We investigate here the question of uniqueness of best approximation to operators in von Neumann algebras by elements of certain linear subspaces. Recall that a linear subspace V of a Banach space X is called a Chebyshev subspace if each vector in X has a unique best approximation by vectors in V. Our first main result characterizes the one-dimensional Chebyshev subspaces of a von Neumann algebra. This may be regarded as a generalization of a result of Stampfli [(4), theorem 2, corollary] which states that the scalar multiples of the identity operator form a Chebyshev subspace. Alternatively it may be regarded as a generalization of the commutative situation in which a continuous complex-valued function f on a compact Hausdorff space X spans a Chebyshev subspace of C(X) if and only if f does not vanish on X [(3), p. 215]. Our second main result is that a finite dimensional * subalgebra, of dimension > 1, of an infinite dimensional von Neumann algebra cannot be a Chebyshev subspace. This imposes limits to further generalization of Stampfli's result.