Welcome

Tudor City is bounded by First Avenue, East 44th Street, Second Avenue, and East 40th Street. It includes 12 buildings, 3,000 apartments, 600 hotel rooms, private parks, restaurants, shops, and a post office. The buildings, ranging in height from ten to 32 stories, are oriented inward to the private open spaces of the complex, giving an unusual sense of privacy and repose in busy Midtown Manhattan. Built as rental units, the apartments today are cooperatively owned and house about 5,000 residents.

Tudor City was a pioneering urban development project and, along with its elegant Tudor Revival architecture and uniquely self-contained service functions, this earned its designation as a New York City Landmark in 1988. Architects Fred French and H. Douglas Ives designed the residential city. It took three years, 1925-1928, to build it at a cost of $25 million.

There are many architectural references in the Tudor City design to English cottages. Gargoyles are very much in evidence along the rooflines. The several buildings that make up the complex have distinctive decorative styles and the Tudor Revival detail has been retained.

The single addition to French’s original plan is Tudor Gardens, which dates from the 1950s.

In the late 1970s, when Harry Helmsley owned the complex, he was determined to construct two high rise buildings on the land where the North and South parks are. However, the residents of Tudor City were equally as determined that he would not! One long holiday weekend Sunday (could have been Fourth of July), bulldozers suddenly appeared and began hauling down the then wooden fencing. John McCain, (of The Manor), ran out into the street with a bullhorn shouting; "Come out. Come out. Residents of Tudor City, come out and save our parks!" Sure enough, as the story goes, little old ladies rushed out and threw themselves in front of the bulldozers, stopping all activity. This gave the Tudor City Association time to organize legal measures which effectively stopped any further movement on Helmsley's part and saved our parks....but it was a close call.

The Manor turned Co-Op in 1988 and since then, many renovations have taken place. A couple to note: the installation of new elevators in the early 1990s and more recently the roofdeck and new laundry room.

Welcome again. 

P.S. Think you've seen Tudor City in the movies? Check out; "Scarface" (1983), "Peacemaker" (1997), "U.S. Marshals" (1998), and "Spider-Man 2" (2004), to name just a few.