NEED TO KNOW
Two years after meeting Carolyn Bessette in 1992, John F. Kennedy Jr. purchased a two-bedroom loft in Tribeca
The couple resided there throughout their relationship and marriage until their tragic deaths in 1999
Before dying in a plane crash, Kennedy and Bessette were looking at a second home
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette‘s love story took place in an industrial two-bedroom New York City penthouse.
According to Realtor.com, the son of President John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy purchased the top-floor loft in Tribeca for $700,000 in 1994. The notoriously private couple were often photographed around their neighborhood, and the George editor-in-chief famously asked the ever-present paparazzi to respect his wife’s adjustment to fame after they married in 1996.
“This is a big change for anyone,” Kennedy is said to have told reporters, according to Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short by William D. Cohan (via Vanity Fair). “For a private citizen, even more so. I just ask [for] any privacy or room you could give her as she makes that adjustment. It would be greatly appreciated.”
Nearly three years after their wedding, Kennedy and Bessette died in a plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean while en route to Rory Kennedy‘s wedding. Though they had started looking for a second home, the Tribeca apartment was the only place the couple ever lived.
So, where did John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette live in N.Y.C.? Here’s everything to know about their Tribeca loft and the $3 million dream home they had started to build.
Kennedy purchased a top-floor unit in Tribeca in 1994
John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Carolyn walk with their dog on January 1, 1997 in New York City.
Evan Agostini/Liaison
Two years after he met Bessette during a Calvin Klein fitting, Kennedy purchased the home they would live in for the entirety of their five-year romance.
Though few details about the property have been revealed, it reportedly had two bedrooms, wood floors and roof deck access and was located on the top floor of the building, per Realtor.com and the New York Post.
The famed 20 N Moore St. address has also been home to former late-night television host David Letterman.
They didn’t share many photos of their home
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Alex DiGerlando, who recreated the apartment for FX’s 2026 miniseries Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, told Architectural Digest in February 2026 that the place had been “described as a little fratty.”
“He had this amazing, huge space,” the production designer told the outlet. “There are very limited photos. You can find a couple shots of a birthday celebration of his in that apartment, so you see little fragments.”
Up Next: https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf
They were looking for a second home before their deaths
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in front of their apartment in Tribeca, New York.
Jon Naso/NY Daily News Archive via Getty
Before their untimely deaths, Kennedy and Bessette were looking to buy a second home.
According to the 2024 book JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography by Liz McNeil and RoseMarie Terenzio, the couple were interested in finding a bigger place than their Tribeca apartment and they were also in the market for a second location.
Kennedy and Bessette had visited a spot in Snedens Landing in upstate New York, about a 30 minute drive from Manhattan, N.Y.
“It was close to the water, and he could kayak across the Hudson to get to a train to get to the office,” RoseMarie wrote.
Ed Burns bought the late couple’s N.Y.C. home in 2000
Edward Burns on February 20, 2025 in New York City.
Santiago Felipe/Getty
In 2000, actor and director Ed Burns purchased Kennedy and Bessette’s former residence.
According to Architectural Digest, the Tribeca loft was used in scenes for his 2011 comedy-drama Newlyweds.
The Brothers McMullen star told Anthem Magazine in December 2011 that he set the film there as “sort of as a love letter” to Tribeca, which he had called home for the past decade.
Kennedy and Bessette’s loft was recreated in the 2026 FX series A Love Story
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in ‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’.
Kurt Iswarienko/FX
Production designers used Newlyweds as well as photos from the first lady’s 1998 cookbook memoir Cooking for Madam and real estate listings for other apartments in the building as inspiration for the loft seen in A Love Story.
“We tried to make it more chic,” DiGerlando told Architectural Digest. “Of course, we wanted a lofted space to capitalize on the depth and length of the apartment. Basically the footprint of the apartment is the same as the real apartment, but we added that lofted bedroom and living room.”
The series was shot in the same N.Y.C. neighborhood the couple lived in, per Realtor.com.
Read the original article on People