Perhaps one of the most famous first ladies in American history, Jackie Kennedy (who later became Jackie Kennedy Onassis) has been written about and studied for decades, from her style, to her family and her lifestyle, but what about the many homes she resided in? 

Before Jackie married John  F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier was a member of one of the most prominent families in East Coast high society, whose maternal and paternal grandparents established a wealth that allowed for Jackie and her sister Caroline the most privileged of upbringings, shuttled between penthouse apartments on Park Avenue, to sprawling summer homes in the Hamptons.

Here is a chronological look at some of the childhood homes of Jackie Kennedy:

Wildmoor

Wildmoor, located in East Hampton, belonged to Jackie’s paternal grandparents and was where Jackie spent her earliest years after being born in Southampton in 1929. Jack “Black Jack” Bouvier, Jackie’s father, was suffering financially when his first child was born, due to the Great Depression. Because of this Jack’s father, Major Bouvier, allowed his son and his young family to live at the Bouvier summer home rent-free for several years.

The “little house”, as it was often called, was a modest three-storey shingle and shiplap build, featuring window shutters, a wraparound porch and top floor dormer windows.

740 Park Ave.

Eden, Janine and Jim Creative Commons

In 1931 Jackie and her parents moved into apartment 6/7A of 740 Park Avenue – a purpose-built apartment block. The luxury apartment building was constructed by Jackie’s maternal grandfather, James T. Lee, in 1929 – the year of Jackie’s birth. Though many elite families moved into the building that year, the construction had been completed at the start of the Great Depression and continued to run at a loss until the 1980s. During the Bouvier’s incumbency at 740 Park Avenue, James and Margaret Lee, Jackie’s maternal grandparents, lived in the apartment upstairs at 15/16D. The apartment went on the market in 2014 for $44 million.

The two-storey apartment, located on floors 6 and 7, was a four-bedroom, six-bathroom duplex that came with four functioning fireplaces, wood-panelled library, sitting room, dining room, ‘grand foyer’ with sweeping staircase, two offices, breakfast room, kitchen, butler’s pantry, and maid’s quarters (with three maid’s bedrooms). Each bedroom came with a marble en-suite bathroom and dressing room, and detailed cornices and beading decorated the walls and ceilings throughout the apartment.

During Jackie’s time at 740 Park Avenue, she attended the Chapin School, an independent day school for girls, which opened in Manhattan in 1901. The family divided their time between Park Avenue and family summer houses in the Hamptons, until 1938 when Jackie’s parents began divorce proceedings.

Lasata

Americasroof, Creative Commons 

In 1925 Maude Sergeant, Jackie’s paternal grandmother bought a second summer house in the Hamptons – in addition to their simple Wildmoor house in Georgica. From 1930 onwards Jackie and the family would holiday every summer at Lasata, and continued to do so throughout her parent’s bitter divorce.

Lasata, believed to be a Native American name for “place of peace”, was constructed in 1917 with a grey stucco facade. The house stands on 12 acres of land, near the Atlantic Ocean coastline.It was during Jackie’s holidays at Lasata that she became an accomplished equestrienne, thanks to the stables, tack room, jumping ring and paddock that accompany the house.

The two-storey, ten-bedroom house includes large vegetable gardens, a pool and pool house, grass tennis courts, and formal gardens. The house went up for sale in 2016 for £38.99 million and was sold a year later for $29.9 million.

Merrywood

After Jackie’s mother, Janet Norton Lee, married Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Jr. in 1942, Jackie and her sister primarily lived at their step-father’s estate Merrywood in McLean, Virginia.

The four-storey Georgian-style house was built in 1919 in brick and limestone. The 9-bedroom, 7-acre house has 13 bathrooms, dining room, sitting room, wine cellar, garden rooms, swimming pool, formal gardens, tennis court, a carriage house with parking and staff quarters, a pavilion with changing rooms, indoor lap pool and gym, and was put up for sale in June 2017 for $49.5 million.

During Jackie’s time at Merrywood, she was schooled at Holton-Arms School in Washington, D.C. where she was a boarder, and then at Miss Porter’s School in Connecticut, where she also boarded. Jackie then went on to University before eventually marrying John F. Kennedy in 1953.

See more of Jackie’s homes by viewing other posts such as the homes shared by JFK and Jackie, Red Gate Farm – Jackie’s last home, or Wildmoor – Jackie’s first home.

images: creative commons, google maps