Building: 549 West 123rd Street

Morningside Gardens refers to a cooperative in Morningside Heights. It is composed of six apartment buildings of 21 stories each, for a total of 980 apartments. Some spaces that would otherwise be apartments are used by affiliated groups such as the pre-school and the Morningside Retirement and Health Service. The complex also contains playgrounds for children ten and under and a fitness center, Game Room, Theater Room and Meeting Room.

The facility was one of the first owner-occupied co-ops in NYC, with the initial construction subsidized by government (tax) money. The early development of the project, led by a team of civic leaders headed by philanthropist David Rockefeller and Columbia University president Grayson Kirk, which led to many similar co-operative housing facilities, most in NYC and a small number in the local suburbs.

Morningside Gardens was created for middle-income families, and prides itself on its racial, ethnic and economic diversity. There is no income cap for buyers interested in living here.

The complex opened in 1957 and is located just north of the campuses of Columbia University, Barnard College and Jewish theological Seminary, and just east of the campuses of Manhattan School of Music and Union Theological Seminary in the northern section of Morningside Heights. It is bordered by Broadway on the west, Amsterdam Avenue on the east, 123rd Street on the south, and LaSalle Street on the north.

Morningside Gardens is currently self-managed but they are voting on a management company very soon. Addresses included in Morningside Gardens are: 501 West 123rd Street, 549 West 123rd Street, 70 La Salle Street, 80 La Salle Street, 90 La Salle Street and 100 West La Salle Street.

Description provided by Tony Oakley