[GertElim]

https://patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/ex-gov-spitzers-new-ues-tower-rise-across-met-museum




http://www.nysonglines.com/5av.htm#79st

985: A 26-story yellow-brick apartment tower that went up in 1968. It's the main residence of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, whose family owns the building.

It replaced two townhouses built in 1907 by garment manufacturer Isaac Brokaw for his sons—one at this address, the other at No. 984. They were built in a style that matched Brokaw's own mansion on the corner of the block.

The current building and its neighbor to the south are considerably taller than most area buildings because they took advantage of a zoning rule that granted additional height for buildings that had plazas in front. The value of a plaza on a building that faces Central Park is dubious.

980 (corner): A 26-story co-op from 1966 that replaced the French Renaissance Brokaw mansion, built in 1888—featuring turrets, gables and almost a moat, in what came to be known as the Fifth Avenue style. Its destruction, along with that of Penn Station, compelled Mayor Robert Wagner to sign a landmarks preservation law.