Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Dakota Building

                                                
                  Architect: Henry J Hardenbergh
                  Location : 1 West 72nd Street
                  Date:  1881-1884
                  Style: German Gothic, English Victorian, French Renaissance   

One of the first places we explored on my Photography Safari in late September was The Dakota building. It is one of the most famous buildings in the city but I had yet to take a view of it. It is one of the top 25 NY Buildings. It was quite a site in person and I wondered what took me so long to make a visit!! Here is some of it's glorious history: 

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.*

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.*

According to popular legend, the Dakota was so named because at the time it was built, the Upper West Side of Manhattan was sparsely inhabited and considered as remote as the Dakota Territory. However, the earliest recorded appearance of this account is in a 1933 newspaper story. It is more likely that the building was named "The Dakota" because of Clark's fondness for the names of the new western states and territories. 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.*

it really is a very large and impressive building

against a blue sky it was just a gorgeous site to be seen

I did not dislike one thing about it at all 

loved the entrance area 

those are real lanterns with fire burning inside 

don't wait as long as I did to view this wonderful piece of architecture 

the area around the building is gorgeous as well...the Upper West Side is a great place to stroll and feel like a real New Yorker!!


in case you are wondering, here is a floor plan of a Dakota apartment.....cost is about 25 million...maybe if all the followers got together we could buy one and rotate weeks?? wouldn't that just be so grand!!! 

Today's Words of Wisdom: Age is only important if you are cheese 



Cannoli Dreams for You.....until next post 
                               Rosemary



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1 comment

Unknown said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous architecture and location, but sadly the Dakota always reminds me of John Lennon...:(

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