The Dakota | CultureNow

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The Dakota

Also Dakota Apartments

NY

Residential

Architect

Henry Hardenbergh

Date

Constructed, 1881

Designations

National Historic Landmark

National Register of Historic Places

Description Show more

Perhaps more renowned for its resident John Lennon who was shot outside by Mark David Chapman in 1973, the Dakota was one of the first large apartments built on the West Side. In order to attract upscale residents to what was then an almost rural location, the building is loaded with amenities. Carriages would enter through a porte cochere. There are elevators as well as staircases. Each of the 65 apartments is unique, all of the rooms are very large; living rooms are 45' long and 14' high and have windows on several sides. The building also featured a large dining hall with dumbwaiters for food to be transported to the apartments. For exercise, children could play in a penthouse playroom and gymnasium. Outside there was a garden, croquet lawn, and tennis court. It generated its own electricity. There was central heating which was unusual for the 1880's. Famous residents included Judy Garland, Yoko Ono, Lauren Bacall, Rosemary Clooney, Boris Karloff, Rudolph Nureyev, Leonard Bernstein, and Connie Chung.

Perhaps more renowned for its resident John Lennon who was shot outside by Mark David Chapman in 1973, the Dakota was one of the first large apartments built on the West Side. In order to attract upscale residents to what was then an almost rural location, the building is loaded with amenities. Carriages would enter through a porte cochere. There are elevators as well as staircases. Each of the 65 apartments is unique, all of the rooms are very large; living rooms are 45' long and 14' high and have windows on several sides. The building also featured a large dining hall with dumbwaiters for food to be transported to the apartments. For exercise, children could play in a penthouse playroom and gymnasium. Outside there was a garden, croquet lawn, and tennis court. It generated its own electricity. There was central heating which was unusual for the 1880's. Famous residents included Judy Garland, Yoko Ono, Lauren Bacall, Rosemary Clooney, Boris Karloff, Rudolph Nureyev, Leonard Bernstein, and Connie Chung.

72nd Central Park West, New York City, NY, US 10023

Nearby

The Assassination of John Lennon	109 feet
Imagine Mosaic in Central Park	284 feet
Shearith Israel Synagogue	0.2 miles
Daniel Webster Statue in Central Park	0.2 miles
New York Historical Society Museum & Library	0.3 miles
Seventh Regiment Memorial in Central Park	0.4 miles
Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, New York City	0.4 miles
Hotel Des Artistes	0.4 miles
Theodore Roosevelt Equestrian Statue	0.5 miles

#Architecture #Residential

As seen in this picture from 1890, the arched main entrance is a porte-cochère large enough for the horse-drawn carriages that once entered and allowed passengers to disembark sheltered from the weather.

The south entrance of the building was the location of the murder of John Lennon. Yoko Ono continues to reside in the building.

The building's high gables and deep roofs with a profusion of dormers, terracotta spandrels and panels, niches, balconies, and balustrades give it a German Renaissance character and an echo of a Hanseatic town hall.

The Dakota has historically been home to many artists, actors, and musicians, including John Lennon, who was murdered in the archway of the building in 1980.

Its layout and floor plan were strongly influenced by French architectural trends in housing design that had become known in New York City in the 1870s.