DESIGNERS SHOWCASE
GOLD COAST REDUX: Sands Point’s Historic Hempstead House Presents A Gatsby-worthy Designer Showhouse By M.C. SUSSMAN
The splendor of Hempstead House begins at the front door, which opens onto a 60-foot high foyer. Against one wall is the mansion’s newly restored Wurlitzer Opus 445 Theatre Organ, made of oak. Music from it once reverberated through designed openings in the floor. Beyond, the sunken Palm Court, once home to an aviary and 150 species of rare orchids and plants, is now a graceful, elegant space that can be rented for weddings and other formal events. For the show house, it was set up as a cafe with tables on which to enjoy refreshments. Hempstead House, the extravagant 50,000 square foot 1912 Gold Coast Tudor-style mansion built by Howard Gould, the son of a railroad tycoon, was the epitome of the grandeur and elegance of the Gatsby era. In 1917, it became the home of Daniel and Florence Guggenheim. The veritable castle was outfitted with towers and columns, stained and leaded glass, gold leaf ceilings, carved stone gargoyles, red velvet draperies, Flemish tapestries, imported Jacobean antiques and art by the masters Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck. But after Daniel Guggenheim passed away in 1930, his wife liquidated the mansion’s valuable artwork, tapestries, and furnishings and downsized to Mille Fleurs, a smaller home on the property. During World War II, Hempstead House was used to temporarily house 75 British refugee children. In 1946, the U.S. Navy acquired the property to use as a naval training center. In the process, many of the mansion’s original features such as a gold leaf ceiling and carved oak woodwork from a 17th century Spanish palace in the billiard room were destroyed or removed. Nassau County acquired the estate in 1967, turning 128 acres into a park. In the ensuing years, Hempstead House was the site of several designer show houses. The most recent, held in November, was called “Titans of Busi38 SHAWN ELLIOTT LUXURY