The Mysterious Dakota Apartments

So much has been written about the Dakota Apartments over the years that it is hard to come up with new facts that haven’t been written about before. One thing is for sure that the apartments have been a magnet for the rich and famous since it first opened its’ doors.

When Edward Cabot Clark, a co-founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, selected the location of the building site it was far from the more fashionable sections of New York. Before he adapted the name Dakota the building site was originally known as “Clark’s folly”. Legend has it that the Dakota got its’ name due to the remoteness in this uninhabited area of Manhattan, just as The Dakota Territory (now North and South Dakota) was considered remote at the time. Clark selected the renowned architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh to designed the building. The structure was built between 1880-1884 in German Renaissance Revival style. Upon its’ completion the apartments were fully rented. For over eight decades the apartments were managed by the Clark family. The Dakota’s address was originally 301 W. 72nd St. when addresses were based upon the distance from 5th Ave. That all changed when in 1886 the house numbers were based upon their distance from Central Park West, the new address became 1 W. 72nd. Street. In 1961, the then Dakota residents purchased the building and converted it into a cooperative. Over the years residents have tended to live in the building for several decades. The NYT once observed “it is reported that no Dakota residents leaves the building permanently unless it is feet first”. The apartments have been home for such luminaries as Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Namath, Paul Simon and probably its’ most famous couple John Lennon and Yoko Ono. John Lennon was shot and killed in the archway of the building in 1980. Over the years the Dakota board has refused a number of high profiled individuals to move into the building such as Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Madonna, Cher and Alex Rodriguez. The Dakota is probably the most famous of all Manhattan apartments and was designated a National Historic Landmark in Dec. 1976.