Real Estate

Floored: Inside the Carlton House

One imagines that when a building fronting Madison Avenue — a mere block east of Central Park, and a block north of Barney’s — has construction crews forming around it, plenty of natural heat is generated by the curiosity of the posh Upper East Side set.

The lobby of the Carlton House.dbox

Indeed, the Carlton House, at 21 E. 61st St., has been one of the most hotly-anticipated projects of 2014. The building was originally designed in 1940 by Kenneth B. Norton, but construction was put off during World War II and it wasn’t completed until 1950. Now, however, Extell is turning this former hotel into a 68-unit condo — with Beyer Blinder Belle as the architects and Katherine Newman Design doing the interiors.

The floorplan of the Carlton House.

And those units promise to set a new standard of luxury for an already ridiculously luxurious neighborhood. In addition to revamping the building from head to toe, Extell has added an extra three stories (the 16th to 18th floors) onto the original structure, and threw in an adjacent new townhouse next door. “We’ve sold out all of the two bedrooms,” says Elida Jacobsen Justo, director of sales for the building. The entry price (for remaining units) is now $8.6 million, but the project’s two most eye-catching units — a $65 million penthouse and that $65 million townhouse — are still on the market. Here’s a look at that stunning top-floor perch.