America's Richest Castle Just Went Broke

Otto Kahn was one of the richest men in America — partner at Kuhn, Loeb & Co., chairman of the Metropolitan Opera, the man they called the King of New York. But the country clubs of Morristown, New Jersey refused him membership because he was Jewish. So he left, bought 443 acres on Long Island’s Gold Coast, spent two years building his own hill, and constructed a 127-room fireproof French château that became the second-largest private residence in America. He laid his own 18-hole golf course. He threw parties that may have inspired The Great Gatsby. Orson Welles used photographs of his castle for Xanadu in Citizen Kane.

Then Kahn died, and the castle began to fall. Sanitation workers. Military academy. The Olmsted gardens bulldozed for a parade ground. Abandonment. More than a hundred arson attempts — all defeated by the fireproof walls Kahn insisted on after his previous home burned down in 1905. In 1984, developer Gary Melius bought the ruin for $1.5 million and spent $40 million restoring it. In 2014, a masked gunman shot him in the head in the castle’s parking lot. He survived. The case is still unsolved.

In October 2026, Oheka Castle went to foreclosure auction. The holding company had filed for bankruptcy with $57 in its account. The castle was appraised at $137 million. It sold for $72 million. Melius says he’s staying on to manage it. The castle is still open.

Sources:

Oheka Castle official history — oheka.com/history
Huntington Historical Society — “Oheka Castle” (huntingtonhistoricalsociety.org)
New York Social Diary — “Big Old Houses: The King of New York” (newyorksocialdiary.com)
NBC New York — “Bankruptcy leads to $72 million auction for famed Long Island mansion,” Oct. 27, 2026
Hoodline — “Huntington’s Oheka Castle Heads to Auction, $63.5M in Debt Behind It,” Sept. 30, 2026
Ynetnews — “Antisemitism and attempted murder: New York castle built by Jewish banker sells for half its value,” Oct. 28, 2026