The Long Island estate that served as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s inspiration for Jay Gatsby’s house in the author’s novel-turned-movie-turned-other-movie, The Great Gatsby, is up for sale, Bloomberg reports.
The 13-bedroom waterfront home in Sands Point on Long Island used to be the property of one Mary Harriman Rumsey, a railroad heiress and sister of then-governor of New York, W. Averell Harriman. Apparently, Rumsey offered Fitzgerald a glimpse into the aristocratic world of the uber-rich (not to mention, eugenics), and, in particular, he used her home as the basis for Gatsby’s, “a colossal affair by any standard...with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.” Take a look.
While it’s been renovated since the roaring '20s—there is no ivy, swimming pool or closets chock-full of highly throwable button-downs—the house, which sits on a humble 5.3 acres, is still pretty damn elegant. And at $16.88 million, we’d say it’s a steal—considering you’d be living in the real-life home of one of American literature’s most extravagant fictional characters.
If that makes sense? That makes sense.