303 E 57th Street #15K

The living room runs twenty-two feet, and the windows look out to the Queensboro Bridge and the skyline behind it.

At about 750 square feet, 15K has the proportions of a one-bedroom without the walls. A dining foyer of 9'7" by 13'9" opens off the living room room for a full table, or for a bed set behind a screen. The kitchen is its own room rather than a line of appliances along a wall. Closets flank the entry hall, the kind of storage you notice a month in rather than on the walkthrough.

The Excelsior is a doorman co-op on East 57th Street, built in 1967. Maintenance is $2,180.67 a month; with electricity and cable it runs about $2,285. The building is a land-lease cooperative.

Full-time doorman and concierge; elevator operators; live-in superintendent. Health club with fitness center and swimming pool; rooftop terrace / sundeck. Full-service attended garage with valet parking; porte-cochere driveway. Laundry room plus in-unit washer/dryers permitted; bike room. Gas and electricity included in maintenance; pets, pied-a-terres and W/D allowed. 539,000+ SF building; 371 residential units.

When it opened in 1967, the Excelsior ranked among the tallest residential buildings in New York City. Philip Birnbaum's assertive midcentury design gave the tower its signature notched massing for added corner exposures, and its office-bearing lower floors made it an early mixed-use experiment. It remains a commanding presence at the junction of Midtown East and Sutton Place and a long-standing standout among the city's full-service co-ops.

Midtown East at the edge of Sutton Place, on 57th Street at Second Avenue (alt. 1084 Second Avenue). Steps from the Queensboro Bridge, the East River esplanade, Whole Foods, and 57th Street shopping and dining. Subways: N/Q/R/4/5/6 at Lexington Ave-59th St (~0.26 mi); E/M at Lexington Ave-53rd St (~0.27 mi); F at Lexington Ave-63rd St (~0.36 mi).