THE BEAUTIFUL MANSION said to have inspired F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby is up for demolition.
Named Lands End, it is located at Sands Point on the North Shore of Long Island. Sands Point was created in 1965 and became a hugely popular spot over the decades, with many mansions and estates built there, home to people such as William Randolph Hearst.
Lands End was built in 1902, and came to be owned by Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilded Age journalist Herbert Bayard Swope. His house became the base for lavish parties, and among those attending were the Fitzgeralds.
It is believed that Fitzgerald used Sands Point as the inspiration for The Great Gatsby’s East Egg, but now the 25-room colonial mansion faces demolition this month. Like the novel’s protagonists, the once beautiful building is doomed.
In its heyday, the mansion’s rooms had beautiful marble, parquet and wide wood-planked floors and even hand-painted wallpaper. But now, wood floors have been torn up for salvage and the mansion is but a shadow of its former self.
In January of this year, Sands Point Village approved plans to demolish the house, with the aim of making it the site for five custom homes starting at $10million each.
David Brodsky of 4B’s Realty is redeveloping the site. His father, Bert Brodsky, bought it for $17.5 million in 2004. He said it costs around $4,500 a day to run the estate.
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