Where Did David Bowie Live? From Brixton to New York
A guide to all the places David Bowie called home — Brixton, Bromley, Beckenham, Berlin, Lausanne, and New York City.
Brixton and Bromley: London Childhood (1947–1960s)
David Bowie was born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947, at 40 Stansfield Road in Brixton, south London. The area was a working-class neighborhood still bearing the scars of wartime bombing. When Bowie was six years old, his family relocated to 4 Plaistow Grove in Sundridge Park, near Bromley in Kent — a suburban move that placed the young Jones in the comfortable, conformist environment of post-war English suburbia. It was in Bromley that he attended Burnt Ash Junior School and later Bromley Technical High School, where his art teacher Owen Frampton (father of guitarist Peter Frampton) recognized and encouraged his creative abilities.
The Bromley years were formative in ways that extended beyond mere geography. The suburb's orderly conventionality provided the backdrop against which Bowie's instinct for nonconformity first emerged. His encounter with George Underwood— who famously struck him in the eye during a dispute over a girl, resulting in the permanently dilated pupil that became one of Bowie's most recognizable physical features — occurred during this period.
London: Beckenham and Haddon Hall (1969–1973)
As Bowie's career began to gain momentum in the late 1960s, he settled in Beckenham, initially at a flat on Foxgrove Road where he established the Beckenham Arts Lab — a free-form creative gathering that reflected the communal spirit of the era. In 1969, Bowie and his first wife, Angela Barnett (Angie Bowie), moved into Haddon Hall, a large Victorian Gothic house at 42 Southend Road in Beckenham. This rambling, somewhat dilapidated property became the headquarters of Bowie's creative operation during one of the most productive phases of his career.
It was at Haddon Hall that Bowie wrote and rehearsed much of the material for Hunky Dory (1971) and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972). The house served as a communal living space for Bowie, Angie, and key members of his band and creative circle, including Mick Ronson. The property's bohemian atmosphere and physical grandeur — faded though it was — provided an environment conducive to the ambitious creative projects Bowie was developing.
Los Angeles: Excess and Escape (1974–1976)
Bowie's move to Los Angeles in 1974 coincided with the development of his Thin White Duke persona and a period of severe cocaine addiction that nearly destroyed him. He lived primarily in a rented house at 637 North Doheny Drive in West Hollywood, a location that became the setting for some of the most alarming episodes of his life. The Los Angeles period, while creatively productive — yielding the albums Young Americans (1975) and Station to Station(1976) — was marked by extreme drug use, paranoia, and physical deterioration.
Bowie later described his time in Los Angeles in deeply negative terms, recalling that he subsisted largely on milk, peppers, and cocaine, and that his mental state deteriorated to the point where he was experiencing hallucinations and engaging in occult practices. His physical weight dropped to approximately 95 pounds. The decision to leave Los Angeles was, by his own account, a matter of survival.
Berlin: Reinvention by the Wall (1976–1978)
Bowie's relocation to West Berlin in late 1976 is one of the most consequential moves in the history of popular music. He took an apartment at 155 Hauptstrasse in the Schöneberg district, sharing the building with Iggy Pop. The choice of Berlin was deliberate: a divided city where Bowie could achieve anonymity, confront his addictions, and immerse himself in the German Expressionist art, Krautrock music, and Cold War atmosphere that would profoundly shape his Berlin-era work.
In Berlin, Bowie lived a remarkably ordinary life by his previous standards. He cycled through the city, visited museums and galleries, frequented local cafes and bars, and painted. This period of relative normality provided the stable foundation from which he created the Berlin trilogy— three albums that are now regarded as among the most important in the history of popular music.
Switzerland: Tax Exile and Stability (1978–1992)
From the late 1970s, Bowie maintained a primary residence in Switzerland, settling in the village of Blonay overlooking Lake Geneva, near the city of Montreux. The move was motivated in part by tax considerations — several prominent British musicians relocated to Switzerland during this period — but also by a desire for privacy and stability following the tumultuous years of addiction and constant relocation. Mountain Studios in Montreux, owned by Queen, became a frequent recording location.
The Swiss years provided Bowie with the domestic stability he had previously lacked, though the period also encompassed the commercially driven but artistically uneven work of the mid-1980s. His son Duncan (then known as Zowie, later Duncan Jones) was raised partly in Switzerland, attending school in the area.
New York City: The Final Home (1992–2016)
Bowie relocated to New York City in 1992, initially drawn by his relationship with the Somali-American supermodel Iman, whom he married in June of that year. New York became his permanent home for the remaining twenty-four years of his life. He initially lived in various locations in Manhattan before purchasing an apartment at 285 Lafayette Street in the SoHo neighborhood in 1999. This became his primary residence and the setting of his final years.
New York suited Bowie in ways that no previous city had entirely managed. The city's cultural richness, its tolerance for eccentricity, and its capacity to absorb even the most famous individuals into the anonymity of urban life provided the combination of stimulation and privacy that Bowie sought. He became a devoted New Yorker, walking the streets of SoHo and the West Village, visiting galleries, attending theater, and dining in local restaurants — activities he could pursue with relatively little public intrusion. It was at his Lafayette Street home that Bowie died on January 10, 2016, two days after his sixty-ninth birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did David Bowie live?
David Bowie lived in numerous locations throughout his life. He was born in Brixton, London, and raised in Bromley, Kent. He later lived in the Beckenham and Haddon Hall area of London, then relocated to Los Angeles (1974–1976), West Berlin (1976–1978), and Switzerland (1978–1992). He settled permanently in New York City from 1992 until his death in 2016.
Where did Bowie live in Berlin?
In Berlin, Bowie lived in a seven-room apartment at 155 Hauptstrasse in the Schöneberg district of West Berlin. He shared the building with Iggy Pop, who occupied a separate apartment. The location was chosen for its anonymity — Bowie could walk the streets, visit cafes and galleries, and live a relatively normal life free from the celebrity attention he experienced in London and Los Angeles.
Where was Bowie's home when he died?
Bowie died on January 10, 2016, at his apartment at 285 Lafayette Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. He had lived in New York since 1992, having moved there initially for his relationship with supermodel Iman, whom he married that same year. The Lafayette Street apartment, which he purchased in 1999, was his primary residence for the final seventeen years of his life.