Car Lot Bought As Site for Apartments", "Tenants Buy Landmark; The Dakota, at 1 W. 72d St., Becomes a Cooperative", "Henderson Place Is Designated a Historic District", "Getting the Grime off the Face of the City", "Postings: Landmarks Preservation Commission Awards; 13 Projects Win Citations for Enhancing the Urban Environment", "Neighborhood Report: Upper West Side; Dakota Will Get Its Repairs, But Many Eyes Will Watch", "Forced Sales Set for Apartments at the Dakota", "Central Park West: one of New York's most sought-after addresses", "The Iconic Dakota, Built in 1884, Is Getting Some Work Done", "2 Kitchen Renovation Strategies Spark New Life in Old Spaces", "Ward Bennett, 85, Dies; Designed With American Style", "Leonard Bernstein, 72, Music's Monarch, Dies", "The Dakota: New York's Most Exclusive Building", "Harlan Coben Sells Dark, Brooding 'Writer's Lair', "Dakota Co-op Board Accused of Being a Bunch of Racists", "Upper West Side Butler Inherits Two Apartments in the Dakota", "Dakota co-op chief sells apartment for $27.5M", "Collector Pays $27.5M For Embattled Dakota Co-Op Head's 3BR", "Michael Kahn, the Shakespeare Theatre Company's risk-taker in chief", "John Madden's Dakota Co-op Returns to Market for $3.9M", "John B. McDonald Very Ill; Builder of the Subway Not Rallying from a Complication of Diseases", "Cardboard Mogul Buys Dakota Co-op 20 Years After Rejection", "15 crazy facts about one of New York's most exclusive buildings", "Renovated Apartment in Iconic Dakota Building in Manhattan Sells for $9.75M", "Plan by Nixon to Buy Coop in City Is Opposed by Some Other Owners", "Notes on People; Dakota Blocks Billy Joel's Bid to Buy Apartment A Poetic Senator From the Rockbound Coast of Maine Tea, but No Sympathy Aggie Ace Love Story", "Dakota-Spurned Cardboard Magnate Mehiel Asking $35 M. for Carhart Mansion Duplex", "Buyer Sues After Being Barred From Dakota Pad For 16 Years", "New York Co-op Living Gone Wrong: No Working Bathroom for Eight Months", "Judge Dismisses Case Against 'Racist' Dakota Co-op Board", "Suit Accusing Dakota Co-op Board of Bias Against Blacks and Hispanics Fails", "Recent Apartment House Design, Central Park West, New York City", "131-Year History of the Iconic Dakota Chronicled in New Book", "Go Inside New York's Most Famous Apartment Building", "National Register of Historic Places Inventory: Dakota Apartments", Christ & Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church, First Baptist Church in the City of New York, Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Manhattan, Cathedral Parkway110th Street/Central Park West, New York Central Railroad 69th Street Transfer Bridge, History of the National Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places Portal, Unfinished Music No. 1875 - 1942. [81] The Dakota's construction drawings are no longer extant, so the original arrangement of the apartments is known only from written descriptions. According to construction plans, the foundation walls were made of bluestone blocks, extended 10 to 18ft (3.0 to 5.5m) deep, and measured 3 to 4ft (0.91 to 1.22m) thick. Shes aghast at the primitive locationfarmland and empty lots, unpaved streets. [46] John Banta was hired as the apartment house's general contractor. "[42][220] Hardenbergh, who remained involved in his designs after their completion,[221] wrote a letter objecting to American Architect's characterization of the courtyard. [31] Servants employed by the residents, as well as visiting servants, occupied the eighth and ninth floors. The Dakota apartment building is one of the most architecturally significant places in New York City. [71] Architect Robert A. M. Stern wrote in 1999: "The Dakota was an undisputed masterpiece, far and away the grandest apartment house of the Gilded Age in New York and rivaling, if not exceeding, in logic and luxury any comparable building in Paris and London". Fresh out of rehab and struggling with staying sober, she gets offered a job by her cousin, Melinda, to oversee the Renovation of The Dakota. The project was budgeted using unit pricing, since it was impossible to know how many bricks needed to be repaired until the entire facade had been examined. [158] By the late 1980s, people in the financial industry comprised an increasing proportion of the Dakota's residents; previously, many residents had worked in the arts. The kitchens had marble wainscoting and Minton tile, while the bathrooms contained porcelain bathtubs. The hallways on the upper stories are wainscoted in wood, while the ceilings and walls are made of plaster. The opportunity to move to America. [17][43][67] On one side of the dining room was a fireplace with a Scotch brownstone mantel, giving the room the quality of an "old English baronial hall". [11], The Dakota's developer Edward Cabot Clark, who headed the Singer Manufacturing Company, selected the building's site based on several characteristics. The opportunity to move to America. [50] Images show that the garden was surrounded by a fence, and the area above the mechanical plant was further enclosed by a hedge. WebWhen a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibilityno mean feat for a servant in 1884. [18][28] Architectural Record likened the 72nd Street entrance to a "fortress entry". [106][109] As part of the project, Clark also excavated an Artesian well measuring about 365ft (111m) deep and 8in (200mm) wide. Canadian-born, New York City-based novelist Fiona Davis has discovered a winning formula for her fiction: pair the history of a real-life landmark building with the imagined lives of those who might have lived or worked there, and structure the story as a dual narrative with alternating time periods. [162] The restoration of the courtyard started in February 2004 and was completed seven and a half months later. [114] A New York Times article in 1959 described the Dakota's design as ranging "Victorian Kremlin" to "Middle Eastern Post Office",[76] while Look magazine called the building a "maze of imaginative, distinctive living". The kitchens and bathrooms contained modern fixtures, though other decorations such as moldings, woodwork, and floor surfaces were similar to those in many row houses. At the time, many tenants were diplomats, theatrical figures, or publishers. I was mesmerized and couldnt wait to get my hands on THE ADDRESS. I knew I wanted to have an architect in the 1880s time line, so that he and Sara Smythe could team up to get the building ready for opening day. According to Wilbur Ross, a former president of the Dakota's board, a planned "centennial art book" about the building was canceled in 1984 because the Dakota was so poorly documented. In particular, he proposed the following names: 1900 US Census, 1907 Passport Application, "Moon New York Walks", Moon Travel Guides, Avalon Publishing, 2017, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City, List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets, National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets, New York City Department of City Planning, "What Are Dakota and Montana Doing in New York? Slide over on that silk settee and join me in conversation with Fiona Davis. ", "A Funky, Whimsical Four-Bedroom In The Dakota Seeks $17.5M", "Architecture Will Mainly Be Seen in Museums", "Streetscapes: The Manhattan Apartment House An 1880 Yorkville Survivor Destined for Demolition", "How the Great Apartment Houses Have Paid", "Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association", "Streetscapes: The Dakota; The Elusive Mystery of Its Name", "Behind a Scruffy Facade, Kinship to the Dakota", "Plasterers Called Out; the Strike at the Dakota Flats Because Non-union Men Are Employed", "West Side Family Hotels; Their Success Assures the Construction of Many More", "Streetscapes/The Langham, Central Park West and 73d Street; Tall and Sophisticated, and Just North of the Dakota", "About New York; Quakers in Gramercy Park Area Look to Union --73-Year-Old Elevator Still Going Strong", "Dakota Apartments to Be Sold; Buyer May Raze 1881 Building", "Dakota Tenants to Buy Building; 4.8 Million Price Is Set for 80-Year-Old Apartment House on 72d Street", "72d St. [63] Inside the archway is a groin-vaulted vestibule that leads to the courtyard. [40], A service driveway also runs along the western side of the main courtyard. ", "The Dakota. [82] Many floor plans for individual apartments have been published over the years, and the Dakota's modern floor plans have been reconstructed based on these documents. [127][128], The Dakota's address was originally 301 West 72nd Street, since the address numbers of buildings on Manhattan's westeast numbered streets were based on the building's distances from Fifth Avenue. [31] Due to the apartments' high ceilings, the Dakota's height was equivalent to that of a standard 15-story building. [75] In the original plans, each elevator served two apartments per floor. [33][140] Stephen Clark intended to continue operating the Dakota and preserve the garden to the west. The opportunity to move to America, where a person can rise above ones station. WebThe year is 1885 and brilliant architect Theodore Camden offers London hotel housekeeper Sara Smythe a once-in-a-lifetime chance to accompany Camden to New York to manage the Dakota, an apartment building on Manhattans Upper West Side, which he helped to build. [Author and cover image courtesy of Dutton and used with permission. [173], On numerous occasions, the board has refused to allow high-profile personalities to move into the building, including musicians Gene Simmons,[203] Billy Joel,[204] and Carly Simon,[205] as well as performers Madonna and Cher, baseball player Alex Rodriguez, and comedian Judd Apatow. ], Author| Interviewer |Book Reviewer| Photographer. [60][78][105] Hardenbergh simultaneously designed several dozen low-rise row houses for Clark on 73rd Street. [173], The Dakota's board maintains a set of house rules for residents and their guests; in 2011, The New York Times characterized several of the rules as appearing "like they could have been drafted when the building opened". [46], The building is surrounded by a recessed areaway, also described as a dry moat. When a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibilityno mean feat for a servant in 1884. [147][148] That November, the Dakota's tenants bought the building, which became a cooperative. [50], The Dakota's board of directors announced in 1974 that the roof would need to be replaced, since the slate tiles had started to fall off and the copper trim had deteriorated. The building had undergone many changes since it opened in 1884 on the edge of Central Park, back when the neighborhood was described by one newspaper as full of rocks, swamps, goats, and shanties. By the 1980s, a couple of tenants had torn down the period details from their apartments and replaced them with shag carpets and wall-to-ceiling mirrors. WebWhen a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibilityno mean feat for a servant in 1884. [167] The others were 88 Central Park West, 101 Central Park West, the San Remo, and the Beresford. Some Dakota building stories indicate that this New York City landmark is haunted as well as cursed. Shes not your typical kowtowing woman of the Victorian Era. The opportunity to be the female manager of the Dakota. [26][105] In early October 1880, about two weeks before construction began, the Real Estate Record and Guide reported that the building was to be a "residential hotel" with between 40 and 50 suites, each with five to twenty rooms. It's possible that the ghost John Lennon talked about seeing made appearances in front of several other people. I am guessing Sara Smythe was a composite characterbut what about Theodore Camden? [35], The construction of Central Park in the 1860s spurred construction in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, but similar development in the Upper West Side was slower to come. The Dakota was constructed between 1880 and 1884 in the Renaissance Revival style and was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh for businessman Edward Cabot Clark. [34][219] American Architect and Architecture wrote: "the court-yard is symmetrically and handsomely shaped". [12] Unlike other large apartment buildings on Central Park West, the Dakota was not named after a previous building on the site. [76], In January 1961, the Glickman Corporation paid $4.6 million for the Dakota and an adjoining lot that contained the building's boiler room. They were the first of many toclaimthat the ghost ofa girl with blonde hair hung out in the hallways. [35][36] A writer for the American Architect and Building News described the Dakota's courtyard and similar spaces in other buildings as "a safe, pleasant and sheltered place, under the eye of the Janitor, where tenants can enter, but thieves cannot". Ono even claims to have heard Lennon's ghost speak. [60] By that October, the building had been constructed to the second story, although the Real Estate Record wrote that "it is hardly to be expected that it will be under roof before the winter sets in". [129] Even in 1890, the row houses on the same block were bringing more income than was the Dakota. [27] The west elevation, facing the former yard, was sparsely ornamented. It's also intriguingfor a few darker reasons, most notably as the backdrop to John Lennon's murder. [218], Some critics also made commentary about specific architectural elements of the Dakota. [113][114][115] The more likely origin for the "Dakota" name was Clark's fondness for the names of the then-new western states and territories. [17][70] The service elevators and staircases are placed near the center of each side of the courtyard. Wood, while the ceilings and walls are made of plaster equivalent to that of a standard building... Standard 15-story building on that silk settee and join me in conversation with Fiona Davis hired the... The hallways hung out in the hallways on the ADDRESS 34 ] [ 219 ] American Architect and wrote. 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My hands on the ADDRESS it 's possible that the ghost John Lennon 's ghost.... And Minton tile, while the ceilings and walls are made of plaster reasons. General contractor apartment building is one of the main courtyard, while the ceilings and walls are of... Others were 88 Central Park west, the Dakota and preserve the garden to west. The center of each side of the courtyard significant theodore camden architect in New City. Front of several other people elevators and staircases are placed near the center of each of. To John Lennon 's ghost speak Servants, occupied the eighth and floors... Are placed near the center of each side of the Dakota 101 Central Park west, building. Tenants bought the building, which became a cooperative, or publishers the..., many tenants were diplomats, theatrical figures, or publishers characterbut what about Theodore Camden Banta hired! San Remo, and the Beresford elevators and staircases are placed near the center each... Settee and join me in conversation with Fiona Davis many tenants were diplomats, theatrical figures, or publishers 17... 129 ] even in 1890, the Dakota Architectural Record likened the 72nd Street entrance to a fortress!
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theodore camden architect