Situated at 300 Central Park West is the most northern of the famous twin-towered luxury apartments along Central Park West—The Eldorado. The Eldorado translates from Spanish into “the golden one.” Its name derives from an old Spanish legend from the 1530s about a South American Indian chief would cover himself in gold dust and dive into a mountain lake. The name also later derived into representing the name of the famous lost city of gold for which many explorers would fruitlessly attempt to discover.
New York City’s Eldorado is a 30-story Art Deco structure that is quite cube-like in appearance up until near the twin-towers where you may begin to note a series of terraced set-backs. Those twin-towers actually light up to a golden brilliance in the evenings, perhaps in recognition of their former namesake. The building was constructed from 1929-1931 and replaced a former eight-story apartment from 1902 by the same name which used to reside at this address. That former apartment was actually about a century ahead of its time in that it offered on the first garages with vehicle chargers for electric cars.
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| New York City's Eldorado |
The less spacious co-op (at least in celebrity terms) has not deterred a healthy list of notable current and former tenants. Residents at the Eldorado have included Grouch Marx, Alex Baldwin, Marilyn Monroe, Richard Dreyfus, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Fox, Carrie Fisher and Moby.
Musical artist Moby’s former 2 bedroom-2.5 bath penthouse atop the south tower has surprisingly proven to be a difficult sell in recent years. Moby originally acquired the four-story apartment in 2005 for $4.5 million, however, when he attempted to sell the property in 2007 for $7.5 million he drew little to no interest. He had to undertake an aggressive promotion strategy to unload the property which included self-recording a video of the property and even offering a $75,000 referral fee to anyone who may help move the property. One deterring factor many people figure is the property’s relatively inconvenient access. To get to the unit individuals must take the elevator to the 29th floor before having to exit and walk up two additional flights of stairs.
Moby was eventually able to sell the property for $6.7 million, however, the stairwell must’ve gotten to the new tenant as well as the penthouse was on the market just two years later for just under $6 million. Now fast forward to the present and that price has continued to decline and was most recently listed for just under $5 million. So if you are in the market for a $5 million stair-master, please send all $75,000 referral fees to IWalked Audio Tours.
- Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eldorado
- Address: 300 Central Park West, New York City
- Cost: Free.