The Inside Scoop: 43 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village

43 Fifth Avenue is one of those buildings that makes you stop and look up. At the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 11th Street, this 1905 co-op is a particularly handsome example of French Beaux-Arts architecture—and one of the more distinctive pre-war buildings along Lower Fifth Avenue.

And the best part is that the grandeur isn't just on the outside.

The Entrance Makes an Impression

You enter beneath the building's green awning, up a short flight of steps and through the brass doors, where a full-time doorman greets you.

Inside, the pale marble lobby is dramatic without feeling overly ornate. It gives you a pretty good idea of what makes 43 Fifth different from some of the other pre-war buildings in the neighborhood.

And Then You Get Upstairs

The apartments have something that's increasingly hard to find: real volume.

Ceilings are approximately 10½ feet high, and the large pre-war windows bring in plenty of light. Depending on the apartment, you can have views down Fifth Avenue or over the trees and rooftops of East 11th Street.

The proportions are a reminder that this building was designed at a time when apartments were meant to feel substantial—not just efficient.

A Building That Has Evolved

Today, 43 Fifth is a relatively intimate 11-story, 42-unit co-op. The original apartments were very large, and over the years many have been divided or reconfigured into more practical layouts.

That means there’s a surprising range of possibilities here—from one- and two-bedroom apartments to large combination homes and a penthouse.

It's worth paying attention to the individual apartment rather than assuming you know what a 43 Fifth floor plan will look like. The layouts can be quite different from one another.

The Bottom Line

43 Fifth Avenue is for buyers who want the real thing.

Not a new building designed to look old, but a 120-year-old building with the scale, windows, ceiling height and architectural details that come with it.

There are certainly more modern buildings along Lower Fifth Avenue, and there are apartments that may offer more in the way of closets or contemporary conveniences. But if what you're after is old New York architecture with genuine presence, 43 Fifth is hard to ignore.