Gold Coast mansion history is his forte

Orin Finkle remembers the day in May 1980 when his son, Scott, brought home a book from the Roslyn public library.

"He said he brought it because he knew I love architecture," Finkle recalled. "I kept renewing it and kept it for a year."

As he read, Finkle was captivated by the subject: "The Mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast."

"I thought it was the most wonderful thing," he said. "I wanted to see every house in the book." Of the 40 featured at the time, 30 were still standing. "I made it my business to see every house," he noted.

And so began what Finkle, a semi-retired accountant, calls "a labor of love" -- to unearth and preserve historical information about those vestiges of a gilded age on Long Island in the early 1900s.

"I like people to see what was out here before," he said.

Finkle amassed a collection of period magazines, books, postcards and newspaper clippings of pictures of the mansions. It is a personal treasure trove that fills closets and the garage at his home in Great Neck, and overflows into public storage.

For more than 30 years he traveled along the North Shore, from Great Neck to the Hamptons, visiting magnificent structures that once were summer retreats for the rich and famous. Some are occupied by descendants or new owners, some of whom give tours and offer the properties for television, film and still-photography productions. A few were converted to colleges, country clubs or museums.

An intense search

About 1,000 mansions -- built on land ranging from 50 to 1,200 acres -- were on Long Island during their heyday, Finkle said. "I was just glad they didn't tear them all down," he said. "To me, they're masterpieces not to be destroyed."

Some were too expensive to maintain, and fire claimed many because they were made of wood, he added.

To find photographs and written information about the mansions, Finkle said he spent many hours at the New York Public Library in Manhattan, leafing through old copies of Town & Country, House & Garden, Look and Life magazines; newspaper clippings and architectural books. He made copies of what he saw.

"After doing that for a year or two, I said, 'I'm going to buy the magazines,' but where would I get magazines that were out of print in the 1940s?"

He ran ads in a trade publication for antique stores and got a good response. "Then I started going to eBay to find some. It was like an archaeological dig," he said.

Finkle's collection includes 7,000 magazines, about 300 books and 1,500 postcards.

A database he developed lets him quickly find information about any house in the collection.

Finkle photographed some of the mansions himself. Then he thought of offering the period photographs to current residents. "I'd bravely drive through the gates and up the long roadway that led to the houses," he said. "If the owner wasn't there, I left a card. Nine out of 10 times the owner would call. They were so excited."

Prospective clients contact him through his website (househistorian.com) for photographs he prices from $30 to $5,000.

"It's not really lucrative," Finkle said. "If I had to make a living out of this it would be difficult. The money is inconsequential. I'm not selling photographs, I'm selling history."

Finkle has developed friendships with some of the mansion owners. "I got to see places most people don't get to see," he said, "the beautiful fireplaces, carved woodwork, high ceilings, big brass door knobs."

'He keeps us all informed'

Finkle writes a monthly column for a community newspaper about the mansions and the opulent lifestyle of their owners, and also teaches a continuing education course at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville.

Louise Spach, of Huntington Village, attends Finkle's class. "I came because I love the history of these mansions," she said. "He tells about the families, he doesn't just show pictures, and it's fascinating."

Participants at one of his classes showed keen interest in Finkle's presentation on Oheka Castle in Huntington, which fell into disrepair but was restored by its current owner, Gary Melius, a Long Island developer and one of Finkle's clients.

The luxurious 127-room French chateau-style castle is the second-largest private home in the United States. It is known for hosting elegant weddings.

"I was so happy somebody bought it instead of knocking it down," Finkle told his class. "When a mansion is demolished, it's like someone dying. This piece of art is gone."

Melius said Finkle was "an asset when he had photos for me to look at for restoration. He is a natural asset for all the mansions. He keeps us all informed."

Finkle said he hopes to teach elementary and high school students about the mansions of Long Island.

"I never thought I'd be doing this," he said. "I thought I'd just be an accountant counting numbers."

For more information on Long Island's mansion history contact: Orin Finkle, househistorian.com, 516-487-4765.