Look Up: The Site of John Lennon's Murder

The most famous building on the noteworthy West 72nd Street block is the Dakota, though it holds the title for a tragic reason. Located at 1 West 72nd Street, the Dakota is the former residence of the late John Lennon, or, more specifically, the site where he was gunned down on the evening of December 8, 1980. While returning to his home, following a late recording session with his wife Yoko Ono, Lennon was killed by Mark David Chapman with four shots to the back and shoulder. Chapman, still in prison, is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence.

The building is striking in its own right, and worth every bit of the attention is receives. Construction began 100 years before Lennon’s murder, when the developer Edward Clarke pioneered the idea of building luxury apartments for New York’s ultra-wealthy instead of living in single family homes with live-in servants. Clarke hired Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, who later designed the Schermerhorn Building and the once independent (and now demolished) first locations for the Waldorf and Astoria Hotels.

The building is built around a central courtyard that is accessible through an arched port-cochère. Off the interior court are four separate elevator towers that take residents to the 65 original apartments inside.

Ranging from small, four-room apartments to luxurious 20-room mini-palaces, the apartments all featured then state of the art luxuries including dumbwaiters to deliver food from the central dining halls, central heating, and on-site generated electricity. Taking advantage of the central courtyard, the building also was the first to offer natural cross ventilation between apartments by having windows on both sides.

The exterior of the building is also splendid. Designed in a Northern Renaissance style with French influences, the building features high gable roofs with deep dormers, niches, and balconies.

What is especially delightful is the fine detail to the ornament that, at first blush, is overpowered by the grandeur of the building. Looking closely at, say, the underside of a balcony, one observes the gentle face of a bearded fellow looking down.

Similarly, high in an inset in the central dormer above the entrance is a profile of a Native American with the date of the initial groundbreaking, set in terra cotta.

The wrought-iron fence is striking for the entwined dragons.

The steeple of the Dakota.

Another look at the beautifully crafted balconies.