Otto Hermann Kahn - Builder

Builder

As was typical for men of his stature, Kahn maintained both a New York City residence and a home in the country. Kahn's original country home, a gift from his father-in-law, was in Morristown, New Jersey. Although a resident there for a number of years and a business associate of many of his neighbors, anti-semitism was still prevalent and Kahn was never accepted by Morristown society. Social rejection led him to move to Long Island and his New Jersey estate ultimately became home to Honeywell.

By 1919, Kahn had assembled a 443 acre (1.79 km²) estate on Long Island, and had Oheka Castle (from Otto Hermann Kahn) built as its centerpiece. At 109,000 square feet (10,100 m2), the 127 room structure was designed as the second largest private residence in the United States (after George Vanderbilt's 175,000-square-foot (16,300 m2) Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina) by Delano & Aldrich of New York City; its landscaping was designed by Olmstead Brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted of Brookline, Massachusetts. The property featured a golf course, a working farm, a private airstrip, and numerous outbuildings.

Following Kahn's death in 1934, the property was sold to the City of New York City for use as a retreat for sanitation workers and then later a government training school for merchant marine radio operators. In the late 1940s, an upscale housing development was constructed there and in 1948, the Eastern Military Academy (EMA) purchased the mansion and 23 acres (93,000 m2) around it. (One of the former EMA cadets has written his memories going to school there.) By the time the school went bankrupt thirty years later, the gardens had been bulldozed, its rooms subdivided, and the paneled walls painted over. Following the departure of EMA, vandals repeatedly set fire to the building, but because Kahn had insisted on constructing a concrete, brick, and steel structure, the house survived. In 1984 a local developer, Gary Melius, purchased the estate for $1.5 million and began the largest private renovation project ever attempted in the United States. Today, Oheka is used as a catering facility, hotel and conference center.

Following his acquisition in 1913 of the property at 1 East 91st Street in New York City from Andrew Carnegie, Kahn commissioned J. Armstrong Stenhouse and Charles P. H. Gilbert to design his Carnegie Hill mansion. The home, an 80-room Italian Renaissance-palazzo style mansion, was modeled after the Cancelleria in Rome. Completed in 1918, it served as Kahn's New York City residence until his death. Shortly thereafter, the house was sold to the Convent of the Sacred Heart, an independent Catholic girls school. In 1974 the house was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

In Palm Beach, Kahn built a summer home on Sunset Avenue, naming it "Oheka". When this house proved too small, he built another "Oheka" at 691 North County Road. Following his death, this house was used by the Graham-Eckes School. In the 2000s, it was acquired by businessman Robert Cohen and returned to private use.