Oheka Castle - Huntington, New York - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

A century ago, financier and philanthropist Otto Hermann Kahn built OHEKA CASTLE in the middle of a 443-acre plot on the highest point on Long Island in Cold Spring Harbor for an estimated cost of $11 million ($158 million in today’s currency). At the time of its construction, the French-style chateau was—and still is today—the second-largest private residence ever built in America. During the Gilded Age of the 1920s, Kahn used the 109,000-square-foot, 127-room estate as a summer home where he hosted lavish parties and regularly entertained royalty, heads of state, and Hollywood stars.

After Otto Kahn died in 1934, the estate changed hands several times, serving as a retreat for New York sanitation workers and a government training school for Merchant Marine radio operators. In 1948, the Eastern Military Academy bought OHEKA, bulldozed the gardens, subdivided the rooms, and painted over the walls. After the school went bankrupt 40 years later, OHEKA stood abandoned, except by vandals who set numerous fires over five years. In 1984, developer Gary Melius purchased OHEKA and the remaining 22 acres that surrounded the estate and began the painstaking challenge of restoring the Castle to its original grandeur.

Today, after $40 million in restoration, the largest in American History, OHEKA CASTLE is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of Historic Hotels of America®, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing and celebrating the finest historic hotels across America, and Historic Hotels Worldwide®.

Street address: 135 W Gate Drive Huntington , New York United States 11743 County / Borough / Parish: Suffolk County Year listed: 2004 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture, Community Planning, and Development Commerce Periods of significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949, 1950-1974 Historic function: Domestic Current function: Domestic Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/18/2023 Team Double A wrote comment for it