The New York Post interviews 740 Park author Michael Gross on “NYC’s toniest digs.” Click here to read it.

“740 Park is the home of some of the world’s wealthiest people. Gross takes readers inside its doorman-protected walls, exposing the shocking and sometimes tragic secrets the building has been guarding for nearly a century.” — Star, October 31, 2005

The folks at mediabistro’s galleycat couldn’t make it to Lotus, but they had their say anyway.

Christine Mortimer Biddle, Quintessentially’s Ben Elliot, Radar editor Maer Roshan, Tiffany Dubin, Bergdorf Goodman’s Robert Burke and Peter Gethers of Random House hosted a wild night at Lotus celebrating the publication of 740 Park. See photos of the revelers — including Justin Theroux, Nicole Miller, Denise Hale, Sue Newhouse, Mario Buatta, Douglas Cramer, Janis Savitt, Alva Chinn and Beri Smithers here and here.

The Week invites 740 Park author Michael Gross to name his six favorite books.

“At once a soap opera and work of scholarship… it is both a narrowly focused history of a single apartment building and a case study in how wealth, power and perceived social standing changes hands over time. The book probes – and prods and skewers, enticing readers with details of marriages, divorces, wealth squandering, alleged affairs and drug addictions… A compelling narrative on the still-changing face of American affluence.” — “Making it On the Gold Coast,” The Jewish Week, 10/28/05

Marketplace on American Public Media radio looks up at 740 Park.

“Hiltons, schmiltons… Michael Gross scintillates readers with Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Chryslers, and Bouviers… A no-holds-barred view into the billionaire lifestyle.” — Variety StylePhile, October 25, 2005

“One building as [a] microcosm of life on a silver platter… The voyeurism is so giddy that ‘740 Park’ sometimes feels like an extended feat of free-association. The description of an apartment can lead to the owner’s house in Newport – and off we go to European chateaus, Palm Beach, grouse hunting, the Princeton varsity crew team, Qing dynasty watercolors, horse farms, private railway cars and armies of servants… The curb appeal of all this is clear. The reader’s role is that of designated ogler; the writer’s job is to celebrate wealth, trace bloodlines back to the Mayflower and savor … Continue reading →

Blogger extraordinaire Elizabeth Spiers, writing on mediabistro.com, says “740 Park is an extensive biography of the life and history of the world’s richest apartment building. Gross’s impeccable research is beautifully synthesized into a comprehensive narrative about class, money and power. ”

“For many of the world’s elite, Manhattan’s 740 Park Avenue is the most prestigious address on earth… Over the years, this most sought-after co-op has also been a seedbed of scandals and juicy rumors, including the possible murder of one of its billionaire tenants. Society journalist Michael Gross has been trolling these waters for decades. Now he offers a scorching tell-all about the world’s richest apartment building.” — barnesandnoble.com

“Money, murder, mayhem — and that’s before the broker’s fees.” — House & Garden, November 2005 “Along the society-fashion axis, the talk is about Michael Gross’ high-gossip chronicle 740 Park, which makes the case that architecture is destiny.” — William Norwich, Vogue, November 2005

“Ogling other people’s real estate has become the national pastime. But for jaw-dropping apartment porn, it’s hard to beat Michael Gross’s description of corporate raider Saul Steinberg’s place at 740 Park Avenue circa the ’70s… But Gross’s 740 Park doesn’t stop there… Gross traces the history of this fabled 75-year-old edifice and its inhabitants, who have included John D. Rockefeller Jr., Jackie Onassis, Ronald Perelman, and Henry Kravis. So husbands leave wives, wives leave husbands (sometimes for other women), a son is kidnapped (or, perhaps, fakes the abduction in cahoots with a gay lover), but all of them move through … Continue reading →

“740 Park is filled with compelling, often tragic, stories about the social elite dying to call this address their own. Now you can gain access — without the million-dollar deposit.” — OK! Magazine

“Since 1930… 740 Park Avenue been the world’s most exclusive address. But now, anyone can get inside the building, despite snooty board members and anemic portfolios, thanks to 740 Park [which] proves that the only thing more decadent than a 20,000 square foot apartment in the middle of Manhattan is the lascivious hijinks of its high profile residents.” — Radar, November/December 2005

The very web site you are reading offers up “a buffet of tasty treats for upscale apartment voyeurs,” or so say the shelter-porn experts at curbed.com in “Peering Deep Inside 740 Park Avenue.” — and they oughta know. And gawker.com likes those floor plans, too. Not only that, it finds 740 Park (the building not the book) “wonderfully loathsome.”

“A glimpse into how the other half lives. Actually, make that the top 1 or 2 percent.” — “New Book Dishes Dirt on 740 Park,” Metro, October 13, 2006

“The rich and pissed off hit the roof.” — curbed.com, October 6, 2005 “Hot read” — Harper’s Bazaar, October 2005 “Worthy.” — Vanity Fair, October 2005 “A riveting book… one of the best social documents of the past seventy-five years in New York. Michael Gross’ text takes you through the decades of social change — from the little old ladies who never left the building without their hats and their gloves to the contemporary men and women who dashed from the basement gym to their waiting SUVs in their athletic outfits. Divorce, murder, infidelity, anti-Semitism, embezzlement, mistresses, homosexual liaisons, bankruptcy … Continue reading →

An interview with Women’s Wear Daily Scoop . Click here to read it.