The Mansion of Jay Gatsby

Alva Vanderbilt Belmont's Castle at Sands Point, Long Island, New York. This house is often thought to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for the mansion of Jay Gatsby. Photo: Library of Congress

The Great Gatsby Mansion at Sands Point, Long Island, New York. 

The house that is often thought of to be the model for the mansion of Jay Gatsby was a house built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont. Alva was a real build-aholic, first commissioning the famous chateau on Fifth Avenue, then the still exisitng palace in Newport called Marble House. She also lived at Belcourt Castle in Newport, and had numerous other houses in New York City, Long Island and France. She was the first woman ever elected to become a member of the American Institute of Architects, some say because she commissioned so many houses in her lifetime. In 1917 she had the architectural firm Hunt and Hunt design for her a castle over looking the Long Island Sound. She is said to have commented upon seeing a real Scottish castle that her house on Long Island was more authentic. In the late 1920s William Randolph Hearst, later builder of California's, "Hearst Castle" , bought Beacon Towers and renovated it making it larger and more opulent. He lived there very little, with the house mostly used by his wife, Millicent. The house was demolished in the early 1940s.

Herbert Bayard Swope of Lands End

Here are two nice photos of Herbert Bayard Swope and his brother Gerard from the Ray & Judith Spinzia Collection and a great article about  Herbert Swope.

Herbert Bayard Swope

Gerard Swope, Herbert's brother

The fourth owner of  Browning’s estate, Herbert Bayard Swope, Sr., was described by Westbrook Peglar as “all gall divided into three parts.”  Others described him as someone who strutted and fretted; some thought him pompous.  He was unquestionably solemn and talked a lot but was unable to participate in small talk.

He almost never laughed and was capable of extraordinary kindness or extreme rudeness.  Outwardly, he was stately, suave, and unshakably self-confident.  Inwardly, he was in constant turmoil and thin-skinned, perceiving real and imagined slights. 

An avid party-giver, who insisted that everyone rise when he entered the room, Swope’s parties at his Sands Point estate have often erroneously cited as the model for Jay Gatsby’s parties.  Since Swope didn’t buy the estate until after The Great Gatsby was published, what is more likely is that the parties that he gave at his Great Neck house on East Shore Road, which he rented from Lottie Blair Parker, were models for Jay Gatsby’s parties.  These parties were so free-wielding that invitations were never sent out – people just arrived.  It was not unusual for guests to remain for months or years.  One actually stayed for five years, moving with the Swopes from Great Neck to Sands Point.

Prior to the 1929 stock market crash Swope’s fortune was estimated to be $14 million; after the crash he was over $2 million in debt but that did not stop his lavish life style.  He simply borrowed money from friends and from his older brother Gerard, who was president of General Electric.

Toward the end of his life Swope tried to sell the estate to NBC for television studios, to IBM as a country club, to Robert Moses for a park, and to the Soviets, Nationalist Chinese, and United States Department of State for use as an official residence.  In 1964 Swope’s widow sold the estate to Horace Richter.

Ray Spinzia

Please click HERE to see Ray & Judith Spinzia's website where you can preview  their must have books on the Long Island families.

The Lands End Mansion at Sands Point in Happier Times

Here are  a few photos from Natasha Commander.

Lands End Demolition Video

Click HERE to see Lands End under demolition.

Herbert Bayard Swope and Lands End

Click the following links to read about Herbert Bayard Swope, onetime owner of Lands End at Sands Point, New York. Above is a photo of Lands End at Sands Point on its last morning before being demolished.The house has often been thought to have been the model for Daisy Buchanan's mansion in the Great Gatsby and one of the houses inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald, when writing his novel. The house was also just as notable for its real life owner, Herbert Bayard Swope.


Thirsty Quote
New York Social Diary
Wikipedia 
History.com
Pulitzer Prize
Harpo Marx
Time Magazine Cover
Museum of Learning

Demolition of Lands End

Click HERE to see dramatic photos of the destruction of , "Lands End" the once magnificent mansion thought to be the inspiration for Daisy Buchanan's in F. Scott Fitzgerald's, " The Great Gatsby". The 100 year old Gold Coast landmark, which had  an asking price of $50,000,000 and was bought for less than half of that, became  a ruin in only a few short years.

Click HERE to read more about other Long Island mansions, thought to be inspirations for the Gatsby Mansions.

Click HERE to read about Herbert Bayard Swope.

"Lands End" Sands Point, Long Island

Lands End from the Sound

Click HERE for Jen Ross Photographer's blog with photographs and pictures of the exterior and interior of Lands End in ruins.Go to main gallery of Jen Ross

http://www.jenrossphoto.com/#Portfolio/Spaces/East%20Egg/1

Click HERE to see story about Lands End on the Today Show.
Click HERE to see story and ruined photos of Lands End on the " Daily Mail".

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT "LANDS END" 

"Lands End", Sands Point, Long Island Great Gatsby Mansion to be demolished!

The Long Island mansion said to be the inspiration for Daisy & Tom Buchanan's Gold Coast mansion is facing demolition. The Colonial revival home, which sits on a prominent point, jutting out into the Long Island Sound and has been a local landmark for almost 100 years may soon be destroyed, wiping out the last mansion said to have been one of the models in F. Scott Fitzgerald's great American novel, " The Great Gatsby".

Below are some current daily links to the news.
 
Click HERE to read about in the New York Post.
Click HERE to read about in the Los Angeles Times.
Click HERE to read about on Curbed.
Click HERE to read about in the New York Times.
Click HERE to read about on Forbes.com
Click HERE to read about in New York Magazine.
Click HERE to read about in the Daily Mail with a photograph of Gatsby's mansion.
Click HERE to read about in the Village Voice Blog.
Click HERE to read about and see aerial photo on Yahoo News.
Click HERE for Jen Ross Photographer's blog with photographs and pictures of the exterior and interior of Lands End in ruins.

Click HERE for previous posts about the Great Gatsby mansions with pictures.

Lands End Mansion at Sands Point, NY facing demolition

The Bayard Swope mansion beyond the Hoffstott mansion.

Click HERE for a video of the Lands End estate and click HERE to read today's story in Newsday about the forthcoming demolition of one of the Gold Coast's most famous mansions, " Lands End". The colonial revival mansion of publishing giant Bayard Swope, which architecturally could have been the home of Daisy & Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's, " The Great Gatsby"

Click HERE to read about some other mansions believed to have been the inspirations for the houses depicted in the Great Gatsby.

Click HERE to read about and see the real estate brochure for Lands End showing the house and interiors in beautiful condition  when it was for sale on OLD LONG ISLAND.

Elm Court, Sands Point, NY

Click HERE to see photographs of the french gardens and to view the house before it's demolition.

Elm Court at Sands Point

Aerial view of the Edgar F. Luckenbach estate at Sands Point, New York.

Below are some images of the estate during it's heyday and just prior to demolition after a designer show house in 1980.









Links for more on Elm Court
Edgar F. Luckenbach
New York Times, Estate purchased
Old Long Island