With Baz Luhrmann’s splashy adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great American Novel contender hitting theaters Friday, Flavorwire is devoting this week to all things Great Gatsby. Click here to follow our coverage.
While The Great Gatsby is filled to the brim with powerful symbolism, houses play an important role in defining F. Scott Fitzgerald’s characters. Gatsby himself built a gigantic mansion at West Egg that purposefully looked classical, giving the illusion of long-standing prominence. Fitzgerald based Gatsby’s mansions on many real-life homes (including the now-demolished Beacon Towers and Land’s End, which both stood on Long Island’s Gold Coast), but there are a handful of castle-like mansions on the Eastern Seaboard that would be perfect for a number of lavish, Gatsby-style parties.
Pembroke, Glen Cove, NY (Demolished 1968)
Beacon Towers, Sands Point, NY (demolished 1945)
Childs Frick Estate, Roslyn Harbor, NY
The Elms, Newport, RI
The Breakers, Newport, RI
The Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC
Swannanoa, Nelson County, VA
Rough Point, Newport, RI
Rosecliff, Newport, RI
Old Westbury Gardens, Old Westbury, NY
Montauk Manor, Montauk, NY
Mill Neck Manor, Mill Neck, NY
Marble Hill House, Newport, RI
Litchfield Villa, Brooklyn, NY
Land’s End, Sand’s Point, NY (demolished 2011)
Inisfada – The Brady Mansion, Manhasset, NY
Broad Hollow Mansion, Old Westbury, NY (demolished 1968)
Oheka Castle, Huntington, NY
Boldt Castle, Alexandria Bay, NY
Camusett Hall, Lloyd Harbor, NY