David Bowie’s NYC Apartment Is Listed For Nearly $5m

A New York apartment with views across Central Park is a pretty good offering alone – better yet when its former owners were David Bowie and his wife, the model and actress Iman. 

Look Inside David Bowie’s New York Home

Moving there in 1992 shortly after their marriage, this Essex House apartment on Central Park South was the star’s first New York home. And he stayed there for a whole decade before he moved onto a downtown SoHo property in 2002.

The apartment has since traded hands a number of times, twice now at a price of $4.95 million, and most recently in 2022. Unfortunately for any major Bowie fans, the best deal came in 2017 when the future owners were not only offered the apartment but the Starman’s Yamaha piano – all for $6.95m. Better yet, a private cocktail party was hosted at the home for prospective buyers. Joe McGinty from the rock band The Psychedelic Furs was brought in to perform on Bowie’s former piano for guests, including renditions of some of the singer’s most famous songs like China Girl and Changes, while drinks and appetizers were passed around. 

While the instrument doesn’t seem to be up for grabs this time around, the home is still an impressive offering – boasting a panelled dressing room custom-built for Iman, hidden shelves in the living room, and a bathroom which once served as a panic room for fear of crazed fans. 

Spanning 1,877 sqft, the three bedroom apartment is perched on the ninth floor of the JW Marriott Essex House. Built in 1929, the Art Deco hotel was later partially divided up into condos – like Bowie’s former pad – though residents still gain access to the hotel’s five-star amenities, including: 24-hour room service, dining at the Bourbon Steak Restaurant, housekeeping, concierge, a business centre, spa, gym, and valet parking. (Though be warned, these services do come at a separate cost – either via monthly common charges or à la carte). 

Entering through the grand foyer, Bowie’s apartment splits up into two distinct wings. The Park-facing wing features a modern, fully equipped kitchen that flows into the living and dining room. Here, windows frame views across Central Park and beyond, including vistas of the NYC skyline and the park’s historic carriage paths. A generously-sized bedroom with an adjacent bath also enjoys this exposure. In the other wing sits a central gallery that can be used for entertaining or showcasing art, alongside two further bedrooms and a gilded ensuite dressing room. 

Where Else Did David Bowie Live?

Born in Brixton and raised in Bromley (where his childhood home hit the market in 2025) Bowie’s first grown-up hall was Haddon Hall in Kent – a large shared house he rented in the early 1970s while honing his songwriting craft. From here, he moved into a flat in Maida Vale in 1972, before he and his then-wife Angie transferred to 89 Oakley Street, Chelsea in 1973. The four-storey townhouse was the star’s main base during the Diamond Dogs era, during which time Bowie is said to have painted it black in support of the miners’ strikes. 

With his career now flying high, David Bowie made the move to Los Angeles in 1974, during which time he recorded the album Station to Station and filmed The Man Who Fell to Earth. He lived at 637 North Doheny Drive and later at Stone Canyon Road in Bel Air. Developing the Thin White Duke persona while in LA, this period represented a dark patch for Bowie, riddled with hard drug use, extreme isolation and erratic behaviour. Tired of LA (which he once described as ‘his least favourite city’), and low on cash, he left the city for Switzerland in 1976 to recover and recuperate. 

Bowie moved into a chalet in Blonay, near Montreux, alongside his then-wife Angie and their son Zowie (now Duncan). ‘In Switzerland people leave me alone,’ Bowie would tell journalists, while avoiding questions about tax. In 1982, now divorced from Angie, he bought the grand Château de Signal, situated on the edge of a forest in Sauvabelin, in the hills of Lausanne. This series of grand overseas properties was then followed by his Caribbean home. Bowie bought the land for Mandalay Estate on Mustique in 1986, collaborating with architect Arne Hasselqvist to build the property which was completed in 1989 – and sold on in 1995. 

Having moved into his Central Park home during this time, Bowie then moved into the aforementioned SoHo apartment on Lafayette Street where he remained until his death in 2016. During this residence, Bowie and Iman also purchased an estate in Woodstock, New York. 

On the market for $4.95m. Find out more at cristinahungria.com