‘Great Gatsby’ Mansion To Be Torn Down
Just as Baz Luhrmann gears up to get his reboot of The Great Gatsby underway, the 25 room mansion that some believed inspired the original F. Scott Fitzgerald book is about to torn down to make way for a new McMansion subdivision.
Randy Bond, village clerk in Sands Point on New York’s Long Island, says it will be replaced by five houses priced at $10 million each. The location faces the Long Island Sound.
Some F. Scott Fitzgerald experts believe the author used the sprawling 1902 property as a model for the home of character Daisy Buchanan, though the current owner believes the mansion’s “Gatsby” link has been overstated.
David Brodsky says his family bought it in 2004, but says the house is beyond repair.
Historians tell Newsday, which reported the deal Sunday, that hundreds of the mansions have been lost in the past 50 years because of rising taxes and maintenance costs.
I freakin’ hate this for so many reasons. Firstly, it kills my soul when beautiful old homes and buildings sit rotting away because the owners can’t maintain them. And second..if this really was Fitzgerald’s inspiration for Daisy’s mansion we’ve just lot an important piece of American literature in my opinion.
FYI…in the new flick Leonardo DiCaprio has been cast as Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan will play Daisy. The roles of Jordan Baker, Tom Buchanan and Myrtle are still up for grabs.
