get to the end, but I don't expect it to be easy. Like the other comments, I agree that pictures would have been wonderful to include, just so I could attempt to keep some of these people straight. This book gets so weighed down with names, and they've become a blur. Junior Rockefeller was interesting, but all the names of each and every lawyer and law firm and decorators and whatnot it just bogs it all down.
I'm doing Google searches on the main people, just so I can try to paint a better mental picture.

**edited - I didn't make it through the book. It's not worth my time.

This book is the very definition of over rated..how on earth do you have a book like this and no images of these supposed fantastic apartments, I suggest a book on the architects of this building, Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, now that will show you the famous Rockefeller apartment, and fyi, it's a fantastic book, this book on the other hand is inane dribble...what a bore.