Simon I. Schwartz and Arthur Gross were the architects for 888. As a Schwartz and Gross building (1827)They, or one of the many real estate agents in New York would be able to tell you who bought the penthouse.
find out who lives there now and ask.There would be previous owners on the title.
I do quite a bit of work for the real estate business when the history of the property or the residents is needed to sell.

Here! contact this guy David Lubell Just tell him you're interested in the penthouse . See how passionate he is.

I tried to contact but it came back

Okay! maybe he's out of business. Try another agent. Go to Google There's a lot for sale in that block. One of those hotshots should be able to put you on the right track. There must be somewhere where you can look at land titles. I'm an aussie so I'm unclear about the procedure there.

Gee! pretty classy place. Out of my price range.
Looks to me like the building had/has a management board or co-op
Read this
board Find out where you could contact them, any one of the real estate agents would know. Sounds like that board would know if you had holes in your underwear.

Thank you for your time and response.Nobody seems to know where to get information without paying for it.