Life at the Top: New York's Most Exceptional Apartment Buildings

What are New York City’s best apartment buildings? Before 1900, it was the Dakota and the Osborne; soon after came McKim, Mead & White’s 998 Fifth and the ultra-soigné 820 Fifth Avenue. The roaring twenties produced true luxury: 740 Park Avenue, the art deco–inspired River House, and Rosario Candela’s extraordinary 778 and 720 Park Avenue. Today, the city’s skyline sparkles with palatial new buildings, such as Robert A. M. Stern’s 15 Central Park West, Richard Meier’s glass-walled Perry Str...