From The Dakota co-op where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived before his death in 1980 to the famous Sex And The City West Village brownstone, New York City is dotted with the homes of the rich and famous. A few have been converted into museums, whilst others continue to hit the headlines due to their celebrity residents – but each one has a fascinating story to tell. Join us on our tour of New York’s most intriguing dwellings.
With its distinctive façade and prime location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the Dakota is New York City’s most famous apartment building. It’s been a magnet for the rich and famous since it opened its doors in 1884 and according to Architectual Digest, past residents include Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall, Rosemary Clooney, Leonard Bernstein and most famously, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, who was murdered outside the apartment in December 1980.
The Japanese artist still lives in the 7th-floor apartment she shared with Lennon and their son Sean before he was tragically shot by obsessed fan Mark David Chapman on 8 December 1980. As reportedly by The Independent, Yoko claimed that Lennon's ghost once appeared before her there, sitting at his white piano saying "don't be afraid. I'm still with you." The couple, who lived here for seven years, purchased the apartment from The Dirty Dozen actor Robert Ryan.
After his death, Ono scattered Lennon’s ashes in Central Park (above), where the Strawberry Fields Memorial was later created. Edward Clark, who had made his fortune from the Singer Sewing Machine Company, was also drawn to the green open spaces here in 1880, when he started construction of the iconic building. Designed by Henry J. Hardenbergh, it boasted 65 suites, eight elevators, and nine floors, when it opened in 1884.
Apartments at the sought-after address rarely come up – and it’s notoriously difficult to get the approval of The Dakota co-op board. According to Business Insider, celebrities including Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, Carly Simon, Cher and Madonna have all been turned down. If you do get past the strict selection committee and have $20 million (£16m) going spare, you may be able to snap up this five-bedroom residence currently for sale, which comes with a full-time doorman.
Now the site of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the 64-room Carnegie Mansion is the former home of industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie, who became one of the most important philanthropists of his time. The Scottish-born American industrialist deliberately purchased land beyond what was then fashionable New York – now Fifth Avenue – so that he could establish a spacious family home and large garden for his wife, Louise and their daughter Margaret.
Built from 1899 to 1902, architects Babb, Cook & Willard’s creation was reminiscent of an English Georgian country house, with its wood-panelled rooms and impressive staircase. But its design was also groundbreaking: it was the first private residence in the United States to have a structural steel frame and one of the first in in New York to have multiple electric elevators. It also boasted a fully electrified laundry and a sophisticated air-conditioning and heating system.
Carnegie enjoyed nearly 20 years in this house before his death in 1919, after which his widow Louise continued to reside here, welcoming her family and friends and attending to her beloved garden before her death in 1946. A little-known fact is that the family loved to wake up to the sound live music and employed the renowned church organist Walter C.Gale to play in the main hallway (above) every morning.
Since Carnegie believed that huge wealth should be used to benefit the less fortunate, it was entirely appropriate that the mansion should have been bequeathed to the nation and donated to the Smithsonian, from where it was incorporated into the Cooper Hewitt Museum. Carnegie spent the final decades of his life here overseeing his philanthropic projects, and over his lifetime reportedly gave away some $350 million (£280m) to education, cultural institutions, and the promotion of world peace.
The ultimate symbol of eighties excess, Trump Tower, with its gold-plated fixtures and pink marble atrium, opened its doors to the public on St Valentine’s Day 1983. Designed by American architect Der Scutt, it was built on the site of the landmark Art Deco Bonwit Teller department store and was at the time the tallest glass building in New York, soaring over 600 feet and costing approximately $300 million (about £240m) to build.
Its construction was beset by controversy, not least because Trump destroyed two Art Deco Dancing Lady bas-reliefs by celebrated sculptor Rene Paul Chambellan. Part of the original building, he had promised it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also exposed for employing illegal Polish immigrants, paying them a pittance to work 12 hour shifts in extremely unsafe conditions. They eventually sued and were awarded a $1.4 million (£1m) payout, a sum discovered after a Time Magazine freedom of information request opened up court documents that had been sealed for 20 years.
Trump Tower has been home to a host of famous, and infamous, characters, including as reported by The Independent Russian gangsters. Hollywood residents have included Sophia Loren, Johnny Carson and Steven Spielberg. Liberace stayed here rent-free and Michael Jackson lived here with Lisa Marie Presley. There was even a rumour that the newly married Prince Charles and Princess Diana planned to move in – which turned out to be, you guessed it – fake news!
As well as housing his private offices, the tower provided the backdrop to the property developer’s show The Apprentice and was the hub of his 2016 presidential campaign. His lavish three-level penthouse inspired by the décor of the Palace of Versailles, is also the New York home of Trump, his wife Melania and their son Barron. Trump is shown here with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo when he was President in 2018.
While the classic brownstone has become synonymous with gentrified sections of Brooklyn, they are not unusual in other parts of the city too. The best-known example is probably 64 Perry Street, the West Village brownstone that provided the exterior shots for Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment building on Sex and the City. Used for the first three seasons, filming moved next door to number 66 (above) for the remaining seasons and the street has become a tourist destination ever since.
To celebrate the return of Carrie to our screens last year in the Sex and the City spin-off, And Just Like That, Sarah Jessica Parker partnered with Airbnb to recreate her apartment as a holiday rental, complete with “iconic couture-filled closet” and a writing desk and Post-it notes. As reported by CNN, though technically in Chelsea and not Upper East, as it is in the show, fans could live and breathe the Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle for a spell.
Built in 1866, the real-life townhouse last sold in 2013 for a whopping $13.25 million (£10.6m) just a year after it fetched $9.85 million (almost £7.9m) with Sotheby’s International Realty. With its ornate ceilings and gold-painted cornices, the building has star appeal and featured in Woody Allen’s 1990 film Alice. According to StreetEasy it was also the former home of Project Runway’s Tim Gunn, who lived on the top floor for some 16 years.
Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick are partial to a brownstone classic themselves and, according to Hello magazine, they lived in the same stunning West Village townhouse for 21 years before they sold it last year for $15 million (£11m). Architectual Digest reported in 2021 that the couple and their three children will be moving to a pair of nearby properties they have knocked together to create a 13,900-square-foot mansion, complete with a 2,100-square-foot private garden.
Archibald Gracie Mansion (commonly called Gracie Mansion) is the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. Built in Manhattan’s Yorkville neighbourhood overlooking the East River in 1799 by Scottish-born merchant Archibald Gracie, it ranks as one of the oldest standing wooden structures on the island. The first home of the Museum of the City of New York, it became the mayor’s official home in 1942.
Gracie Mansion was enlarged in 1966 with the addition of the Susan E. Wagner Wing, which includes a ballroom (above) and two reception rooms for official events and public gatherings. It is now home to the city’s 110th mayor, former police officer Eric Adams, who took up residence when he was elected on 1 January 2022.
It has hosted presidents and icons, including John F. Kennedy, who attended a reception here given in his honour by Mayor Robert Wagner (above). Other illustrious visitors include Martin Luther King Jr, Ronald Reagan and Charlie Chaplin; whilst according to the Los Angeles Times, one former mayor, Rudolpf W. Giuliani, was banned by a judge in 2001 from bringing his girlfriend, Judith Nathan, to the official mayoral residence whilst his estranged wife, Donna Hanover and family were in residence.
The property sat vacant for more than a decade when Michael Bloomberg was elected in 2002, the NYC mayor preferring to reside in his own mansion, on East 79th Street. Instead, despite never having spent a night here, he spent millions of dollars renovating the graceful Federal-style country house into what he called a “People’s Mansion”, where the public could visit its elegant rooms including, the dining room with its antique wall paper (above). Archtectural Digest later ran a full house tour of the restorations.
It was converted into luxury apartments in 2016 and now counts Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski as residents. The Oscar-winning star of Good Will Hunting, bought the 6,000-plus-square-foot penthouse in 2018 for a cool $16.5 million (£13.2m) – making it Brooklyn’s most expensive apartment at the time – but it took the Jason Bourne actor and his Argentine-born wife Luciana Barroso, more than a year to move in due to Covid and renovations.
Locals call the building “The Standoffish” because it’s a little bit of Hollywood dumped in the middle of an otherwise low-key area. The lobby is lined in Italian Carrara marble with a black and white mosaic-tiled floor (above) and according to Page Six, when Matt Damon moved in, he caused mayhem in the area by closing off the street all day with an enormous red crane.
The highest building in the area, residents are attracted by its unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline and New York Harbor – and while Emily Blunt and her husband, John Krasinski, have a bird’s eye view on the eighth floor, Matt Damon has his head in the clouds on the 12th. It was once even the (fictional) home of Superman in the original DC comic books!
It has been home to a long list of celebrities, including Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Meg Ryan, Harry Styles and Bella Hadid. According to the Daily Mail, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are reported to have recently sold their 5,000-foot apartment for $29 million (£23m) in an off-market sale, whilst The Observer reports that Jennifer Lawrence rents out her penthouse in the building.
It’s not surprising celebrities are drawn to the property. Known as being “paparazzi-proof”, according to City Realty, the building boasts an underground parking garage (complete with electric charging stations) – to allow discreet comings and goings - a 71-foot indoor swimming pool, huge roof terrace, fitness centre with private studios and adjacent hamman – and a 4,000-square-foot interior courtyard for those well-earned moments of calm and serenity.
It goes without saying that each apartment exudes style and luxury. CetraRuddy, which also created the interiors, have enhanced the building’s historic features, its large arched windows and high ceilings, and restored its original pine wooden beams for ultimate loft-style living. No surprise then that according to Business Insider, its largest 12,000-foot residence distributed over three floors, sold for a staggering $49.5 million (£39.6m) in October 2021.
Built in 1832, The Merchant’s House is the only 19th century family home in New York preserved intact – both inside and out. The five-storey Greek Revival townhouse, with its late-Federal façade and dormer windows, was the first building in Manhattan to be designated a landmark back in the 1960s. It provides a rare glimpse into everyday life in the early 1800s with its vast collection of original furnishings, clothing, books, and artwork.
Purchased by hardware merchant Seabury Tredwell in 1835 for the princely sum of $18,000 (nearly £14k), it was home to two generations of the Tredwell family over a period of almost 100 years. Its last occupant Gertrude (Seabury’s youngest daughter) passed away in 1933, leaving behind more than 4,000 possessions. From oil lamps and fine china, to this stunning suite of Rococo revival furniture, there was even a rosewood pianoforte and silk damask curtains in the front parlour (above).
Step into this home in downtown Manhattan and it feels as if its inhabitants have just popped out; including the Irish servants whose bedrooms are in the the eaves of the house (above) and are the only example of intact servants’ quarters in the city. Life was hard for Irish immigrant servants at the time: they were on call 24 hours a day for $3 a month and were often subjected to cruel prejudice.
When Gertrude, died in the upstairs front bedroom aged 93, she was impoverished and all her possessions were due to be sold off at auction before an insightful descendant recognised the historical value of her belongings and converted the house into a museum in 1936. Described by The New York Times as "Manhattan's most haunted house" some say Gertrude never left and have reported “inexplicable happenings”, sightings and smells, that feature on the museum’s popular Candlelight Ghost Tour. It's definitely worth a visit!
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