The Dakota, John Lennon's Home in New York

The Dakota is an apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street, on the corner of Central Park West in Manhattan. John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved there in 1973, and Lennon was shot in its archway on 8 December 1980. It is a private cooperative. The public memorial, Strawberry Fields, is directly across the street in Central Park.

A landmark before Lennon arrived

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh designed the Dakota for Edward Cabot Clark, and it went up between 1880 and 1884. It is the oldest luxury apartment building still standing in New York City. The residents bought it from the Clark family in 1961 and turned it into a cooperative, which it still is.

The city made it a landmark in February 1969. It went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1976. The facade is brick with sandstone trim and terracotta. The main entrance is a tall archway on 72nd Street that opens onto a central courtyard.

Lennon at 1 West 72nd Street

After moving to New York, Lennon and Ono first lived in a flat on Bank Street in Greenwich Village. In 1973 they moved to the Dakota because they wanted better security. The building looks out over Central Park.

On the evening of 8 December 1980, the couple came home from a recording session at the Record Plant. They got out of their car on 72nd Street instead of driving into the courtyard, and Lennon was shot in the entrance archway. He died that night. Crowds gathered outside the building and at Roosevelt Hospital, and fans outside the Dakota sang Give Peace a Chance.

Security at the building was tightened afterward, and residents have generally kept out of the public eye since.

Seeing the building, and where to pay respects

The Dakota is private, so there is no tour and no way in. You can see the facade and the archway from the public sidewalk. Please remember that people live there.

Lennon's ashes were scattered in Central Park within sight of the building. In 1985 the city dedicated Strawberry Fields directly across Central Park West, opening it on 9 October, which would have been his 45th birthday. Fans gather there every 8 December and 9 October. For what happened to his remains, see John Lennon's grave.

The subway stop outside the door

The 72nd Street station on the Eighth Avenue Line is at the Dakota's corner. Its northwest staircase is set into the building's recessed areaway. When the station was renovated in 2018, it got a new artwork, SKY, by Yoko Ono, made in memory of Lennon.