Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ Luxury Apartment on 5th Avenue

Jackie O’s Upper East Side apartment. Video via vanityfair.com.

As the former first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was the subject of many a prying eye. A year after her husband President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, she moved to New York’s Upper East Side in an attempt to get some peace and privacy for her and her children. Her apartment, located at 1040 Fifth Avenue, was an über spacious apartment in a building designed by Rosario Candela, who was responsible for the construction of some of New York’s most luxurious buildings. Though it is 17 stories, it only has 27 apartments. As this video from Vanity Fair, part of its Eminent Domain series, shows, the building has a unique asymmetrical roof and step back design.

For the most part, Kennedy Onassis’ apartment provided her the the peaceful life she needed, and most New Yorkers respected her privacy– that is, with the exception of the infamous paparazzo Ron Gallela. Gallela followed Onassis for years, hiding in bushes, bribing the doormen, dating her maid, and staking out taxis. Eventually, the former first lady placed a restraining order on Gallela, who could no longer come twenty-five feet within her apartment building.

Floor plan of Kennedy Onassis’ apartment at 1040 Fifth Avenue

Her apartment was most recently occupied by David Koch who gut renovated the apartment at a cost of $10 million. Interestingly enough, he vacated the apartment after the birth of his third child, claiming the 4-bedroom home (with a library, conservatory, terrace and a wine room) was too small to house a family.

Read about Fifth Avenue from 80th to 110th Streets and 7 Historic Manhattan Hotels (one of which was where John F. Kennedy purportedly had a rendezvous with Marilyn Monroe).