Saturday, March 18, 2017

Born again, born on the day of rebirth, birthdays daily, by the minute, in the world of nines.

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A 25-room Long Island mansion that some believe inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald’s portrayal of lavish lifestyles in The Great Gatsby is being razed, the latest in a long series of estates to disappear from what is known as the Gold Coast.
Called Land’s End and sitting on a five-hectare lot on Long Island Sound, in New York State, the 2200-square-metre house is being torn down to make way for five $US10 million homes.
”It’s really a sad thing. The Gold Coast social country life is part of Long Island’s legacy; a reminder of a grand and romantic era,” said Alexandra Wolfe, director of preservation services for the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘Great Gatsby’ inspiration
  • 1902 Lands End mansion in better days
  • 1902 Lands End mansion in better days
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion. Rust in peace: The empty swimming pool and rotting diving board reflect the state of disrepair. Photo: Splash
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion. Past its glory days: Broken and boarded-up windows of the once-opulent mansion. Photo: Splash
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion. Past its glory days: The sad shell of the once-opulent mansion. Photo: Splash
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion. Sad end: The dramatic but dilapidated property on the tip of Sands Point, Long Island, will soon be reduced to rubble because no one will buy it. Photo: Splash
  • Golden age: Robert Redford and Mia Farrow played Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan in the 1974 film adaptation of the book The Great Gatsby.
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion. Sales brochure from the 1970s
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion. Detail of sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
  • The 1902 Lands End mansion. Detail of sales brochure from the 1970s. Source: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
http://www.splia.org
”It’s such a shame that people find it difficult to honour that, to preserve that.”Songs Played.Born again, born on the day of rebirth, birthdays daily, by the minute, in the world of nines. 
Real estate broker Paul Mateyunas said that through to the end of World War II, the region once boasted about 1400 estates inhabited by a who’s who of the nation’s financial titans. Now, only about 400 remain.
The trend in recent decades has moved away from mega-mansions, he said, largely because – even for millionaires – they are very expensive to maintain.Songs Played.Born again, born on the day of rebirth, birthdays daily, by the minute, in the world of nines. 
David Brodsky, who bought the home with his father Bert Brodsky for $US17.5 million in 2004, told the Long Island newspaper Newsday that taxes, insurance and maintenance on Land’s End became prohibitive – about $US4500 a day – prompting the decision to build anew.
The property passed through numerous hands before they bought it from Virginia Payson, the late wife of former baseball team owner Charles Payson.Songs Played.Born again, born on the day of rebirth, birthdays daily, by the minute, in the world of nines. 
Demolition crews began levelling the property over the weekend; on Monday, work crews could be heard but hardly seen from a service road outside the estate.
The entrance features a dilapidated white picket fence reminiscent of Grey Gardens, the East Hampton home occupied by relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis that fell into disrepair and became the subject of a beloved documentary and Broadway play.
In its glory days, Land’s End was said to feature marble, parquet and wide wood-planked floors, Palladian windows and hand-painted wallpaper. The property includes a caretaker’s cottage, two greenhouses, a tennis cabana and pool house.Songs Played.Born again, born on the day of rebirth, birthdays daily, by the minute, in the world of nines. 
Mr Mateyunas said it was difficult to prove that Fitzgerald used Land’s End as his inspiration, but that it didn’t matter as the house was significant in its own right.
The likes of Winston Churchill, the Marx Brothers and Ethel Barrymore attended parties there in the 1920s and ’30s.Songs Played.Born again, born on the day of rebirth, birthdays daily, by the minute, in the world of nines. 
Set during the prohibition era, The Great Gatsby focuses on a young man’s pursuit of the American dream and the woman he loves with a subtext of the age-old friction of old money and new money.
”There is a lot of ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ sentiment out there,” Ms Wolfe said.
”People have contacted me who want to save [Land’s End], but it’s too late. It kind of got swept by and wasn’t on the radar screen.” AP

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