Rockefellers' $11.5million Fifth Avenue apartment overlooking Central Park gets a new occupant

The Rockefellers’ $11.5million Fifth Avenue apartment overlooking Central Park is getting a new occupant after staying in one of America’s richest families for almost 60 years.

The sprawling Upper East Side co-op has changed hands from the family dynasty for the first time in its history, since former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller snapped it up back in 1963 from the developers and passed it down to his son Nelson Rockefeller Jr. when he died in 1979. 

With an impressive marble balcony with views of the park coupled with traditional parquet floors and Art-Deco style rounded walls, the new mystery owner can step home into a mix of the old and the new.  

The property hit the market in September for $11.5 million and is currently under contract for an undisclosed sum. 

Listing agent Clayton Orrigo from the Hudson Advisory Team at Compass told DailyMail.com he could not confirm the sale price nor the buyer but did reveal the lucky new owner is a New York local. 

Built back in 1963, the nine-room, four-bedroom apartment spans an entire floor of the luxury building in one of Manhattan’s most desirable areas. 

Located on the 15th floor of 812 Fifth Avenue, the owner can step out of their new home straight into the greenery of Central Park or right into the heart of New York’s iconic shopping district.  

It boasts a huge 295-square-foot terrace with unobstructed views of the park and a clean, modern marble makeover.

The new owner can wind down on the terrace by looking out over the treetops or peer round the side to catch a glimpse of the Empire State Building looming up over the Big Apple.

Traditional parquet floors flow through much of the rooms and many of the walls are curved in an Art-Deco style.

Wood paneling and a stone fireplace lines the office which opens out onto the sprawling terrace, while the property comes with its own private elevator opening right into the huge space. 

While these features are a timely reminder of the property’s first famous occupant, the apartment has gone through something of a makeover since the 41st vice president called it home. 

Rockefeller became the proud first owner of the apartment in 1963 when he bought the entire floor in the building, which soon earned the nickname the Rockefeller building around the Big Apple. 

At the time, Rockefeller was the Republican governor of New York state and he embarked on an expansive makeover of the property. 

He made the unconventional decision to knock through the south wall of his new home into the neighboring building 810 Fifth Avenue to join it with the property he owned there at the time.

Rockefeller owned a 30-room triplex in the next door building before splitting it up in 1962 during his divorce from Mary Todhunter Clark.

Clark was given two floors and Rockefeller kept the bottom floor, according to Mansion Global.

The bottom floor was almost the same height as the new apartment next door so Rockefeller knocked through and added six shallow steps between the two to create one huge luxury space.

Listing agent Kirsten Jordan, also with the Hudson Advisory Team, told Mansion Global this was a ‘highly unusual’ move.

‘It’s extremely unusual – the idea of someone buying a full-floor unit that was going to match the level,’ she said. 

‘I don’t even know how you would even get the approvals to do that.’ 

The property was separated into two units again after his death in 1979 and the apartment next door sold. 

New plumbing and the newly marble-clad terrace are also recent additions. 

The property listing describes the apartment as a ‘rare white-box opportunity’ giving the new owner the chance to make their mark on the home with a range of floor plan possibilities.  

John D. Rockefeller was once one of richest men in the world after starting the Standard Oil Company in 1863.  

He went on to become a major philanthropist and the Rockefellers soon became one of American’s most influential and wealthy families.