Financial History Issue 125 (Spring 2018) | Page 41

The recently restored
lobby of the Marriott
Syracuse Downtown.
Built in 1924, the
hotel — like the upstate
New York city around
it — fell on hard times
in the late 20th century.
The hotel now anchors
a revived entertainment
district of restaurants,
pubs, theaters and shops.
It was named 2017 Best
City Center Historic Hotel
by Historic Hotels of
America.
to 300. In 1996, to maintain ties to the
surrounding community, members of the
Cold Spring Hills and Huntington com-
munities formed The Friends of Oheka, a
not-for-profit corporation.
Oheka joins Old Westbury Gardens,
Eagle’s Nest Vanderbilt Museum and Mill
Neck Manor as part of an elite group
known as the “Gold Coast Mansions” on
the North Shore of Long Island. Famed
author F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the
essence of what the mansions and muse-
ums are about, inspired by the landscapes
and architecture, and designed by pre-
miere architects of the day.
There are estates and museums Nancy
admires, including the Preservation Soci-
ety of Newport County. “We want to have
the same feeling that Newport offers,”
Nancy said. “In truth, I wanted to emu-
late what they do in Newport.” There
are hidden gems scattered throughout
the East Coast. Nancy also praises the
works of Chelsea Mansion — in East Nor-
wich — and Westbury Gardens.
The Vanderbilt mansion, museum
and planetarium finds itself in a different
financial position to sell both history and
the universe. Lance Reinheimer, executive
director of the Suffolk County Vander-
bilt Museum for seven years, said the
non-profit is owned by Suffolk County. It
is in Northport, Long Island, just west of
Huntington.
“Being owned by Suffolk County allows
us to use the funding to maintain and
preserve the estate,” said Reinheimer, a
self-proclaimed “financial person.” When
Reinheimer took the reins, his vow was
to ensure that funding was managed as
effectively as possible and, in essence,
allow history to be sold. According to
Reinheimer, the Vanderbilt operates on
a $2.6 million budget supplemented by
donations.
While the Vanderbilt Mansion and
Museum draw thousands of visitors each
year, Reinheimer said the planetarium
pulls in the most visitors and largely helps
fund new projects, including a Hall of
Fishes to honor the original owner, Wil-
liam K. Vanderbilt, grandson of dynasty
founder Cornelius Vanderbilt.
The 43-acre waterfront Vanderbilt
Museum complex counts among its col-
lections more than 30,000 objects and
artifacts. The grounds include the man-
sion, curator’s cottage, a seaplane hangar
and boathouse, antique household fur-
nishings, decorative and f ine art, and the
archives. The goal, said Reinheimer, is to
entice people to come back. “We need to
give visitors something more each time,”
he said.
William Vanderbilt created what the
museum states to be one of the world’s
most extensive, privately assembled col-
lections from the  pre-atomic era — in his
own marine museum, the Hall of Fishes,
which he opened to the public in 1922.
He established a trust fund to finance the
operation of the museum and deeded it to
Suffolk County, New York, upon his death
in 1944. The county opened the museum
to the public in 1950.
Wings of the mansion house galleries
of his natural history and cultural artifact
collections, as well as the habitat with its
nine wild animal and marine life dioramas
created by artisans from the American
Museum of Natural History. 
Gregory DL Morris is an independent
business journalist, principal of Enter-
prise & Industry Historic Research
(www.enterpriseandindustry.com) and
an active member of the Museum’s edito-
rial board.
Tara Patrick is an experienced journalist
covering travel, sports, entertainment,
business and fashion.
www.MoAF.org  |  Spring 2018  |  FINANCIAL HISTORY  39