Comments on: The end of an era for the "Gatsby house"
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- Ms. Altschul's otherwise excellent piece was seriously marred by her inclusion of Mr. Brodsky, the property's owner. Not only did Sunday Morning give this person airtime, but she "promoted" his replacement for-profit development (Seagate). Mr. Brodsky clearly seems to be the most responsible party for the building's deterioration. When he bought Sand Point seven years ago, it was in fine shape. And now after investing nothing into maintenance, what a surprise: He's tearing it down for new development because "it's deteriorated too much for rehabilitation." Shame on CBS for letting the guilty party off the hook on this one.
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- No huge deal, but the house referred to in the passage read at the beginning the story was not Gatsby's. It belonged to the nefarious Tom Buchanan. It was an enjoyable piece nonetheless.
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- You can't restore everything. I live in and own a home that was built in 1911, a century ago. If you think that is really cool your welcome to my utility bills. You also might like the mice, too. There is no way to seal up an older home to keep them out.
The wife liked it which is why we bought it but there is not a room in the place you can stand in and not see something that needs fixing. And the minute you get one thing fixed something else breaks. Unless you can do the work yourself - which I can - you would go broke owning such a house. And trust me after a few years it isn't fun anymore to be constantly fixing stuff even if you can do the work. - Reply to this comment
- Just show you how long demolition by neglect takes - 7 years. Home look nothing like this when it was sold. I have copies of the brochures when Brodsky bought it or perhaps find the HGTV episode of the blind auction that preceded Brodsky's purchase.
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- I love Americans, but I'll never understand you. You travel the globe in search of history, but seem hell bent on destroying your own. The Coconut Grove (at the Ambassador Hotel), Shea Stadium, Route 66 and now this.
You have a wonderful history America, learn to love it. - Reply to this comment
- I wonder who the wealthy person is that wanted to build a new mansion on a historic site.
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- You can find more on the whole sad saga if you <a href="http://www.oldlongisland.com/search?q=Lands+End">click here,</a> a website lovingly devoted to the remaining Long Island Gold Coast treasures. oldlongisland.com is not-for-profit, and serves to remind us of what is at stake here; more than just real estate, it's the very fabric of our social history.
Make no mistake --- Brodsky is the devil incarnate; he never really intended to live there himself, and engaged in demolition via criminal neglect. The house that stood for more than a century as the inspiration for Daisy Buchanan's colonial, with its green light softly glowing amidst the hissing of summer lawns, simply does not fall to wrack & ruin under the questionable stewardship of one man in so short a time span.
<i>"They were careless people...they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, they let other people clean up the mess they had made..."</i> FSF, <i><b>The Great Gatsby</b></i>
Having visited it for decades, winter, spring, summer & fall, in good time and bad, it never once showed the type of abject neglect the razed structure displayed.
Please see Jen Ross' haunting photos of <a href="http://jenrossphoto.blogspot.com/2011/03/lands-end-sands-point.html"><i>Lands End</i></a> here... - Reply to this comment
- Someone wondered if the Brodsky's had intended to tear down the house all along; I am suspecting the same thing. In Wisconsin, where I'm from, this sort of thing happens to lakefront property all the time --property is purchased and the old house or cottage on the lot is torn down and a new, MUCH bigger, grander house is built. Here, the house was already grand but tear it down and 5 more can be built, and at a handsome profit to boot. It sounds kind of crummy, yet fitting in a way, like something Gatsby might have invested in himself. The house was too far gone to really think of saving her, but maybe 7 years ago it would have been possible?
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- This is horible, I can't believe that they could destroy this home. It could have been restored, it sounds to me as the owners just wanted to make 5 homes for a profit. It saddens me that this happend.
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- how was that home not declared a historical landmark?
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