Nearly three decades after her death, the Fifth Avenue penthouse that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis called home for 30 years continues to draw public interest, most recently recreated for television, as ownership of the storied apartment has changed hands.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis purchased the top-floor unit at 1040 Fifth Ave., overlooking Central Park, in July 1964, about eight months after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. She was nearing her 35th birthday when she moved into the 15th-floor apartment with her two children, Caroline and John Jr., according to The New York Times.
The roughly 5,300-square-foot residence included five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a library, conservatory, dining room, two terraces and three fireplaces, according to the Observer. The granite building stands at Fifth Avenue and East 85th Street. Kennedy paid $200,000 for the apartment and $14,000 in annual maintenance fees, The New York Times reported.
Kennedy owned the apartment for the rest of her life. She died there on May 19, 1994, at age 64, less than a year after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her obituary in The New York Times reported that she had undergone chemotherapy and other treatments and returned home from New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center after doctors said there was nothing more they could do.
The apartment sold in 1995 for $9.5 million to billionaire David Koch, according to the Observer. Koch told the publication in 2006 that he renovated the unit extensively.
“We gutted the apartment and redid everything,” Koch said, adding that Kennedy “didn’t spend much on it.”
Koch later sold the penthouse in 2006 for $32 million to hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, the Observer reported.
Interest in the apartment resurfaced in February 2026, when it was recreated for FX’s miniseries “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” which explores her son’s romance with and ultimate marriage to Bessette.
For the series production designer Alex DiGerlando recreated the penthouse to reflect 1990s Upper East Side tradition and refinement, according to Architectural Digest. He told the outlet that the Fifth Avenue apartment “was a little bit of a puzzle.”
“The directive from producer Ryan Murphy was that he wanted to lean into this idea of minimalism and keep the actors in the foreground,” said DiGerlando. “There is a level of stylization inspired by the classic Hollywood romances of the 1930s.”
Drawing from archival photography and the Sotheby’s catalogue from her 1996 estate sale, the DiGerlando’s team captured the spirit of the 15th-floor residence, known for its equestrian portraits, books, and antique furnishings. While honoring the original’s layered elegance, designers introduced a warmer palette and softer textile contrast to match the show’s aesthetic.