Up to date
2025-07-21T13:05:01Z
Share
Fb
X
Copy hyperlink
lighning bolt icon
An icon within the form of a lightning bolt.
Influence Hyperlink
Save
Saved
Learn in app
This story is offered completely to Enterprise Insider
subscribers. Grow to be an Insider
and begin studying now.
Have an account? Log in.
Hempstead Home at Sands Level Protect provides guided excursions to find out about its historical past.
Initially owned by Howard Gould, the property was later bought to the Guggenheims in 1917.
The mansion served numerous roles, together with housing WWII refugees, earlier than changing into a public park.
Lavish mansions courting again to the early 1900s are scattered alongside Lengthy Island’s prosperous North Shore, incomes it the identify the Gold Coast. Many of those properties are thought to have impressed F. Scott Fitzgerald’s West Egg in “The Nice Gatsby.”One such mansion is Hempstead Home, which is situated in Sands Level Protect, a 216-acre park about 30 miles outdoors New York Metropolis.All the property was as soon as owned by Howard Gould, a financier. He bought the land to Daniel and Florence Guggenheim in 1917, in keeping with the protect’s historical past.The Guggenheims lived in Hempstead Home collectively till 1930, when Daniel died. Florence then bought all the furnishings and moved to a smaller dwelling on the property.Hempstead Home has had fairly a journey since then, in keeping with the Sands Level Protect: British refugee kids lived there throughout World Struggle II, then the land was acquired by the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, which in flip donated it to the US Navy. The primary in-flight simulator was even examined there.By 1971, the land was within the possession of Nassau County, which turned the previous Guggenheim property right into a park, turned two of the mansions into museums, and opened the park as much as anybody prepared to purchase a ticket.In July 2024, I paid $15 to park at Sands Level Protect after which one other $10 to take a guided tour of Hempstead Home.Here is what it was like contained in the 113-year-old mansion and what I realized about life there.
Hempstead Home was inbuilt 1912 by financier Howard Gould. He bought it 5 years later to Daniel and Florence Guggenheim.
Hempstead Home.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Supply: Sands Level Protect
Daniel Guggenheim was the brother of Solomon Guggenheim, founding father of the NYC museum, and Benjamin Guggenheim, who perished on the Titanic.
The entryway to Hempstead Home.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Hempstead Home was a part of 216 acres that the Guggenheims bought as a summer time dwelling. It is now often known as Sands Level Protect.
Daniel and Florence Guggenheim enjoying golf in 1922.
Bettmann/Getty Photographs
Right now, you’ll be able to tour Hempstead Home. This entryway, with its unique 60-foot chandelier, is among the focal factors of the house.
The lobby of Hempstead Home.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Instantly to the left is what was as soon as often known as the Palm Court docket. The ceiling was completely glass, giving it a greenhouse really feel. The metalwork is all unique to the Guggenheims’ time.
The Palm Court docket.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Here is what the Palm Court docket appeared like 100 years in the past. Within the bottom-right photograph, the Guggenheims are pictured with Charles Lindbergh and one of many Wright brothers.
The Palm Court docket within the ’20s.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Immediately behind the Palm Court docket is the summer time front room, which supplies a terrific view of the backyard.
The summer time front room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
It additionally options the most important hearth within the dwelling.
The hearth in the summertime front room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
One other photograph on show reveals what the room appeared like within the Twenties. The now-open archways used to have French doorways.
The summer time front room within the ’20s.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Subsequent to the lounge is the library, which has a window seat that appears excellent for lounging on.
The library at Hempstead Home.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
The ornate ceiling on this room is unique, with busts of Shakespeare and different students engraved into the plaster.
The ceiling within the library.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
This room may be acquainted to viewers of HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” It doubles as George Russell’s workplace on the present.
The mantelpiece contained in the library.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
HBO actually acquired the aesthetic down — Russell’s workplace primarily seems like this.
The library within the ’20s.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
These doorways, which have been initially carved in Spain within the sixteenth century, result in the billiards room.
The door main from the billiards room to the summer time front room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
The billiards room additionally has an expensive window seat.
A window seat contained in the billiards room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Throughout from the summer time front room is the eating room. The stenciling alongside the tops of the partitions is comparatively new and was put there for a design showcase.
The eating room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Though it is new, the artwork pays homage to Hempstead Home’s historical past. It is a rendering of Kilkenny Fort in Eire, which was the idea for one more dwelling on the property, Fort Gould.
A stencil drawing contained in the eating room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
That is the separate servants’ hallway. I realized that at its peak, Hempstead Home had 16 servants residing within the dwelling, plus extra in Fort Gould.
The servants’ hall.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
That is the door to the silver secure. When the US Navy vacated the house in 1967, they sealed it up, and it was solely rediscovered in 2014.
The silver secure.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
This toilet has been transformed, but it surely was the servants’ eating room.
The servant’s eating room turned toilet.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
We then headed upstairs, giving us one other view of the spectacular tower and chandelier.
The lobby from the second flooring.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
We stopped at one other ornate room. This was the place company have been served breakfast.
The breakfast room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Immediately subsequent to the breakfast room was one other wood-paneled examine.
A sitting room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Hempstead Home has 4 flooring, however we solely noticed two. This room was Mrs. Guggenheim’s sitting room.
Florence Guggenheim’s bed room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
It has one more excellent window seat.
A window seat in Florence’s room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
This was her precise bed room. It is now used as a bridal suite when weddings are held at Hempstead Home.
The bridal suite.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Down the corridor was Mr. Guggenheim’s bed room. Now, it is utilized by grooms throughout weddings held right here.
The grooms’ room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
It is also one of many solely rooms with a personal toilet.
A rest room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
We stopped at another visitor room, which was extra modest.
A visitor room.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Because the tour concluded, we have been capable of discover the gardens outdoors.
The backyard.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
You may be questioning the place the identify Hempstead Home comes from — it is as a result of that is Hempstead Harbor within the distance.
Hempstead Harbor.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
Hempstead Home is only one of many Gold Coast mansions on Lengthy Island that might be fascinating to any historical past buff, and positively definitely worth the $10 ticket.
Hempstead Home.
Gabbi Shaw/Enterprise Insider
