The Belvedere Guest House for Men, an iconic Fire Island hotel, listed for $10.9 million

The Belvedere Guest House for Men, an architecturally distinctive hotel in Fire Island’s Cherry Grove community, has hit the market for $10.9 million.

The ornate, Venetian-style hotel with a 68-year history has long served as a popular vacation destination for the gay community, who travel to Fire Island in the summers. The property has 33 rooms and 200 feet of bayfront, according to listing agent Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality.

“You’re on the ferry on the Great South Bay and you see this building and it’s just incredible,” said Muroff. “It doesn’t look like anything else on Fire Island … You’d expect to see a property like this in the south of France, on the Italian coast, the French Riviera, places like that.”

Of the 33 rooms, 20 suites have private bathrooms while the economy rooms have eight shared bathrooms. Other amenities include a pool, hot tub, grand parlor, multiple patios and decks, according to the listing.

The property was listed by Coldwell Banker Sammis and co-brokered by Gail Gladstone and David Blumberg in 2003 for $4.5 million, Newsday previously reported.

Julian Dorcelien Eberhardt, who has owned and operated the hotel since 2018, is selling the property so he can spend more time with his partner and not worry about the busy summer hospitality rush. “There’s no great impetus for the sale,” said Muroff. “He and his partner would like to spend more time together without the challenges of running a hotel all summer long.”

Fire Island’s Cherry Grove and Pines communities draw around 110,000 LGBTQ+ tourists every summer, according to a memo by Muroff Hospitality.

Dorcelien Eberhardt could not be reached for comment Friday.

'An oasis' for the gay community

Dorcelien Eberhardt was not the first owner of the hotel, but represents the third generation of a group of gay men that have run it since 1957.

The Belvedere was built by the late artist and builder John Eberhardt, who began buying land and building homes in Cherry Grove in 1949, according to the listing. Eberhardt constructed the Belvedere in 1957, and continued expanding on it after he met his partner, Craig Eberhardt, a carpenter. Together, they expanded the Belvedere, adding a jacuzzi, balconies and private rooms, adorned with European antiques and elaborate murals.

“John met Craig and they formed a life-long relationship,” said Muroff. “They were together for close to 30 years, and because gay marriage was not [legal], John legally adopted Craig. After he passed away, the property went to his husband, Julian. It’s essentially been in the same family for three generations without any of them being related by blood.”

The Belvedere has been ubiquitous with Fire Island since its inception, said Peter Arthur, 78, of Amityville, who said the hotel exemplifies Cherry Grove’s history of drag and camp culture. A long-time Fire Island visitor, Arthur said that even back in the 1960s, it “exemplified the over-the-top, Baroque, high style of the ‘queens’ sitting around having high tea. Men saw it as an oasis from the homophobic environment back then.”

Muroff, who also sold the Ice Palace and Grove hotels in 2022, said, “This hotel is an irreplaceable asset” to Fire Island.