Photos of Hempstead House, a 112-year-old mansion on Long Island

The North Shore of Long Island is known as the Gold Coast because of its collection of lavish homes dating back to the early 1900s. Many of these homes are believed to have inspired West Egg, portrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Great Gatsby.”

One such mansion is Hempstead House, located in Sands Point Preserve, a 216-acre park about 30 miles from New York City.

The entire estate was once owned by Howard Gould, a financier. He sold the land to Daniel and Florence Guggenheim in 1917, according to the preserve’s history.

The Guggenheims lived together at Hempstead House until 1930, when Daniel died. Florence sold all the furniture and moved to a smaller house on the property.

Since then, Hempstead House has had a long journey, as the Sands Point Preserve recounts: children of British refugees lived there during World War II, then the land was acquired by the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, which donated it to the U.S. Navy. The first flight simulator was even tested there.

In 1971, the land was owned by Nassau County, which transformed the former Guggenheim estate into a park, turned two of the mansions into museums, and opened the park to anyone who wanted to buy a ticket.

In July 2024, I paid $15 to park at Sands Point Preserve, then another $10 to take a guided tour of Hempstead House.

Here’s what the inside of this 112-year-old mansion looked like and what I learned about life there.