John Sargeant Cram Estate

The John Sargeant Cram estate at Old Westbury, New York was built around 1900 and was destroyed by fire and demolished in the early 1980s.

The Menace of Privilege

Click HERE for an interesting book, The Menace of Privilege by Henry George about the "Gilded Age" rich.

The Harry and Leona Helmsley Estate Dunnellen Hall, Greenwich Ct.

The Greenwich Connecticut estate of Harry & Leona Helmsley, called Dunnellen Hall which recently sold also had an auction of its magnificent contents. Click the following links to read about the house and auction.

Luxist
Luxury Portfolio 
New York Daily News
Real Estalker
Wikipedia

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 Demolished on CBS News Sunday Morning

Click HERE to watch the video about the history and demoliton of Lands End.

Click HERE to go to CBS News Sunday Morning to read about the Demolition of Lands End.

Click HERE for yesterdays post on the demolition.

Click HERE for more posts on Lands End

Lands End, Sands Point Demolished

Today at 9:15 am, Lands End, the Bayard Swope Estate at Sands Point met it's end.
It is being demolished today and will most likely be a pile of rubble by this evening. This house has long been thought to be  one of the Gatsby mansions and a model for Daisy Buchanan's house in F. Scott Fitzgeralds, " The Great Gatsby". It was often considered to be one of the many mansions, that Fitzgerald was  inspired by.
I parked at the Sands Point Park and Preserve, the former Gould/ Guggenheim estate and walked down to the beach past the main house. The tide was high and the walk was long and cold, but got to the beach in front of the house just as the wreckers started to eat away at the front of the house. I would have liked to stay longer to document the destruction, but the tide was coming in. If anyone is interested in watching the rest of the demolition, you can go to the Sands Point Park & Preserve and pay the $5.00 admission fee and go watch the rest. The tide may be high and the weather is bad today, but if anyone takes any photos, please send them along.
Please check when the gates close at the Preserve.

This Iconic Gold Coast mansion, stood for over 100 years and according to some accounts was built in 1911, which make this its 100th anniversary. Often attributed to architect Stanford White, it has never been proven. If it was built in 1911, then it is not, since Stanford White died in 1906. While it was a unique piece of architecture, the only thing that it had in common with any Stanford White building was that it was white with big columns, which is pretty classic for most mansions of this style. The massing was very unlike any other houses ever designed by White and bore no resemblance to any other works of his or his firm, McKim, Mead & White. From its over scaled heavy topped chimneys, to its slightly angled plan, which from a design point of view, embraced the site perfectly. Today Long Island has lost one of its last remaining jewels and sailing landmarks. During a sunny day or overcast day  it rose above its site prominently, The Parthenon of the " Gold Coast'.

More to come!

Click HERE to see the story about," Lands End" on the CBS News Sunday Morning, The End of an Era for the Gatsby House.

Click HERE for a great story about Lands End on The Esoteric Curiosa

Jay Gould's Fifth Avenue Mansion

Above is the home of the Jay Gould family at 47th street & Fifth Avenue. Jay Gould was considered one of the most cunning of all the robber barons of the Gilded Age, but at home on Fifth Avenue and at his country estate, Lyndhurst at Tarrytown, New York, he was a devoted husband and loving father. At Lyndhurst he raised orchids in the spectacular greenhouse there and it was once said by  a local socialite, that anyone who loves flowers as he does, can't be all bad. The Gould family was never really accepted into Mrs. Astor's 400, mostly because of the influence of the Vanderbilts. The Vanderbilts held a grudge against Jay Gould for a business deal in which he out smarted Commodore. Jay Gould died in 1892, and his townhouse and Lyndhurst were maintained by his daughter Helen. Upon her death in 1938, the townhouse was demolished and it's contents auctioned. Lyndhurst was then inherited by Anna Gould, The Duchess de Talleyrand, who used it for weekends after returning from France, during World War II. In 1961 when she died , it was left to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has opened it as a museum house, now open to the public.

Click HERE to read about Lyndhurst on the New York Social Diary
Jay Gould

"Mrs. Astor's Fifth Avenue", Secret Splendors of the Gilded Age

Please take a look at one of the lectures I give, " Mrs. Astor's Fifth Avenue, Secret Splendors of the Gilded Age". This talk  will give the audience a tour of the mansions that once lined New York City's, fashionable Fifth Avenue. During the Gilded Age you were not really anyone , unless you had a mansion along Fifth Avenue, which was also called, Two Miles of Millionaires.

" Great Gatsby's Mansions " Lecture

Please take a look at one of the lectures I give on the mansions that F. Scott Fitzgerald based his book, "The Great Gatsby".

Some of the houses that will be discussed are the following, 

Pembroke, the Captain De Lamar mansion at Glen Cove. Where many parties during the roaring twenties attended by some of the silent screens greatest stars took place when the house was later owned by Marcus Loew, the movie theater magnate.

Beacon Towers, Sands Point, The castellated mansion of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont which bears a very close resemblance to Gatsby's Mansion as described by Fitzgerald.

Land's End, Sands Point, The colonial revival mansion of publishing giant Bayard Swope,

which architecturally could have been the home of Daisy & Tom Buchanan.

Clarence Mackay's, Roslyn mansion, " Harbor Hill", where the Edward, The Prince of Wales was entertained at a party befitting the Great Gatsby.

For future showings of this talk and others about the Mansions of the Gilded Age, please come back and look for further notices  or contact me Gary Lawrance, AIA at my email gmlawrance@gmail.com to book for Historical Societies, Garden Societies, Libraries, Clubs and organizations.

A partial list follows,

" Gardens of the Gilded Age"
" Gatsby's Mansions"
" Gilded Age Gardens of the Hamptons"
" Houses of the Hamptons, 1880-1930"
" Lost Houses of the Gilded Age"
" Lost Houses of the Hamptons" 
" The Lost Mansions of Newport"
" Mrs. Astor's Fifth Avenue, Secret Splendors of   the Gilded Age"
" Whitemarsh Hall, America's Lost Versailles"

Alder Manor, Yonkers, New York

Click HERE to read about Alder Manor

Magnificent Home Colony on Long Island's North Shore

Boat House of the Stuart Blackton estate at Oyster Bay

Click HERE to read about the development of some Gold Coast mansions, such as F.Ambrose Clark's Broadhollow, Stuart Blackton's Kenwood, Otto Kahn's Oheka and others in this great old story from the New York Times on December 21, 1913.

Houses of the Hamptons, 1880-1930

Click HERE to read reviews about, " Houses of the Hamptons, 1880-1930", by Gary Lawrance & Anne Surchin.

John Teele Pratt Estate at Glen Cove

Click HERE to see the John T. & Ruth Pratt Estate, Known as, " The Manor" in 1915.
Click HERE to see it today as the Glen Cove Mansion.