How Much Extra Do You Pay for a Herringbone Floor?

Condo Book Research · Updated Oct 12, 2026 · 5 min read

Herringbone floors are all over design magazines, but how many new NYC condos actually have them, and do you pay more for one? We searched more than 2,000 condo offering plans for patterned wood floors and compared what those buildings ask per square foot.

Herringbone is the floor of the moment: short wood planks laid in a zigzag, the look of a Paris apartment. Its cousin, chevron, cuts the plank ends at an angle so the zigzag forms a clean point. Both take more labor and more wood than straight planks.

So how common are they in new NYC condos, and does a herringbone floor mean a higher price? Every condo's offering plan describes the apartments' floors, often down to the plank size. We searched about 2,180 plans for herringbone and chevron wood floors, then compared those buildings' asking prices with their neighbors'.

The Short Version

• Patterned wood floors are rare: we found herringbone or chevron in the apartments of 34 buildings, about 1 in 50 recent plans.
• They're not just for luxury towers. Asking prices in these buildings ranged from about $990 to $3,100 a square foot.
• Compared with new condos in the same borough and years, these buildings asked about the same price per square foot at the median. The floor alone doesn't seem to set the price.
• Offering plans never price the floor separately, so there's no line item for "herringbone."

How Common Is Herringbone?

Patterned floors have held steady at about 1 to 2% of plans for a decade, but the number of buildings with them has grown with the number of small condos being built:

In the 2010s, herringbone was mostly a Manhattan luxury signature. 220 Central Park South specified quartered and rift-sawn white oak "plank and/or herringbone," 111 Murray Street in TriBeCa offered two floor systems, "Herringbone and Plank," and The Belnord on the Upper West Side called for "white oak herringbone floors" throughout.

Since 2020, it has spread to smaller buildings in Brooklyn and Queens. Several Bed-Stuy brownstone-scale condos, including 773 Greene Avenue, 680 Greene Avenue and 153 Chauncey Street, use the same spec: 5-inch-wide hardwood in a chevron pattern in the hallways, kitchen, living and dining rooms.

Do You Pay More for It?

Here's what some of these buildings asked, from their offering plan price lists, next to the median for new condos in the same borough filed within a year:

Across all 17 patterned-floor buildings with a price list, the median asked about 2% more than comparable new condos, which is essentially the same. In Brooklyn and Queens, herringbone buildings priced right in line with their neighbors. The big premiums were in small Manhattan boutique buildings, like 37 East 12th Street and La Maison Collette, where the floor is one of many high-end finishes, not the reason for the price.

Good to know: this compares whole buildings, not floors. Location, views, layouts and every other finish affect the price per square foot. What it shows is that a herringbone floor doesn't by itself put a building in a higher price bracket.

Read the Fine Print: "Or" and "Some Units"

A herringbone floor in the brochure doesn't always mean herringbone in every room of every apartment. Watch for:

• "Plank or herringbone." 95 Madison says flooring "will be laid in a straight or herringbone pattern." 200 East 75th specifies "herringbone or other pattern selected by sponsor" in living and dining rooms.
• Only some apartments. At Lantern House, the chevron floors are in the living areas of the three- and four-bedroom units and penthouses. At ArloParc, the herringbone spec applies to units from the second through the fourteenth floors.
• Only some rooms. Nova in Long Island City uses a chevron pattern in its kitchens.
• "Or equal." Nearly every plan lets the developer substitute materials of equal quality.

Tip: if the floor matters to you, confirm the pattern for your specific apartment in your contract.

Wood, Width and Construction

Patterned or not, most new condo floors today are white oak, and most are engineered: a real wood top layer over plywood, which is more stable over concrete and radiant heat than solid planks. Planks have gotten wider, with 7- to 8½-inch boards common in recent plans. A few details worth knowing:

• Wear layer. The thickness of the real-wood top layer, often 3 to 4 mm, determines how many times the floor can be sanded and refinished. Plans like ArloParc state it.
• Solid wood still appears in some herringbone floors, like the ¾-inch solid white oak at 569 Jefferson.
• Sound underlayment. Plans often specify an acoustic mat under the wood. It matters more than the pattern to your downstairs neighbor.

More on how finishes have changed in how NYC condo finishes have changed since 2010.

How to Check a Building's Floors

• Find the finish schedule in the offering plan's "Description of Property." It lists the floor for each room, often with plank size, species and maker.
• Search the plan for "herringbone" or "chevron." Then check whether it applies to your unit and rooms.
• Look for "engineered" and the wear layer to know how the floor can be refinished.

Search "condos with herringbone floors" on The Condo Book Project, or compare prices on our price per square foot page.

Common Questions

Do new NYC condos have herringbone floors?

A few do. About 1 in 50 recent offering plans specify herringbone or chevron wood floors in the apartments, from Manhattan luxury buildings to small condos in Bed-Stuy, Greenpoint and Queens.

Do condos with herringbone floors cost more?

Not by much. Across 17 buildings with price lists, the median asked about the same per square foot as comparable new condos nearby. The highest premiums were in Manhattan boutique buildings with many high-end finishes.

What's the difference between herringbone and chevron?

Both are zigzag patterns. Herringbone uses rectangular planks that overlap at the ends; chevron planks are cut at an angle so they meet in a clean point.

Are condo floors solid or engineered wood?

Most new NYC condos use engineered wood, typically white oak, which holds up better over concrete slabs. Some higher-end buildings still use solid wood.

Where this comes from: we searched the finish specifications in about 2,180 NYC condominium offering plans filed from 2000 to 2026 and read each mention of herringbone or chevron to keep only wood floors inside apartments (not lobbies, bathroom tile or backsplashes). Asking prices per square foot come from each plan's Schedule A price list; the comparison is with the median of other new condos in the same borough filed within a year. Plans don't price individual finishes. Updated October 2026.