The Unforgettable Fireplaces In Bono's Apartment Building

Rocktavist Bono is battling a very local, personal cause...over fireplaces in his Manhattan apartment building (the San Remo). Apparently the smoke from other residents' fireplaces is ending up in his penthouse duplex, which he shares with his family (a wife and four children).

The NY Times gets some inside info from the building on Central Park West:

"Bono was so nice. He said, 'Listen, whatever I can do to get these things working, but it's emptying into my apartment and I can't have smoke like that."' The singer told the board that one of his four children has asthma, Leni May [wife of a building board member] said.

One of his children has asthma, so this is clearly a health concern. Since the building went up in the 1930s, there's undoubtedly some kinks. The Times reports that only 40 of the 135 apartments have fireplaces, and that over the years renovations may have caused chimney ventilation problems.

The fireplaces have been banned before, to the dissatisfaction of Mr. Billy Squier (third floor resident, fireplace owner, and man behind the 1984 hit “Rock Me Tonight”), though he hasn't spoken up about this most recent complaint.

Casa de Bono is on the 27th floor (the top floor) of the north tower and "has been combined into a portion of the tower above it (formerly mechanical space for the building itself), creating a unique duplex unit. In total, the apartment has 3,500 sq. feet of interior space and 1,300 sq. feet of terraces." He purchased it from Steve Jobs for $15M. Other celebrity residents include Dustin Hoffman and Diane Keaton, though Madonna was turned down when she tried to get an apartment there in 1985.

Photo of the San Remo via Timourous' flickr.