--- description: Watch the evolution of the world's most famous apartment building title: New York City's Dakota: Pictures of the Building's History image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc34729763dfd6ae/698866e4428a9eeb00ccf799/151005-dakota-nyc-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [architecture](/tag/architecture/) ## architecture Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Photos of the Most Famous Apartment Building in the World  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 12, 2015 3:00 PM CUT ![The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments
at 135 Central Park
West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906. The sentry box for the guard has been replaced by](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc34729763dfd6ae/698866e4428a9eeb00ccf799/151005-dakota-nyc-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2) The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments at 135 Central Park West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906. The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments at 135 Central Park West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906.Detroit Publishing Co.  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 12, 2015 3:00 PM CUT Over the years, it appeared in the pages of TIME as the home of Lauren Bacall, the backdrop of _Rosemary’s Baby_ and the tragic scene of John Lennon’s killing. When the New York City apartment building the Dakota was built, however, it was a stretch to believe that anything noteworthy might happen in such a place. “A $1 million apartment house was considered a folly in the 1880s, when Entrepreneur Edward Clark broke ground west of Central Park at 72nd Street. Rich New Yorkers had never favored apartment living. The site was also so far north and west of fashionable society that it was nicknamed the Dakota after the remote Western territory,” TIME explained in a [1979 review](http://time.com/vault/issue/1979-08-27/page/78/ "undefined") of a book about the building. “Yet Clark went ahead with his ersatz castle, variously described as German Renaissance and Victorian chateau.” As historian Andrew Alpern explains in his upcoming book _The Dakota: A History of the World’s Best-Known Apartment Building—_from which the images above are drawn—that early doubt was quickly dispelled and the building went on to become one of New York City’s most recognizable landmarks. [The Dakota: A History of the World’s Best-Known Apartment Building](http://www.amazon.com/Dakota-History-Best-Known-Apartment-Building/dp/1616894377/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444072886&sr=1-1&keywords=the+dakota "undefined") _by Andrew Alpern, published by Princeton Architectural Press, will be available beginning Oct. 13._  Perhaps the earliest known image of the Dakota, while still under construction. The Central Park statue of Daniel Webster, in bronze on a granite pedestal, was sculpted by Thomas Ball and erected in 1876, only four years before work on the Dakota was begun. From a lantern slide, courtesy of Brian Merlis  Edward Clark, about age 60. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press  Prior to 1891 when the Hotel Majestic was begun across the street. The statue of Daniel Webster that can be seen in the photo is still there in Central Park today. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press  Skaters on the lake in Central Park. The Dakota dominated the scene. Shepp’s New York City Illustrated  The west façade of the Dakota circa 1889. Office for Metropolitan History  A pencil drawing over a tinted gesso base . Richard Britell  A romanticized drawing of the Dakota from 1889 Frank Leslie’s Newspaper, 7 September 1889 ![The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments
at 135 Central Park
West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906. The sentry box for the guard has been replaced by](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc34729763dfd6ae/698866e4428a9eeb00ccf799/151005-dakota-nyc-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp) The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments at 135 Central Park West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906. Detroit Publishing Co.  Pencil drawing of the Dakota entrance by Richard Britell. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press  The Dakota seen today, from the northeast. Kenneth Grant ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4061769/dakota-building-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4061769/dakota-building-history/"},"headline":"See Photos of the Most Famous Apartment Building in the World","datePublished":"2015-10-12T15:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:22.122Z","description":"A new book explores the story of the Dakota","url":"https://time.com/4061769/dakota-building-history/","keywords":["architecture","New York City","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc34729763dfd6ae/698866e4428a9eeb00ccf799/151005-dakota-nyc-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc34729763dfd6ae/698866e4428a9eeb00ccf799/151005-dakota-nyc-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments at 135 Central Park West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906. The sentry box for the guard has been replaced by","caption":"The photograph can be dated to about 1910 by the automobiles at the curb, and by the presence of the Langham Apartments at 135 Central Park West between 73rd and 74th Streets, which was completed in 1906. The sentry box for the guard has been replaced by","creditText":"Detroit Publishing Co.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/architecture/","name":"architecture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4061769/dakota-building-history/","name":"See Photos of the Most Famous Apartment Building in the World"}}]}] ```