A pair of John Lennon's storied NYC homes have quietly sold

Two of John Lennon’s storied Manhattan homes have changed hands the past year without much fanfare.

One is an unassuming four-storey townhouse on charming cobblestoned Bank Street in New York’s bohemian West Village, which sold for USD $8.8 million ($13 million) earlier this year.

According to Dirt, the home is “an almost forgotten real estate touchtone for Beatles fans, the first New York City home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.”

The second is a characterful penthouse – where Lennon holed up during his “Lost Weekend” (what he dubbed his 18-month separation from Ono) – which sold late last year for USD $4.75 million ($7 million).

Bank Street townhouse

Dating back to the 1900s, the Bank St townhouse was the landing pad for Lennon and Ono after the Beatles disbanded in 1970 and they left Tittenhurst Park, their historic estate near Ascot.

This was, of course, after a brief stint at the fabulous St. Regis Hotel on the Upper East Side. After the release of Lennon’s seminal solo album Imagine, the couple moved into the modest two-room walk-up in the West Village.

It was a top-floor apartment complete with winding staircase to a roof garden, thanks to Lovin’ Spoonful drummer Joe Butler, who owned the building at the time.

Despite constant deportation fears while living in the townhouse – the FBI began wiretapping the artist over his activism as the Richard Nixon administration ordered his deportation – Lennon and Ono made a cosy home in the eclectic artist’s garret.

While here, they were visited by a slew of high profile friends, including Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale and Alan Ginsburg.

Their romance with the creative enclave of Greenwich Village came to an end in 1973, when they were robbed by a former tenant of the apartment.

Penthouse in the Dakota building

The controversial pair then moved uptown, to the swish Dakota at the corner of West 72nd Street and Central Park West. They first rented apartment 72, a sprawling four-bedroom spread in the upper reaches of the storied apartment house, and later purchased it.

But then the couple split. Lennon lived in the apartment at 434 East 52nd Street for 18 months in the mid-70s during a temporary break from longtime love Ono, who’d reportedly encouraged him to shack up with their personal assistant, May Pang.

The singer famously called the period his “lost weekend” and was the location of Lennon’s infamous UFO sighting.

This home’s terrace is also where the iconic photo of Lennon wearing his sleeveless t-shirt was snapped by friend Bob Gruen in 1974.

The four-bed four-bath East 52nd Street co-op with wraparound terrace has been transformed since its storied past and now features a modern design with formal touches.

These include a “dramatic” sitting room and picture windows framing cityscape and river views, per the listing.

Lennon and Ono eventually reconciled and then bought multiple apartments in the Dakota, including neighbouring unit 71.

On the night of the 8th of December 1980, as Lennon and Ono returned home to the Dakota from a recording session, Lennon was shot dead in front of the building.

Ono still owns and occupies the seventh floor and remains the owner of several units in the building.

Across from the Dakota in Central Park, Strawberry Fields is maintained as a memorial to Lennon. Each year, on the anniversary of his assassination, Ono lights a candle in one of the park-facing windows of the seventh floor apartment they once shared.