The Dakota Building, Manhattan | Image: Flickr/Wally Gobetz
The legendary Dakota on the Upper West Side of Manhattan is a beautiful building in the German Renaissance style that overlooks Central Park. The 131-year-old building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, is one of the most sought-after residential co-ops in the city, with apartments priced between five and thirty million dollars.
The building also has quite a history. Roman Polanski shot scenes for Rosemary's Baby there. A huge list of celebrities have called the building home, including Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall, and Boris Karloff. John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived there, and Lennon was killed just outside the building.
Prior to Lennon's death, however, he and Yoko learned of a suggestion put forth by Stephen Birmingham in his 1996 book Life at the Dakota. Birmingham claimed that the previous resident of Lennon's apartment hid $30,000 under the master-bedroom floor. The mystery has never been solved though, because the management wouldn't allow the floor to be destroyed in order to search for the cash.
Read more facts and see a number of additional photos of the Dakota here.