155 East 84th Street

The Penthouse of Legends

A Landmark with Secrets

On the quiet block between Lexington and Third Avenue stands an unassuming pre-war building — 155 East 84th Street, Manhattan, New York City.
Built in 1925, the seven-story brick structure carries the old-world charm of the Upper East Side: wrought iron balconies, tall ceilings, and the timeless aura of New York sophistication. But behind its classic façade lies a history that reads more like a movie script than a real estate record.

For most of its early life, the building was a peaceful home for middle-class tenants — artists, schoolteachers, and young professionals who thrived on the convenience of uptown living.
Then, in the early 1970s, the building’s destiny changed forever.

Enter Buddy Jacobson

In the glittering chaos of 1970s Manhattan, Howard “Buddy” Jacobson — horse trainer, entrepreneur, and nightlife impresario — purchased the entire building at 155 East 84th Street.
Already a colorful figure in the racing world, Buddy was equal parts showman and visionary. He poured his winnings and ambition into turning the property into something extraordinary: a fusion of business, beauty, and high society.

Buddy renovated the upper floors with his own hands, transforming the top level into a private penthouse suite with exposed brick walls and a glass-bottom swimming pool — a first-of-its-kind feature in New York residential architecture. From that pool, models could swim above the guests while the party raged below, light from the water shimmering across the ceiling like a living disco ball.

His modeling agency, My Fair Lady, operated on the lower floor, and soon the building was alive with movement — photo shoots, casting calls, fittings, and parties that lasted long past dawn.

The Penthouse Era

The Buddy Jacobson Penthouse quickly became one of the most talked-about addresses in Manhattan’s underground fashion scene.
On any given night, the guest list read like a who’s who of 1970s glamour: models, athletes, artists, and jet-set socialites brushed shoulders with racehorse owners, magazine photographers, and record-label executives.

Among the most memorable faces were:

• Melanie Cain, the stunning Midwestern auborn haired  model with blue eyes who became a muse for both Buddy and the camera. She was tall enough to be a model, smart enough to manage the agency, thin enough for the era yet almost encroaching the corners with Marilyn Monroe style curves.

• Dawn Eve, with her dark, wavy hair and signature white fur coat, often seen gliding through the party crowd. Dawn was born in northern Minnesota just like actress Judy Garland who was also connected to the Buddy Jacobson circle of influence via Dr. Feelgood (Dr. Max Jacobson) the stimulant doctor of stars and the world's most influential people.

• Alice, a tall 5’11” model who once appeared at the penthouse alongside a guest resembling football legend Joe Namath.

• Jim Brown, occasionally seen in the same circles during New York’s golden era of sport and nightlife.

• And a swirl of other familiar names from Studio 54, the fashion world, and uptown society.

It wasn’t just a party — it was a movement.
A new kind of Manhattan glamour: where luxury met rebellion, where the fashion elite mixed with the underworld, and where everyone wanted an invitation to Buddy’s next soiree.

Tragedy & Tabloid Fame

But the same intensity that fueled Buddy’s rise would soon become his undoing.
In 1978, a shocking event inside the building turned 155 East 84th Street from a social hotspot into the epicenter of one of New York’s most sensational true-crime stories.
The murder of model Jack Tupper, a tenant in one of the upper apartments, brought the press swarming to the building’s iron gate. The parties stopped. The lights went out.
Buddy Jacobson’s name — once synonymous with style and success — became front-page news across America.

For decades after, the building carried an invisible weight. Locals whispered about “the penthouse with the pool,” and even new tenants felt echoes of the past when they crossed the lobby floor.

The Ground Floor — From Fashion to Fine Dining

After the dust of the 1970s settled, the first floor entered a new chapter.
In 1982, the space became home to Tevere 84, an elegant glatt-kosher Roman-Italian restaurant that attracted diplomats, Upper East Side families, and visiting celebrities. For nearly four decades, Tevere defined the building’s culinary identity until its closing in 2019.

By 2021, the space was reborn again — this time as Home Kitchen, a cozy neighborhood restaurant serving modern American comfort food.
Today, its warm lighting and casual elegance stand in poetic contrast to the wild decadence that once ruled upstairs.

Life Across the Street — Nicola’s

Just opposite 155 East 84th stood Nicola’s Italian Restaurant, one of Buddy’s favorite haunts.
Nicola’s was where deals were whispered over Chianti and introductions were made between models, investors, and horsemen. It was the “after-party to the party” — a place where Manhattan’s beautiful people lingered after midnight.

Nicola’s and Buddy’s penthouse together formed a cultural microcosm of the 1970s Upper East Side — a small, glamorous ecosystem that would one day fuel the plotlines of My Buddy from Brooklyn.

Legacy of 155 East 84th Street

Today, 155 East 84th Street stands quietly under the same red brick and ironwork that witnessed both glamour and tragedy. Families and young professionals now live where models once posed and socialites once danced.
The glass-bottom pool is long gone, but the legend remains — whispered through the neighborhood, remembered by those who were there, and immortalized on screen in My Buddy from Brooklyn.