Long Island mansion with links to ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Big Short’ for sale for £13.1 million (or 152% more than it sold for in 2011)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) set his ‘Roaring Twenties’ classic The Great Gatsby in the fictional locations of East Egg and West Egg on Long Island and now one of the homes that inspired him is available for sale.
Owned by Cornwall Capital founder James Mai – a man whose firm ironically made over 80 times its capital by buying credit default swaps on CDOs prior to the 2008 financial crisis – and his wife Chiara since 2011, 235 Middle Neck Road at Sands Point on Long Island’s Gold Coast was built in 1926 and home to the Rumsey-Harriman railroad dynasty from 1929.
Fitzgerald is said to have spent time at the residence learning about “the lifestyle of the moneyed aristocracy of Old Westport, Long Island, and their involvement in the movement of eugenics” from the Rumseys and ironically, James Mai, is also representative of a clash between ‘old’ and ‘new’ money. In 2008, he and his partner are said to have been the ones “screaming about [the coming crash] as loud as they could, but everyone turned a deaf ear.” The character Jamie Shipley, played by Finn Wittrock in the 2015 film The Big Short, is loosely based upon him.
Featuring 11,955 square foot of renovated accommodation that includes formal and informal entertaining spaces, 13 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. There is also a 6-car garage with a 3-bedroom caretaker’s cottage, a 4-bedroom beachside cottage and a boat house.
Outside, on a plot of some 5.3 acres, there is a 391-foot private beach, a tennis court and in spite of its seeming isolation, the property is situated just 29 miles from Downtown Manhattan and 25 minutes by boat.
235 Middle Neck Road is listed by Nava Mitnick of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International. In December 2016, of it, she commented: “Obviously, it’s so imposing – you drive down and see the sweeping views. But when we entered the house, I described it as a ‘glorified cottage’, because it’s so homey.”
235 Middle Neck Road – The Numbers
August 2017 – Relisted for £13.1 million ($16.88 million, €14.2 million or درهم62 million).
December 2016 – Listed for sale for £15.4 million ($19.8 million, €16.6 million or درهم72.7 million).
June 2011 – Sold for £5.2 million ($6.675 million, €5.6 million or درهم24.5 million).
February 2011 – Listed for sale for £7.7 million ($9.9 million, €8.3 million or درهم36.4 million).
Knock it down!!!!!!!!!!! Bloody dump —— and in middle of nowhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boring location, boring house!!!!!!!!!!! Wrecking ball urgently required!!!!!!!!!!!!! Overpriced too!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a property professional I’d argue this is now good value. Plenty of accommodation and stylish. All it needs is a swimming pool to be constructed and maybe a media room.
‘A Media Room’, Yolanda? We know you are a ‘property professional’ by is this a new trend of actually having journalists sitting in one’s home? In days past, it was fashionable to have hermits on your estate: is this the 21st C equivalent.
Do you not realise how barking mad you seem?
Mr Wayde,Do lay off Yolanda. You might not agree with what she says but at least she is informative and seems a decent sort. May I suggest you direct your razor sharp wit and sarcasm at the Trott? Now she is barking mad and a thoroughly nasty piece of work to boot. Thank you so much.
Yolanda is a bore and yaps on
Pot kettle black Mr Wayde…
Where would we all be without the Rods of this world? Saner, more logical, certainly, but more boring and less amusing.
Thanks, Yolanda. I wondered why it was so cheap (cheap? haha. I mean compared to the Hamptons) but I expect it’s location, location, location. That does make it good value, though. Wonder why they’re leaving. If it’s taken that much money and therefore time to renovate, they haven’t had the chance to enjoy. Well, IMO.
Prime location, near Manhattan on the fabled Gold Coast !!
Aah, Mr Wayde, are you trifling with us, pretending not to know what a media room is? The plebs sit and look at television and DVDs on sofas and chaises longues, but the ultra-high-net-worthers have rooms furnished in the style of cinemas, except with much more expensive seating.
The rich no longer have hermits on their estates; they allow their retired nannies to live rent-free in estate cottages. Surely you knew that?
In Scotland, btw, tenant farmers who have rented cottages for generations are trying to persuade the current political administration to pass legislation to give them ownership of said cottages.
Funny old world, innit?
I suspect “media room” originates from “multimedia” given such a space is likely not as large as a cinema but likely features a screen larger than a television that can be used by computers, etc also.
The Americanism regarding property (or “realty” as they prefer to call it) that I truly dislike and think ridiculous is the “half-bathroom”. It is either a bathroom or it damned well isn’t!
Ah yes, the half bathroom is only for number one’s where the full bathroom is for number two’s
Everybody knows that.