“For a few minutes, I felt like I was in the ’60s,” said Michael S. Hiller, a lawyer representing opponents of the project. “It was cathartic.”

He was retained by the Central Park West Neighbors Association, a group led by Susan Simon, a designer.

“We were up against tremendous odds — David versus Goliath,” Ms. Simon said. “We wondered if this was not just a pro forma exercise. But we believed that we had to fight for what we understood to be right. In the end, we felt the B.S.A. commissioners were very concerned about this project, and made the right call.”

The commissioners rejected arguments by the developer, Joseph Brunner, that the waivers he sought from zoning rules and apartment-building laws were the minimum necessary to earn a “reasonable” return. They covered such issues as the distance between the windows and the lot line, and the amount of light and air reaching the apartments. The project had been approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Mr. Brunner bought the building, at Central Park West and West 96th Street, from Irene Shapiro for $42 million. She purchased it in 2014 for $26 million from the Crenshaw Christian Center East, which bought it 10 years earlier from the First Church. The building, designed by Carrère & Hastings, was completed in 1903.