Dakota (palazzo)

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Dakota apartaments

Il Dakota (The Dakota), costruito dal 25 ottobre 1880 al 27 ottobre 1884,^[1] is an apartment building situato on the northwest corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York City (see map).

The architectural firm of Henry Janeway Hardenbergh was commissioned to do the design for Edward Clark, head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company whose firm also designed the Plaza Hotel.^[2]

The building's high gables and deep roofs with a profusion of dormers, terracotta spandrels and panels, niches, balconies and balustrades give it a North German Renaissance character, an echo of a Hanseatic townhall. Nevertheless, its layout and floor plan betray a strong influence of French architectural trends in housing design that had become known in New York in the 1870s.

Secondo le leggende popolari, il Dakota fù così nominato perchè al tempo in cui venne costruito, l' Upper West Side di Manhattan era scarsamente abitato e considerato remoto quanto il Territorio del Dakota. Tuttavia, la più vecchia apparizione riguardo a questa informazione è presente in un quotidiano del 1933. E' altresì possibile che l'edificio sia stato soprannominato "The Dakota" because of Clark's fondness for the names of the new western states and territories.^[3] High above the 72nd Street entrance, the figure of a Dakota Indian keeps watch. The Dakota was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.^[4][5]

[modifica] Features

The Dakota in the 1880s

Entrance.

The Dakota is built in a square-shape around a central courtyard, accessible through the arched passage of the main entrance, a porte cochère large enough that horse-drawn carriages could pass through, letting their passengers disembark sheltered from the weather. In the Dakota multi-story stable building at 77th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, elevators lifted carriages to upper floors. The "Dakota Stables" building was still in operation as a garage until February 2007, but it is now slated to be developed by the Related Companies into a multimillion dollar condominium project.

The general layout of the apartments is also in the French style of the period, with all major rooms not only connected to each other en filade in the traditional way, but also accessible from a hall or corridor, an arrangement that allowed a natural migration for guests from one room to another, especially on festive occasions, yet gave service staff discreet separate circulation patterns that offered service access to the main rooms. The principal rooms such as parlors or the master bedroom face the street, while the dining room, the kitchen, and other auxiliary rooms are oriented on the courtyard. Apartments are thus aired from two sides, which was a relative novelty in New York at the time. (In the Stuyvesant building, which was built in 1869, a mere ten years earlier, and which is considered New York's first apartment building in the French style, many apartments have windows to one side only.) Some of the drawing rooms were 49 ft. (about 15 m) long, and many of the ceilings are Template:Convert high; the floors are inlaid with mahogany, oak, and cherry (although in the apartment of Clark, the building's founder, some floors were famously inlaid with sterling silver).

Elevation (south front)

Originally, the Dakota had 65 apartments with four to twenty rooms, no two alike. These apartments are accessed by staircases and elevators placed in the four corners of the courtyard. Separate service stairs and elevators serving the kitchens are located in mid-block. Built to cater for the well-to-do, the Dakota featured many amenities and a modern infrastructure that was exceptional for the time. The building has a large dining hall; meals could also be sent up to the apartments by dumbwaiters. Electricity was generated by an in-house power plant, and the building has central heating. Besides servants' quarters, there was a playroom and a gymnasium under the roof. (In later years, these spaces on the tenth floor were—for economic reasons—converted into apartments, too.) The lot of the Dakota also comprised a garden and private croquet lawns and a tennis court behind the building between 72nd and 73rd Streets.

The Dakota was a huge social success from the very start (all apartments were rented before the building opened), but a long-term drain on the fortune of Clark (who died before it was completed) and his heirs. For the high society of New York, it became fashionable to live in such a building, or to rent at least an apartment as a secondary city residence, and the Dakota's success prompted the construction of many other luxury apartment buildings in New York City.

[modifica] Morte di John Lennon e Memorial

Entrance where John Lennon was shot

Il palazzo è anche noto per essere stato la casa del Beatle John Lennon e sua moglie, Yoko Ono, a partire dal 1973, e per essere stato il luogo dove Lennon è stato assassinato nel 1980. Ancora oggi, Yoko Ono possiede un appartamento all'interno dell'edificio. Lo Strawberry Fields Memorial fu creato in memoria di Lennon a Central Park directly across Central Park West. Ogni anno, la Ono celebra l'anniversario della morte di Lennon con un (ora pubblico) pellegrinaggio al Memorial.^[6] However, the Dakota has throughout its history housed a veritable who's who of the great and famous particularly in the arts and business, including Andrew Carnegie.

[modifica] In popular culture

• Il regista Roman Polanski filmò gli esterni per il film Rosemary's Baby al Dakota; tuttavia, gli interni furono creati in a Hollywood soundstage. The building does not allow filming inside.
• The building also plays a crucial role in Jack Finney's novel Time and Again.
• The building features prominently in Lee Child's 2006 Jack Reacher novel The Hard Way.
• Special Agent Aloysius X. L. Pendergast, a fictional character appearing in many novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, has an apartment at the Dakota.
• David Aames, the protagonist in Cameron Crowe's 2001 movie Vanilla Sky is a Dakota resident, although only exteriors were shot in the building, all the interiors were shot on a sound stage
• Tim Curry mentions the Dakota by name in his song "I Do the Rock".
• Nas mentions the Dakota by name in his song "Thief's Theme" while talking about John Lennon
• The Dakota is referenced in the Hole song, "20 Years In The Dakota".
• Gene Simmons of Kiss sought residency in the Dakota in the late 1970s, but his request was turned down by the building's co-op board.
• John Lennon was shot in front of the Dakota on December 8 1980 by Mark David Chapman.
• Billy Joel sought residency in the Dakota, but his request for residency was turned down by the co-op board on September 25, 1977.
• Christine Lavin wrote and performs a song called "The Dakota". In it she recounts her feelings about John Lennon's murder and how she is compelled to think of the incident every time she passes the building.
• Brand New mentions the Dakota in their song "Play Crack the Sky" from the album Deja Entendu.
• Fictional character Windsor Horne Lockwood III, from a series of novels by Harlan Coben, lives in the Dakota.
• In the popular book series, The Baby-Sitters Club, Stacey Mcgill's ex-best friend Laine Cummings and her family lives in the Dakota.
• The band O.A.R. wrote a song titled "Dakota" about the murder of John Lennon at The Dakota, it was released in 2005.

[modifica] Education

The Dakota is zoned to P.S. 87 William Shermanwithin the New York City Department of Education. The Dakota is unzoned for middle school; residents may contact Region 10 to determine the middle school assignments.

[modifica] Residenti famosi

The remote Central Park West location, circa 1884

Archival photograph of the South entrance

Well-known residents of the Dakota building have included:

• attrice Lauren Bacall
• compositore/conductor Leonard Bernstein
• newscaster Connie Chung
• sportsman F Ambrose Clark who was also grandson of the original builder
• attore José Ferrer
• cantante Roberta Flack
• author Charles Henri Ford
• attrice Judy Garland
• attore Steve Guttenberg
• attrice Judy Holliday
• playwright William Inge
• attore Boris Karloff
• compositore/cantante John Lennon
• cantante Sean Lennon, figlio di John e Yoko
• football announcer John Madden
• interior decorator Syrie Maugham
• scrittore Carson McCullers
• ballerino Rudolf Nureyev
• artista Yoko Ono
• talk-show host Maury Povich
• comedienne Gilda Radner
• critico Rex Reed
• produttore Edgar J. Scherick
• cantante Neil Sedaka

[modifica] References

• Birmingham, S.: Life at the Dakota, Syracuse University Press. Reprint edition, 1996. ISBN 0-8156-0338-X. Originally published by Random House, 1979, ISBN 0-394-41079-3.
• Schoenauer, N.: 6000 Years of Housing, 3rd ed., pp. 335 - 336, W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-393-73120-0.
• Alpern, A.: "New York's fabulous luxury apartments: with original floor plans from the Dakota, River House, Olympic Tower, and other great buildings." New York: Dover Publications, 1987, c1975. (Avery Reserves and Reference AA 7860 AL 741) Exterior views and sample floor plans as well brief historical synopsis, each with architect, builder, date built, and when applicable, date razed.
• Van Pelt, D:Leslie's History of the Greater New York, Volume III" New York: Arkell Publishing Company 110 Fifth Avenue, c1898, The L A Williams Publishing and Engraving Company. Volume III Encyclopedia of Biography and Genealogy, pp. 656.

[modifica] Galleria

L'appartamento di John Lennon

[modifica] External links

• Wikisource contiene opere originali di o su Dakota (palazzo)

• Wikimedia Commons contiene file multimediali su Dakota (palazzo)
• The Dakota
• Recent photos of The Dakota building
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