How New York's Old Money Built America's Second-Largest Home and Then Lost It All: Oheka Castle

Otto Hermann Kahn was one of the most powerful bankers on Wall Street — and still couldn't get into a country club. So he built the second-largest private home in America instead: 127 rooms, 39 fireplaces, a hill reshaped just to hold it on the highest point of Long Island. This is the story of Oheka Castle. How a Kuhn, Loeb & Co. partner turned exclusion into a $11 million statement piece. How his own children walked away from it within a generation. How a military academy bulldozed the gardens, an academy bankruptcy left it abandoned to over 100 arson attempts, and a string of owners — including one shot in the head on its own driveway in 2014 — fought to hold onto it ever since. And how, right now, the house built to outlast anyone's opinion of Otto Kahn is sitting in federal bankruptcy court, scheduled for auction on October 27, 2026. A century of old money, exclusion, fire, and debt — on the same 23 acres. #OhekaCastle #GoldCoast #OldMoney #GildedAge #LongIsland #OttoKahn #WallStreetHistory #MansionHistory #RealEstateHistory #AbandonedMansions #HistoryDocumentary #NewYorkHistory Resources Wikipedia — Oheka Castle Wikipedia — Otto Hermann Kahn Historic Hotels of America — History of OHEKA Castle Oheka Castle official site — History World History Encyclopedia — Oheka Castle Jewish Telegraphic Agency — Otto H. Kahn obituary New York Social Diary — Otto Kahn's Palm Beach New York Social Diary / Big Old Houses — "The King of New York" Times of Israel — Facing 1900s New York anti-Semitism JewAge — Otto Hermann Kahn biography Long Island Press — Oheka Castle's bankruptcy Huntington Now — Oheka Castle owner files for bankruptcy protection Long Island Guide — Oheka Castle headed to auction Friedman Vartolo LLP — Oheka Castle's bankruptcy filing CBS News — Oheka Castle owner leaves hospital American Aristocracy — Otto Hermann Kahn