John Winston Lennon is definitely an icon who does not need an introduction. But, in case you did not know him, John Lennon was the founder, and co-lead vocalist and guitarist of the Beatles. Born in Liverpool, Lennon’s first band, the Quarrymen, evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Lennon had 25 number one singles and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. In 1973, Yoko Ono and Lennon moved to the Dakota apartments in NYC in 1973, as they required a more secure complex. Tragically, John Lennon was murdered in the Dakota archway on December 8th, 1980 by Mark David Chapman.
As 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of Lennon's passing, I would like to share the architectural history of the Dakota Apartments.
Architectural Background
The Dakota has been referred to as the “most famous apartment building in NYC.” Completed in 1884, NYC sprouted up around this iconic building. In 1880, the founder of Singer Sewing Machine Co, Edward Clark commissioned the building. It was architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, who also designed the Plaza later on, created this apartment building. The commission was $1 million dollars (which is the equivalent of $25,517,647. However, that still probably wouldn’t be the correct build price - given the fact that the apartments to buy cost sometimes over $25 million today.
This design spawned the development of the empty Upper West Side. Clark had a vision to create an upscale suburb in NYC. But the Dakota was building block number 1. Even the Dakota’s name is a commentary on the apartment’s distance from the busy streets of NYC. It “might as well have been out West in the Dakotas”
Programmatically speaking, there are 65 apartments, where every single one has been uniquely designed. The idea of luxury apartments was still quite novel for its time, as single family living dominated residential architecture. But, in order to make tenement lifestyle less tenement like, breaking the stigma and reputation, these apartments are absolutely extraordinary. All apartments come with amenities seen in private mansions. Some apartments even have 16 rooms total!
Architectural Style
Style wise, in the intro I mentioned it has a sort of Gothic style. However, there is a mixed vocabulary. There’s hints of German Renaissance architecture, Chateauesque architecture blended with a gothic revival style all perfectly mixed together to create this eclectic building.
"The Dakota was this dark, brooding, peculiar building that didn’t look like any other in the city.”
- Andrew Alpern, Architectural Historian
Structure
Structurally speaking, the building proposal submission presented more like a fortress than an apartment complex. It is not constructed in the “new” method of structures using steel framework. Instead, it used iron beams with concrete for the flooring. The foundation is about 3-4’ thick - which is uncommonly thick for a slab.
Program Organization
There is an interior courtyard, originally intended for the residents to exit horse-drawn carriages in style. Also, this courtyard granted privacy, natural lighting to the apartments, and better ventilation. There is a basement for “domestic workers” carved underneath this courtyard.
Cladding
The yellow brick is trimmed with beautiful Nova Scotia freestone and terra cotta spandrels. There are bay and octagon windows and detailed balconies with balustrades. The architect Henry Hardenbergh did not include fire escapes. He took mud - literal mud - from Central Park and slathered it in between layers of the masonry brick flooring to fireproof and soundproof the building.
Other features include a beautiful bronze staircases, rare marble wall treatments, four innovative and luxurious elevators. They also built a in-house power plant and its boilers could heat every structure in a 4 block radius.
Interesting Facts
Edward Clark requested sterling silver floors. However, Clark died in 1882, two full years before the building could ever be completed. Since it opened though in 1884, the super rich have been drawn to the Dakota. The Steinway family of the Steinway piano company were the first residents there. Today, the famous are still drawn to this place like a magnet. Even the most elite celebrities get their applications rejected, even though the application process to live there is absolutely insane and costs $1,000 just to get reviewed! Cher, Billy Joel, Madonna and so others have been rejected by this Dakota co-op board.
To this day, Yoko Ono lives in the same apartment her and John shared. She claimed once after Lennon’s death, she saw her husband’s ghost sitting at his white piano. This was in an interview article of the New York Post.