Former Home of F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald, famous chronicler of Jazz Age America, was a Minnesota native whose peripatetic life led him to call numerous places home, at least for short periods of time. There are several Gold Coast mansions rumored to have inspired the lavish homes that feature prominently in The Great Gatsby, but there is one that Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, are known to have lived in during the time that he was writing the classic novel. It is believed that Fitzgerald wrote at least three chapters of the novel while living in the Great Neck home. The home, which was built in 1918, looks much the way it did when the famous author and his family lived there.

The Great Gatsby is arguably the quintessential American novel of the 1920s. Set on the fictional Long Island enclaves of East Egg and West Egg, the novel details the era’s decadence and fixation on wealth. Ultimately, the novel’s protagonist, Jay Gatsby, is destroyed by his pursuit of wealth, as well as his devotion to his former love, Daisy Buchanan. Long Island’s Gold Coast, home to the fabulously wealthy, is known to be the inspiration for the world of Gatsby and the Buchanans, with several mansions reportedly serving as the basis for their fictional counterparts.

But Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Long Island’s 1920s excesses was not merely the work of a creative mind; he and his wife, Zelda, lived on the Gold Coast for almost two years. They were both observers of and participants in the bacchanalian atmosphere of the island. Though the Fitzgeralds themselves were comparatively cash-deprived at the time, their neighbors threw the lavish parties depicted in the novel, and Scott and Zelda—never ones to miss a party—were almost certainly in attendance.

The home, a Mediterranean-style mansion of more than 5,000 square feet, was built in 1918. The Fitzgeralds began renting the home in October of 1922 and remained there until April of 1924, when they departed for France. Rent for the sprawling home was a mere $300 a month.

By the time the Fitzgeralds arrived in Great Neck, Scott had already written his editor, Maxwell Perkins, with ideas for the novel that would become Gatsby. During the time that the couple lived in the house, it is believed that Fitzgerald wrote three chapters of the book, doing much of the work in a room above the garage. His time on the Gold Coast gave him the opportunity to rub elbows with the likes of Guggenheims and Vanderbilts, as well as titans from the entertainment industry and the occasional mobster, all of them contributing to the fictional world he was creating, as did the tensions between old and new money on the Gold Coast.

The home has changed hands over the years and remains a private residence. It was most recently sold in 2016 for roughly $4 million. There have been updates since the Fitzgeralds resided on Gateway Drive, but the mansion reportedly looks much the way it did when it was home to a literary giant.

Lyons, Patrick . Shades of the Jazz Age: Fitzgerald's Long Island , New York Times . April 14th 2005. Accessed June 16th 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/style/shades-of-the-jazz-age-fitzgeralds-long-island.html.

Schulz, Dana . Great Neck Mansion Where F. Scott Fitzgerald Started Writing The Great Gatsby Lists for $4M, 6sqft. May 20th 2015. Accessed June 16th 2021. https://www.6sqft.com/great-neck-mansion-where-f-scott-fitzgerald-started-writing-the-great-gatsby-lists-for-4m/.

Murphy, Mary Jo. Eyeing the Unreal Estate of Gatsby, Esq., New York Times . September 30th 2010. Accessed June 16th 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/nyregion/01gatsby.html.