Oheka Castle (May 2018) -
Go for a Drink or
Meal; No Need for an Organized Tour
My
spouse and I visited Oheka Castle on a Sunday morning in early May 2018. We
booked our tour a few weeks ahead using the hotel/restaurant/castle website.
One-hour tours are given at 11:00 am daily and cost $25 (which is discounted to
$15 for hotel guests). You can choose to include champagne and strawberries or
a multi-course prix-fixe lunch at the end of your tour, or you can book a
dining reservation separately using the online Open Table reservation system
(so that your menu is not limited). All guests receive cookies and coffee/tea/water
at the end of their tour.
We
had tried to visit Oheka previously, but were never able to get a reservation;
our advice is go anyway for a drink or meal – you do not need to book a tour.
Everything that our excellent guide told us during the 20-minute briefing (during
which we were seated) is posted online on their website; she did show us some
old photographs at the end of the tour that we hadn’t seen online, but they
were available in the library for anyone to look through. Plus, if you visit
for a drink or meal, you can still wander the grounds unimpeded, except for
those areas that are off-limits because of the many wedding and private event
functions. We were allowed to visit the grand ballroom, even though caterers
were setting up for a large wedding; however, we were unable to dine in the
actual dining room because that had been reserved for a special event. As a
result, luncheon guests were seated in the bar room or the Charlie Chaplin
room, which are both cozy but not as preferred as the dining room. Despite
receiving at least two emails from Open Table and two telephone calls to confirm
our meal, no one thought to mention to us ahead of time that we would be dining
in an auxiliary room. For that reason, we canceled our meal reservation on the
spot; the hostess and manager seemed happy that we chose not to dine and didn’t
care in the least that we left. Note that if an event is going on, you might be
prevented from just showing up for a drink without a reservation; on the day
that we visited, guests were turned away because the dining room was off-limits
and the other two ancillary rooms were full. Email reservation confirmation
states that some areas of the estate and gardens may be inaccessible on the day
of your visit, but we didn’t expect that to include the restaurant when we were
holding a confirmed reservation. It was also dreadfully dreary, so guests could
not sit outside to drink and dine on the semi-rooftop terrace. We were also
unable to see any of the accommodations that are often included on a tour
because they were occupied. If you feel compelled to take a guided tour, we
recommend doing so on a weekday when private events are less likely. We were
disappointed by the lack of direction when we arrived at the estate – there was
no signage on
where to park, no signage that directed us to check in for tours at front desk,
no instructions to obtain admission cards (which were on the honor system to
give to the guide – hotel guests and others nosy-bodies could have easily
joined the tour without paying). We had about 22 people on our tour.
Oheka
Castle, constructed between 1914 and 1919, encompasses about 110,000 square feet and 120 rooms, allowing it to boast that it is
the second largest private residence ever built in America. (The largest is the
Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.) Even with its large size, the
estate was only the summer home for Otto Kahn, his wife Addie, and their four
children. Financier and philanthropist Otto Hermann Kahn built Oheka (a
portmanteau of his name Otto HErman KAhn, which he also applied to his villa in
Palm Beach and his private yacht) on a 443-acre plot in Cold Spring Harbor on
the highest point on Long Island, for an estimated cost of $11 million (which
would equal $158 million today). The Khans hosted lavish parties and
entertained royalty, heads of state, and Hollywood movie stars. The estate once
included an
18-hole golf course (still operating, although not owned by Oheka), a private
greenhouse, tennis courts, an indoor swimming pool (no longer operational but visible
through the windows in an annex building near the parking lot), a landing
strip, orchards, and stables.
Oheka was designed in a French
chateau style of steel and concrete in order to make it fireproof after Kahn’s
previous summer home burned down. (Oheka has survived over 100 arson attempts during a
4-year period in the early 1980s when it was vacant.) Note that because Oheka has had a long history and was vandalized and
stood vacant for many years, there is almost nothing original (with respect to
moldings, fireplaces, wall coverings, paint, fixtures) remaining, but
architects and historians did extensive research during the renovation and
painstakingly copied original features including the original slate roof tiles,
222 windows and doors, faux bois [wood] in the library, plaster moldings, and
the wrought-iron railing on the grand staircase, and the result is beautiful. Drawings
from the Olmsted Brothers (who designed Manhattan’s Central Park) were used to
recreate the formal French sunken gardens, which feature three fountains and
eight reflecting pools. Oheka is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is
a member of Historic Hotels of America, part of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation. Many movies (Cruel Intentions,
Citizen Kane) and TV shows (“The Americans”, “Gossip Girl”, “Madam Secretary”,
and “Royal Pains”) have filmed at Oheka, as well as various commercials, music
videos (like Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space”), and magazine shoots. Celebrity
sightings also occur, including famous TV, movie, music, and political figures.
We
enjoyed our tour of Oheka, but would advise others to just read the background
on line and the visit on their own for a drink (on a weekday).
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