The Dakota Building
21 West 72nd Street, New York, NY 10023, USA
The Dakota was built in 1884 and designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, who also designed the Plaza Hotel. The building offers legendary New York City living thanks to its incredible architecture, spectacular Central Park Views, and illustrious list of current and past residents. New York City’s Dakota is probably the City’s most famous residence, where many celebrities and social elite have lived. The famed home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, where he was shot and killed by Mark Chapman as he was autographing an album for him on December 8th, 1980.
Although a private building, it’s a tourist mecca for worldwide fans of John Lennon. Yoko continues to maintain a property there.
Trivia:
The original owner’s former apartment has sterling-silver floors
Singer Sewing Machine Company founder Edward Clark commissioned The Dakota as a $1 million apartment building for 60 families, including his own. Clark, however, died in 1882, two years before the building was completed.
It has been a magnet for the rich and famous since it opened in 1884
The building was reportedly fully rented before it even opened, thanks to a glowing New York Times review. The Steinway family, of Steinway piano fame, was one of The Dakota’s first residents. Though he died in 1883, Peter Tchaikovsky is said to have lived there (perhaps he lived in it before its completion). Actress Lauren Bacall owned a nine-room apartment for 53 years that recently sold for $23.5 million. Other notable residents have included author Harlan Coben, U2’s Bono, Rex Reed, Jack Palance, Lillian Gish, Boris Karloff, Rosemary Clooney, Connie Chung, and Maury Povich.
Celebrities don’t get special treatment
Notable celebrities who have been rejected by The Dakota co-op board include Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, Cher, Billy Joel, Madonna, Carly Simon, Alex Rodriguez, Judd Apatow, and Tea Leoni.
Rumours
It’s rumored that $30,000 is buried under the floor of Lennon and Ono’s apartment. According to author Stephen Birmingham’s 1996 book, “Life at the Dakota,” the previous resident of John and Yoko’s apartment hid the money under the master-bedroom floor. Whether that’s true will remain a question, as the board refuses to destroy the floor to solve the mystery.
Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/AAM4CwGNiFpyz1fz9
