Properties for sale with 'Gatsby' ties
The former Alva Vanderbilt Belmont estate in Sands Point (2013) Credit: Handout
Friday’s premiere of the 3-D motion picture “The Great Gatsby” is focusing attention on the Gold Coast properties that inspired the 1925 novel — or were inspired by it.
One is a Sands Point home (see photos above), on the market for $5.9 million, situated on the former estate of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, where she had a full-scale replica of an Irish castle constructed. Dubbed Beacon Towers, the castle is thought to be one of several estate houses used by F. Scott Fitzgerald to create the over-the-top mansions in the book.
Beacon Towers (pictured at the top of the post) was sold in 1927 to William Randolph Hearst, and demolished in 1947. Homeowners Larry and Amy Birnbaum find the Hearst connection quite a coincidence. They got engaged while visiting San Simeon in California, another palatial Hearst home. Their 4,800-square-foot home, built in 1991, has 200 feet of beachfront. Walls of windows and glass doors take full advantage of the views of the Sound.
The listing agent is Maggie Keats of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
In nearby Great Neck, where Fitzgerald lived while conceiving the book, there is a 3.4-acre parcel on the market that was inspired by the area’s literary history — the seller named it Gatsby Lane, and it’s next to the Brickman Estate, said to be one of Fitzgerald’s inspirations for the book. It’s on the market for $17 million, listed with Douglas Elliman’s Mona Kremin.
