A 25-room colonial mansion, which some F. Scott Fitzgerald scholars believe inspired The Great Gatsby, will soon be demolished for a subdivision.
Randy Bond, a village clerk in Sands Point on New York’s Long Island, told New York Post that David Brodsky, the owner of the mansion, plans to raze the residence to make way for five houses that cost $10 million each.
Some Fitzgerald scholars note that the 1902 property served as a template for the home of character Daisy Buchanan.
“I think it’s probable that he used the physical aspects of Lands End as a model,” professor Ruth Prigozy of Hofstra University, a noted Fitzgerald specialist, told the Post. “It was the view—that’s what set it apart.”
The location faces the Long Island Sound, an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean situated between Long Island and Connecticut.
Brodsky told The Associated Press that his family bought the mansion for $17.5 million in 2004 from Virginia Payson, but it is beyond repair. He believes that the residence’s link to the novel has been overstated.
“To be honest with you, there isn’t anything really special about it,” he told the Post. “We did a lot of research on its history and there is really no evidence that Fitzgerald was even ever there.”
The Great Gatsby, first published in 1925, follows the life of Nick, a young man who moves to New York from Minnesota during the roaring ‘20s after the First World War.
Randy Bond, a village clerk in Sands Point on New York’s Long Island, told New York Post that David Brodsky, the owner of the mansion, plans to raze the residence to make way for five houses that cost $10 million each.
Some Fitzgerald scholars note that the 1902 property served as a template for the home of character Daisy Buchanan.
“I think it’s probable that he used the physical aspects of Lands End as a model,” professor Ruth Prigozy of Hofstra University, a noted Fitzgerald specialist, told the Post. “It was the view—that’s what set it apart.”
The location faces the Long Island Sound, an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean situated between Long Island and Connecticut.
Brodsky told The Associated Press that his family bought the mansion for $17.5 million in 2004 from Virginia Payson, but it is beyond repair. He believes that the residence’s link to the novel has been overstated.
“To be honest with you, there isn’t anything really special about it,” he told the Post. “We did a lot of research on its history and there is really no evidence that Fitzgerald was even ever there.”
The Great Gatsby, first published in 1925, follows the life of Nick, a young man who moves to New York from Minnesota during the roaring ‘20s after the First World War.
