Completed in 1884, the Dakota might be the most famous (and most visually spectacular apartment) house in New York City.
It’s even more incredible when you see it standing alone with the trees of Central Park in the distance—at a time when the “West End,” as the Upper West Side was called in the 1880s, was being parceled out for development.
Only a lovely row of townhouses a block over hint at what this part of Manhattan would soon become.
Photo: Office for Metropolitan History via The New Republic, which ran a thorough overview of the building’s early history a few years ago.
Tags: Dakota Apartments, Dakota Central Park West, Dakota West 72nd Street, The Dakota NYC, Upper West Side 1880s, West End New York City
Ephemeral New York 
March 4, 2019 at 7:43 am |
Great photo! Is it from NEW YORK:AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY ?
March 4, 2019 at 2:08 pm |
It’s credited to the files of Christopher Gray, Office for Metropolitan History.
Other early photos and review of a recently published book about the Dakota here: https://hyperallergic.com/250295/the-decadent-dakota-new-yorks-luxury-apartment-pioneer/
March 4, 2019 at 3:33 pm
Forgot to add the photo credit last night, it’s there now. Yes, Office for Metropolitan History.
March 4, 2019 at 9:16 am |
[…] Source: FS – NYC Real Estate The Dakota once stood alone on Central Park West […]
March 4, 2019 at 10:36 am |
Any idea what the two machines (with smokestacks) in the foreground would have been used for?
Thanks
March 4, 2019 at 3:32 pm |
I have no idea, but if anyone does I’d love to know too.
March 5, 2019 at 6:11 am
They look to me like air compressors used to power tools that would be used to drill and remove the rock obstructing the building site.
March 4, 2019 at 3:02 pm |
Love this side view of the Dakota. So many changes happened on Manhattan so fast! Still do. What is the ofgicial name of the building?
March 6, 2019 at 2:36 am |
i’m always gobsmacked when i see pictures of when manhattan was unbuilt like that – some from much more recently!
March 6, 2019 at 3:13 pm |
In my copy of “Valentine’s Guide to NY” from 1920, there were still cows in Inwood.
April 11, 2019 at 8:07 pm
The last farm in Manhattan closed down in 1954.
March 6, 2019 at 3:11 pm |
My building in Brooklyn was built the same year, but, alas, it was gut renovated in the late 1930s, during which they removed the cornice and rounded windows, took the fireplaces out of all the apartments, and made it the nondescript place it is now.
*Sigh*…
March 7, 2019 at 8:19 pm |
Did they have to clear out anybody/building to construct this apartment building? Are Mansard roofs still being built anywhere?
March 8, 2019 at 4:29 pm |
I wish mansard roofs were back in fashion! They don’t look right on the glass-box buildings that are going up all over the city, though…
The Upper West Side when the Dakota was being built was a sparsely populated collection of villas and small villages. I’m sure they had to clear out some shanties and small homes. Here’s a photo of West 72nd Street then:
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/central-park-west-and-72nd-street-before-the-dakota/
March 11, 2019 at 11:28 pm
So this could be the first gentrification of NYC. LOL
April 11, 2019 at 8:08 pm
That is accurate…there was nothing out by the “Dakota,” hence the name.
Some work was done on its southeast corner for a snappier entrance to the 8th Avenue subway when it was built in the 1930s.
It was the home of many famous people, the most lustrous of which we all know as being John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
March 9, 2019 at 4:19 pm |
Unfortunate that the building immediately to the west of the Dakota is such an eyesore today
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7768647,-73.9774963,3a,75y,75.9h,119.85t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s3dTiNLUk5U_8XU0u-RwOJw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D3dTiNLUk5U_8XU0u-RwOJw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D52.973976%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100
February 24, 2020 at 5:47 am |
[…] shine on Central Park West, its two towers as impressive as other iconic West Side buildings like the Dakota and the San […]
May 9, 2022 at 4:29 am |
[…] story begins with the Dakota. When this Gothic-inspired apartment building was completed in 1884, Gilded Age real estate […]