In some circles, any occasion of note warrants a fabulous outfit, a memorable entrance, and a prestigious venue—even, perhaps especially, in death. For New York’s celebrities, politicians, mobsters, and power brokers, that means your last stop in this world is Frank E. Campbell.
The funeral home to the stars, as it has been aptly dubbed, has been the mortuary of choice for icons like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, John Lennon, mobster Frank Costello, Jean-Michel Basquiat—and yes, even the fictitious billionaire media mogul Logan Roy. Now, after a $20 million renovation, the funeral home is a place of status more than ever before.
Situated just a block from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Frank E. Campbell The Funeral Home was founded in 1989. It occupies four stories of a five-story building on stately Madison Avenue. In re-imagining 18,000 square feet of its iconic 24,000-square-foot facility, the space now features a rooftop event venue and an adjoining lounge for catered receptions. There’s also a new dining room where families can bring in meals for their guests—something that wasn’t possible until 2017, when New York State law was revised to allow “incidental refreshments” to be served, alongside nonalcoholic beverages.
Inside the Newly Renovated Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home
The chapel was fully updated as well and now sports Venetian plaster highlights, walnut wood accents, and wall-to-wall marble floors. The room’s original pews were removed so that chairs could be brought in for more flexible seating arrangements. That’s in addition to a new mezzanine seating level that was built to better accommodate large-scale receptions. The grand foyer features a complementary pearl Venetian plaster ceiling, wood accents, and marble floors that exude luxury and warmth. The exterior façade was also replaced, and is now a bright white—to better reflect the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
The funeral home’s new look, all of which was achieved while the facility remained open for business, is a fitting tribute to its early beginnings. Campbell himself left behind a legacy that, while being denounced by his competitors, forever changed the way one might imagine one’s funeral rites. (He once sent an airplane past the Statue of Liberty to scatter a client’s ashes.)
Grieving family members can reserve a black S.U.V., horse-drawn carriage, or even a private jet to transport their loved one. The home offers a bronze sarcophagus casket for over $150,000—though you could take the less costly route and opt for a gold-hued coffin for $125,000, as Ivana Trump was laid to rest in at Frank E. Campbell in 2022.
Judy Garland’s daughters, Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft and her last husband, Mickey Deans arrive at Frank E. Campbell funeral chapel for services on June 27, 1969.
Many occasions at the funeral house have drawn crowds. After Judy Garland’s death in 1969, an estimated 20,000 people could be seen standing outside of the building. During the services of Beatles legend John Lennon in 1980, the staff at the funeral home arranged for a decoy hearse to pull up to the front entrance, drawing journalists away before a second hearse pulled up to transport the body.
The hearse carrying the body of slain British musician John Lennon parked outside the Frank E. Campbell funeral home in New York City on December 1980.
Members of the media wait outside Frank E. Campbell where the body of actor Heath Ledger was taken to on January 25, 2008.
Sarah Snook at Logan’s funeral, filmed at Frank E. Campbell, in the HBO hit succession.
Discretion is the funeral home’s chief assurance, a perk that is part of the $9,000-and-up package, according to the New York Times. When Ms. Onassis died in 1994, an undertaker from Frank E. Campbell came to her Fifth Avenue apartment and embalmed her body in the apartment.
Today, Frank E. Campbell’s president, William Villanova, hopes to continue the funeral home’s legacy for the venue’s high-profile clients. «This renovation combines contemporary design with the sophistication our families deserve, creating an environment of comfort and distinction,» Villanova said in a statement. Who knew the peak of chic was six feet under?
Rachel Silva is the associate digital editor at ELLE DECOR, where she covers all things design, architecture, and lifestyle. She also oversees the publication’s feature article coverage, and is, at any moment, knee-deep in an investigation on everything from the best spa gifts to the best faux florals on the internet right now. She has more than 16 years of experience in editorial, working as a photo assignment editor at Time and acting as the president of Women in Media in NYC. She went to Columbia Journalism School, and her work has been nominated for awards from ASME, the Society of Publication Designers, and World Press Photo.
