Entrance of Dakota Apartments, West 72nd Street

The main entrance of Dakota Apartments at 1 West 72nd Street, New York County, in 1965. The arched main entrance is large enough for the horse-drawn carriages that once entered the building.

Despite its monumental size the Dakota has an intimate quality enhanced by separate entrances. When completed in 1884, it was considered by some to be the most notable building of its kind in the United States of America. Service elevators, among the first to be Installed in New York, were placed behind the kitchens of each bank of apartments. With its massive load bearing walls, heavy interior partitions, and double thick floors of concrete, it is one of the quietest buildings in the City.

Photograph by Jack E. Boucher, Historic American Buildings Survey from Library of Congress.