The second-largest private residence in the US, OHEKA Castle was once the party destination of the Gilded Age and hosted many of the era's biggest stars. It is said to have inspired the glamourous mansion in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby and appeared in many Hollywood productions including Citizen Kane and TV hits like Gossip Girl. 

Click or scroll to join us on a whistle-stop tour of the famous estate and explore its fascinating part in American history...

Completed in 1919, OHEKA was the creation of the so-called 'King of New York', German Jewish financier Otto Hermann Kahn, pictured here, who is best known for reorganising the Union Pacific Railroad with rail tycoon E.H Harriman. 

The businessman and philanthropist purchased 443 acres of land in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, in 1914 for $1 million (£800K), more than $31 million (£25m) in today’s money, and set about building the home of his dreams. In case you are wondering at its name, it became known to everyone as OHEKA Castle, styled in uppercase, as it is an acronym taken from Kahn’s full name Otto HErmann KAhn.

Kahn was a huge collector of art. His arts patronage included establishing prizes for New York’s black artists and donating money and paintings to various civic museums. He also wrote many books on art, history, politics, and business, including Of Many Things (1926), a collection of his speeches and writings on finance and politics.

This is a bird's-eye view of OHEKA in 1915, so a little before its completion. It shows its expanse and Kahn made the most of every inch of space, even installing his own private airstrip. In its heyday, the 127-room castle had more than 100 staff members who used a network of secret passageways and tunnels to keep out of sight.

The visionary entrepreneur pulled out all the stops when he set about constructing his trophy mansion after his original country home in New Jersey was destroyed by a fire in 1905.

Kahn forked out a staggering $11 million, equivalent to roughly $158 million (£127m) today, to build the French château-style residence, which was made of steel and concrete to ensure it would withstand any future fires. 

Illustrious architectural firm Delano & Aldrich was hired to create the 127-room extravaganza, which at 109,000 square feet became the second largest estate in America, after the Vanderbilt mansion Biltmore in North Carolina.

The European-style castle was built on a hill in Huntington making it the highest point on Long Island, you can see the slope in this picture. Also visible are the grounds, graced with a sunken French formal water garden, designed by the sons of celebrated landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted.

Outside and surrounding the home, there were numerous fountains, ten reflecting pools, statues and tree-lined paths, as well as a long driveway lined with manicured red cedar trees leading up to the house.

In addition to its landing strip, OHEKA also had one of the largest private greenhouse complexes in the country, plus stables, orchards, tennis courts, an indoor swimming pool and even an 18-hole golf course. Truly, no luxury was spared.

And this trend for opulence extended inside the home, decorating the castle's grandiose interiors, which featured a spectacular 24-foot-high ballroom, a grand dining room as well as 39 working fireplaces throughout the property.

Interestingly, Otto Kahn had a great fear of fire, prompting him to use fireproof materials throughout the home including the opulent library and a secret passageway. 

The castle was maintained by over 100 full-time servants, who kept the sprawling mansion in tip-top shape for its admiring guests, including director Orson Welles, who featured photographic shots of the house in his 1941 film Citizen Kane. 

One of the stand-out architectural features of the house is the grand staircase with its elegant handcrafted wrought iron railing, which was inspired by the exterior staircase at the Château de Fontainebleau in France.

Taylor Swift fans may remember it from her Blank Space video when she lingers at the top of the staircase, but it also features in the wedding photographs of the countless brides who have married here in recent years.

The house served as a summer residence for the Kahn family, who became well known for their extravagant parties attended by everyone from politicians to famous film stars. Kahn is seen in this image in 1926 alongside actor Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, on the right.

It is thought it was around this time it may have served as an inspiration for The Great Gatsby, although there is no record of Fitzgerald ever having visited. More likely is that OHEKA was one of several mansions on Long Island's 'Gold Coast', owned by the likes of the Vanderbilts and the Roosevelts, that inspired the writer in his great American novel.

Not surprisingly, OHEKA has today become a popular wedding venue, but it was Kahn’s daughter Maud who was the first to marry here in June 1920. This picture, although faded, shows the beautiful gown she wore with the castle's stunning interior as a backdrop.

The wealthy philanthropist and his wife Addie, plus their four children, enjoyed the heavenly surroundings of OHEKA for just 15 years before Otto sadly died of a heart attack in 1934. Funeral services were held in the music room of his beloved castle, say reports. 

Soon after, the family sold the castle to the Welfare Fund of the Sanitation Workers. Renamed Sanita, it then became a retirement home for the sanitation workers of New York City.

Not quite the glamourous days of the roaring twenties, but these well-deserving New Yorkers look like they are having a whale of a time!

During World War ll, it became a radio operator’s school for the Merchant Marines, and from 1948, it was occupied by the Eastern Academy, who dug up the lush gardens and subdivided the rooms, before going bankrupt in 1979.

At this point, the castle began to deteriorate. Vacant and abandoned, it fell into disrepair. There were several reports of arson attempts and vandalism, but thankfully, no major fires. Kahn’s fireproof materials clearly worked. 

After several years of lying abandoned and neglected, the property was finally rescued by another visionary businessman, Gary Melius, who purchased the dilapidated building and its remaining 23 acres of grounds for $1.5 million (£1.2m) in 1984.

“When I first bought the property, it looked like something from a horror movie,” Melius told reporters. “But I saw what it needed, that it could become something great.”

Renovating OHEKA was a huge undertaking and investment. Property developer Melius spent some $40 million (£32m) restoring the palatial estate to its former glory, according to Architectural Digest. It is one of the most expensive private renovation projects in US history.

The castle had no electricity, water or plumbing and it took him several months and 300 trailer trucks just to clear all the rubbish and debris.

More than 222 windows were installed to seal and protect the building after the originals had mysteriously disappeared. In an attempt to recreate the splendour of the original mansion as faithfully as possible, Melius used materials and techniques that would have been employed in its original construction

This included sourcing 4,000 slate tiles from the same Vermont quarry that Kahn had used for the originals and replacing the elaborate plasterwork in the elegant rooms and hallways.

Since then Italian windows and doors have been added and the castle is now a luxury hotel and wedding venue and a member of Historic Hotels of America. 

It features 117 diverse rooms, including 28 guestrooms and six suites, amongst them the popular Gatsby Suites, whose luxury design is inspired by the spirit of the age on Long Island. 

In fact, the new owner has made a feature of the castle’s connections to its illustrious guests of the past.

The OHK Bar and Restaurant otherwise known as Chaplin's features several portraits of its namesake who is thought to have attended parties at the property. Others include Harpo Marx, comedian and one of the Marx Brothers, George Gershwin, celebrated composer, and legendary film director Orson Welles.

The stunning library has all the hallmarks of a traditional wood-panelled room, but all is not quite as it seems. Developer Melius engaged faux bois experts to restore and replace the original walls with fire-retardant concrete, which is 30 inches thick in places. Faux bois, meaning fake wood in French, is a technique for painting hard surfaces to resemble wood, giving the illusion of a stately room without the risk.

The grand ballroom, used for the many wedding receptions held at the property, is just one entertaining area which has risen from the ashes and where the mansion has been restored to meet modern-day needs, while also respecting its original aesthetic and traditions. 

Melius partnered with a local non-profit called the Friends of OHEKA, who have supported him in his mission to protect and preserve the estate.

It wasn’t just the building itself that was restored. More than 85 per cent of surrounding grounds and gardens have been replanted, with the same precise attention to detail as the castle’s splendid interiors.

Across the vast acreage are 500 red Cedars which line the West Gate Drive leading to the house, 44 London plane trees in the formal garden, and 2,505 boxwoods around the reflecting pools to further restore the grounds and gardens to their original design. 

In 1987 OHEKA reopened as a luxury hotel and wedding venue, and in 2003 the Terrace Room was added to the estate to accommodate the larger receptions.

Amongst the many celebrities to have married here, reports Architectural Digest, are Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, singer Brian McKnight, American football star Curtis Martin, NBA star Tobias Harris and disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin, whose wedding was officiated by the then President Bill Clinton. An average wedding costs around $170,000 (£135k).

It’s not just brides and grooms-to-be that have chosen OHEKA as a backdrop to their big day. The estate is a highly sought-after location for films, videos and photographic shoots.

One of the most famous scenes in Season Two of TV hit Succession, the so-called 'Boar on the Floor' episode, sees the top brass of Waystar Royco invited to a lavish mansion in Hungary which is in real life, you guessed it, none other than OHEKA, with a few adjustments to the décor of course!

Perhaps the castle's most famous onscreen appearance featured in Taylor Swift’s 2014 Blank Space video.

The film is like a showcase for the property, with scenes of Swift and her model boyfriend, emerging from the pale-yellow façade of the main house, on bicycles in the library and riding horses along the cedar tree-lined avenue leading to the entrance. 

Construction magnate Melius has had astounding success in turning around the fortunes of OHEKA, but it hasn’t been entirely without problems...

In February 2014, he was shot in the head by a masked gunman behind the wheel of his Mercedes outside his property, reports the New York Post. He miraculously survived but his assailant has never been found, although a reward of $100,000 (£80k) was offered in 2015 for information leading to his arrest.

In the spirit of the Kahn family motto 'Ever restlessly forward', Melius has not allowed the event to prevent him from moving onwards and upwards with OHEKA. Events such as the Great Gatsby garden parties and house tours continue to draw visitors and he has also set up the Otto Kahn Awards which funds local high school students to train in the fine arts, performing arts and music. So far, the program has provided nearly $200,000 in scholarships. 

The castle continues to go from strength to strength with plans for continued maintenance to keep it looking its best. And exciting plans are afoot to transform the final 15% of the estate into a luxury spa. We're sure Kahn would approve.

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