On West End Avenue and Broadway, three-story arches at the center of the facade lead to an internal courtyard with a garden, driveway, and entrances to the apartments.

After the British established the Province of New York, the area became part of the "Thousand Acre Tract", owned by several English and Dutch settlers, in 1667.

[9][10] The farm contained a two-story house with stone walls and a gable roof, which dated from 1759 and was used as a lodge, Burnham's Hotel, in the 19th century.

[26] On the western and eastern elevations of the facade (respectively facing West End Avenue and Broadway), there is a three-story, arched porte-cochère at the center,[17] flanked by rusticated blocks.

[22][27] The entrances contain elaborate wrought-iron gates with scrolled trellises, topped by gilded deer heads[28] and stylized variations of the name "Apthorp".

[54] In addition, in 2014, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved plans for a two-story penthouse recessed from the roof.

[58] Following the success of the Waldorf Hotel, Astor decided to develop Graham Court, an apartment building on Seventh Avenue in Harlem, and then the Apthorp on the Upper West Side.

[11][59] In November 1901, Astor announced that he would spend $2.5 million to erect an apartment building on the city block bounded by Broadway, West End Avenue, and 78th and 79th Streets.

[18][19] By the end of 1905, workers were excavating the site 24 hours a day, but Astor had not filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings.

Christopher Gray of The New York Times described the Apthorp as one of several apartment buildings that were famous enough "to maintain their names simply in common custom".

[38] The City Bank-Farmers Trust Company, acting as trustee for the Astor estate, appointed the firm of Wood and Dolson as the building's renting agent in 1930.

[77][78] The City Bank-Farmers Trust Company sold the building's $1.5 million mortgage to an unidentified university's endowment fund shortly afterward.

[73] There was also growing discontent between existing rent-regulated tenants, who paid as little as $2,000 per month for eight-room units, and the landlords, who could rent the same apartment for $10,000 at market rates.

[89] After the corpse of a German tourist was discovered on the building's roof in early 1997,[90] The New York Times wrote that "it struck some tenants not as an oddity but as a metaphor, a sign of how surreal life in the Apthorp had become".

[73] At the time, 390 West End Associates had asked the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal for permission to raise monthly rents by $25 per room so they could pay for the $1.8 million cost of elevator replacement.

[73] At a meeting in 2004, some residents claimed that the quality of services, including mail delivery, garbage disposal, and maintenance, had decreased because many longtime staff had retired.

[33] Shortly before the sale was finalized in March 2007, one of the project's key financiers withdrew from the transaction, so Mann obtained $55 million from Lev Leviev of Africa Israel Investments.

[105][97][106] Mann's co-sponsors, the Feil Organization and Africa Israel, accused him of mismanaging the project;[105][107] a judge gave the partners six days to resolve their dispute.

[109] Mann sued in March 2009 to prevent Africa Israel and the Feil Organization from refinancing the Apthorp with a loan from Anglo Irish Bank;[110] the lawsuit was settled the next month.

[46] Meanwhile, by late 2009, existing residents claimed that the renovations had caused numerous issues, including high asbestos and lead levels,[109] as well as rodent infestations.

[116] This prompted city officials to investigate the Apthorp,[109] and New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo conducted a detailed review of the building in early 2010.

[117] By then, the condo-conversion plan encountered so many problems that real-estate website Curbed published updates on the project under the headline "As the Apthorp Turns".

[133][134] Africa Israel withdrew its lawsuit in December 2011,[135] and a judge gave Anglo Irish Bank permission to sell the debt on the mortgage loan to Arefin U.S. Investment, a subsidiary of Area Property Partners.

[47][48] The new sponsors hired Goldstein, Hill & West Architects in July 2013 to design a two-story addition above the roof, with four penthouse apartments.

[143] Amid opposition from condo owners and other local residents, Manhattan Community Board 7 vetoed these plans in September 2013,[143][144] and the LPC demurred on whether to approve the penthouses.

[51] Around the same time, Ares Management (which had acquired Area Property Partners' holdings, including the Apthorp) fired Corcoran Sunshine as the building's brokerage firm.

[150] Over the years, the Apthorp has attracted many media personalities, including writers, actors, and celebrities, as well as executives of NBC and Warner Brothers.

[155] In the 1970s, architectural critic Paul Goldberger described the Apthorp as one of the city's 10 best apartment buildings, saying: "Detailing is skillful throughout, with elaborate Corinthian pilasters over the entry [...] The three‐story‐high entrance arch is monumental yet welcoming, and the central court is splendid, a tranquil refuge from the clamor of adjacent Broadway.

[157] A reporter for The New York Times wrote in 1997 that the Apthorp's name "hover[s] alongside those of the Ansonia, the Dakota and the Belnord in the pantheon of luxurious residences on the Upper West Side".

Although this often attracted complaints from residents, the building's owner at the time, 390 West End Associates, said that tenants arranged many of these film shoots.