Oheka Castle

By Barbara LaMonica

Assistant Archivist

From Gilded Age castle, to sanitation union resort, to Merchant Marine training center, to military academy, and finally restored to its original grandeur as a luxury hotel, Oheka castle has a varied and controversial history.

Completed in 1919, Oheka was built by investment banker and patron of the arts Otto Kahn. The chateau style mansion was intended as a summer home for his family while they were not in residence at their 80-room Italian Renaissance style mansion in New York City.

Kahn’s previous country home, Cedar Court in Morristown, NJ was gifted to him and his wife Addie Wolfe by her father. However, after about 10 years the home burnt down, and Kahn, who had been denied membership in country clubs in Morristown because of his Jewish background, eventually decided to relocate. He bought 443 acres in Cold Spring Harbor where he intended to build a chateau style country home. Desiring to have an overview of the surrounding area, Kahn had a hill built before construction on the home began. It took two years to complete the man-made elevation which made the property the highest point on Long Island.

Kahn engaged famed architects Delano and Aldrich to build the French chateau inspired home. Of utmost importance to him was that the home be fireproof, the result being that the Delano- Aldrich design in steel and concrete made it the first totally fireproof residential building.

Oheka Formal Garden

The Olmstead Brothers designed the gardens in the French manner of “imposing order on nature,” with manicured hedges, water terraces and parterres. A private 18-hole golf course, (which is still in existence today as part of the Cold Spring Hills Country Club), tennis courts, landing strip, stables and indoor swimming pool were some of the features.

Upon completion the 112,895 square foot castle had 127 rooms, 39 fireplaces, and employed 126 full time servants. It was the second largest home in the US, second to Vanderbilt’s Biltmore in Ashville, NC.

Otto Kahn was born in Mannheim Germany in 1867. His father had eight children and had a career plan for each one. In spite of Otto’s desire to become a musician, his father placed him in a bank as a junior clerk. He eventually moved to London where he became second in command at Deutsche Bank. In 1893, he moved to the United States where he joined Kuhn, Loeb & Co. He became a partner with railroad builder E. H. Harriman in the task of restructuring the Union Pacific Railroad. Kahn gained a reputation as one of the most skillful reorganizers of railroads. He went on to restructure the Baltimore and Ohio, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and other systems. In international finance, he negotiated for opening the Paris Bourse to American securities.  A philanthropist and patron of the arts, Kahn was a stockholder and founding member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, and was a collector of paintings, tapestries, and sculptures. He authored several books on varied topics including art, history, and business.

A few years after Kahn died in 1934 his wife Addie sold the castle for a mere $100,000 to the Welfare Fund of the Sanitation Workers of New York (Sanita). Oheka, renamed Sanita Lodge, was transformed into a country retreat for low paid department employees to vacation with their families. Addie, a patroness of the Women’s Trade Union League, stated she was pleased that the property could now be used to benefit so many. However, others in the area were not so pleased. The idea that “street sweepers” would use the luxurious surroundings triggered ethnic and class discriminations lurking beneath the surface. The Long Islander, a fierce opponent, ran an editorial on June 9, 1939 that read “…the finest land in Huntington is to be placed in the lowest category…the value of the parcels in the neighborhood will be correspondingly lowered.”

Nearby residents, including statesman Henry Stimson, approached the town board complaining the lodge violated zoning and building use codes. The town brought the case before the Supreme Court in Jamaica asking for a temporary injunction on the alterations being made to the castle.

Sanitation worker's families enjoy Oheka grounds

Because the lodge now consisted of a Horn and Hardart cafeteria, a cigar stand and a switchboard, Sanita should be considered a boarding house or hotel, not a strictly a residential building. Furthermore, the union did not get a Certificate of Occupancy. Because the union was a not-for-profit, local residents feared tax exemption would shift the tax burden onto them.

However, Sanita had many supporters among Huntington businessmen and residents. During a period of high unemployment and business depression, Sanita provided somewhat of a solution.  The lodge hired local people as construction and service workers. Additionally, the lodge bought supplies from local businesses, and sanitation vacationers shopped in town. The Huntington Businessmen Association started a petition in favor of keeping Sanita open. The first petition had over 1400 signatures. 

By this time Mayor LaGuardia got involved and offered to act as a mediator. He set up a meeting between the town board and Sanita. He proposed that the Sanitation Union would be willing to pay partial taxes on the property. But the board held firm. It refused a certificate of occupancy and refused tax exemption. “I would not want to be as dead as this proposal” claimed LaGuardia. In the meantime, the union said it would no longer pursue legal means. “We do not want to be somewhere where we are not wanted,” Sanitation Director Carey stated. As of April 1940 the Sanita cause was defeated. Eventually the Sanitation Union, with the support of Franklin Roosevelt, did find suitable property upstate.

The property reverted to the Kahn family and almost immediately was subdivided and bought by a local developer. The town approved rezoning to 1/3-1/4 acre plots for the construction of homes.

In 1942 the Merchant Marine requisitioned the abandoned mansion and Oheka became a radio operator school through 1945. In 1948 Eastern Military Academy purchased it and ran a boarding school until 1979. For the next four years Oheka fell into ruin. In 1984 developer Gary Melius purchased the home and began restoration. Today, restored to its Gilded Age opulence, Oheka Castle is a luxury hotel and event venue.