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Almost 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 dollars ($110 million dollars 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 1920’s, 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 30 years later, OHEKA stood abandoned, except by vandals who set more than 100 fires in 5 years.
In 1984, developer Gary Melius purchased OHEKA and the remaining 23 acres which surrounded the estate and began the painstaking challenge of restoring the Castle to its original grandeur.
Intent on preserving the authenticity of OHEKA, architects, historians and researchers were brought in to corroborate on every detail. Slate roof tiles, used in the 2 year restoration of the roof, were sourced from the same Vermont quarry where Kahn had purchased the originals. More than 222 windows and doors were replaced with custom-made duplicates. The handcrafted wrought iron railing on the Grand Staircase took two months to be refinished. Faux Bois specialists were brought in to restore the walls in the Library and Rubber Casters were hired to restore the beautiful plaster mouldings in the Ballroom and the Library. The Formal Gardens were recreated using the original drawings of the Olmsted Brothers resurrecting the eight reflecting pools and 3 fountains.
Today, OHEKA Castle Hotel & Estate is a member of the coveted Small Luxury Hotels of the World and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Breathtakingly beautiful, OHEKA has become the premier venue for exquisite weddings, gala celebrations, romantic weekends, or corporate retreats and has been the backdrop to many music, television, film and photo productions. In recent years, 32 luxuriously appointed Guestrooms and Suites were rebuilt on the upper floors and a new Terrace Room has been added on the main floor for larger affairs.
After $30 million in restoration (the largest in American History) OHEKA is now 70% restored and is once again elegant and refined and enjoyed by all who pass through the gates of the Estate. OHEKA remains today a symbol of the history of America and a monument to the Gold Coast of Long Island.
Historical Facts of OHEKA by Date
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