A 25-room colonial mansion on Long Island Sound is about to be razed so the lot can be subdivided and sold off. Some people seem to think this is a big deal because of the mansion's connection to The Great Gatsby... but is there a connection? The NY Post reports that some F. Scott Fitzgerald scholars believe the 1902 structure, called Lands End, inspired the book; it may or may not have been a template for Daisy Buchanan's home.
One Hofstra professor says, "It's certainly possible. But Fitzgerald never made any direct statement about it. Because he knew that area well, there are a few homes that people sometimes think could have served as an inspiration."
In the past, Westport, Connecticut has been noted as the inspiration for West Egg (Easton, CT was East Egg); Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda lived in the area for a time. Though they also lived near the Lands End mansion, and it's possible Fitzgerald's vision was simply a mash-up of these familiar landscapes (here's a list of a zillion other mansions that may or may not have inspired Fitzgerald's vision of real estate on West and East Egg).
Meanwhile, the current owners of Lands End say, "there isn't anything really special about it. We did a lot of research on its history and there is really no evidence that Fitzgerald was even ever there." (That's no way to sell real estate!) Newsday has video (with a smooth jazz soundtrack that almost makes their service worth signing up for)—the development company gives them a tour and says the Gatsby rumors are simply rumors, and not true at all. So there you have it, a 1902 mansion that has no literary significance is going to be demolished.
For the record, the 1974 film used Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis’s childhood home of Hammersmith Farm for the exterior of the Buchanan mansion. Rosecliff mansion in Newport, Rhode Island was used for some of the exterior and interior shots of Jay Gatsby’s West Egg home. Where do you think Baz Luhrman will film his 3-D version of Gatsby? (A: Probably outer space.)
