{"id":390450,"date":"2026-11-02T03:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T03:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/390450\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T03:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T03:20:10","slug":"from-rosemarys-baby-to-john-lennon-the-haunting-history-of-nycs-most-mysterious-apartment-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/390450\/","title":{"rendered":"From ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ to John Lennon: The Haunting History of NYC’s Most Mysterious Apartment Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s The Dakota famously appeared in the classic horror film Rosemary\u2019s Baby (1968) by the notorious creep Roman Polanski. This iconic Central Park West luxury apartment building was constructed between 1880 and 1884. The Dakota was commissioned by none other than Edward Cabot Clark, who co-founded the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Back then, the concept of NYC elites living in the same space as each other still held a novel appeal. Recently, Secret NYC<\/a> bravely took it upon themselves to remind us of the building\u2019s spooky history.<\/p>\n

Despite providing the setting for The Bramford, which houses a Satanic coven and is a place of murder and cannibalism, the Rosemary\u2019s Baby film crew wasn\u2019t allowed to shoot within The Dakota\u2019s grand interior \u2014 only exterior and courtyard shots were permitted. (Good for The Dakota \u2014 film crews are notoriously skilled at damaging property.) The building itself, with its exquisite carvings and ironwork, is a grand and formidable mix of German and French styles, combining all that is pompously elegant and frightening. It represents precisely what architecture should still be, in my immodest opinion. <\/p>\n

\u201cLennon and Ono [\u2026] \u2018decided it would be wise to hold a s\u00e9ance to see what spirits might be inhabiting their new home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1973, the Beatles icon John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono (who, for some strange reason, briefly attended the also supposedly haunted house of horrors known as Sarah Lawrence College, as I had the grave misfortune of doing) moved there in 1973. The NY Post\u00a0referred to Stephen Birmingham\u2019s 1979 book, Life at the Dakota: New York\u2019s Most Unusual Address, (1979), \u201cLennon and Ono bought the apartment of actor Robert Ryan, whose wife Jessie had died a few years prior. They \u2018decided it would be wise to hold a s\u00e9ance to see what spirits might be inhabiting their new home.\u2019\u201d With the help of a psychic, Jessie apparently informed Ms. Ono that she wasn\u2019t leaving The Dakota.<\/p>\n

The Building From \u2018Rosemary\u2019s Baby\u2019 Is Real, and Its History Might Be Even Creepier Than the Movie<\/p>\n

During his eventful life, Lennon himself had claimed to see a crying female ghost roaming the hallways. Tenants and construction workers have witnessed a variety of other odd occurrences, including a ghostly girl, a curious specter with a boy\u2019s face, and a poltergeist that just might be Clark, who had been a spiritist. Judy Holliday and Jo Mielziner may very well be among the celeb ghosts to have turned up at The Dakota.<\/p>\n

On December 8, 1980, Lennon<\/a> was brutally gunned down under The Dakota\u2019s glorious archway by an insignificant worm who doesn\u2019t deserve to have his name repeated. After Lennon\u2019s death, Ms. Ono has spotted her late husband sitting at his white piano. As reported by the NY Post, he even sweetly told her, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid. I am still with you.\u201d Others have similarly alleged to have observed Lennon\u2019s apparition, and why wouldn\u2019t he want to be close to his larger-than-life, though physically adorably petite, woman? Although Yoko Ono made headlines this year as the longest-tenured homeowner in the history of The Dakota, in 2023, she relocated to a farm in upstate New York that she and Lennon had purchased in 1978.<\/p>\n

While The Dakota has served as a home base to a long list of bigwigs, such as Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland, and Leonard Bernstein, this ultra-exclusive establishment has rejected applications from the likes of Madonna, Billy Joel, Cher, Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, Judd Apatow, Alex Rodriguez, and (thank the Lord someone had the balls to say no to) Kiss\u2019 Mr. Gene Simmons.<\/p>\n

One really odd detail about the landmark, which prioritizes privacy to an almost eerie degree, is that architect Henry J. Hardenbergh opted to avoid fire escapes. Instead, he laid mud from Central Park between the layers of brick flooring for fireproofing and soundproofing purposes. Good luck escaping a psycho within The Dakota\u2019s walls. <\/p>\n