Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" iconic Oheka Castle files for bankruptcy

Gary Melius, the owner of the 32-room, 20th-century Oheka Castle hotel located on Long Island's Gold Coast in New York, has filed for bankruptcy, owing over $60 million in debt.

Built by German-born investment banker Otto Hermann Kahn between 1914 and 1919, the castle was one of his several summer residences. Upon completion, the 127-room, French-style château became the largest private residence in New York and the second largest in the United States. The name "Oheka" is an acronym, with each letter standing for the first letter of each part of Kahn's name: O for Otto, He for Hermann, and Ka for Kahn.

According to a July 31 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of New York, Oheka Castle in Huntington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Proprietor Melius made the motion to avoid a foreclosure sale of the property at public auction.

The 443-acre estate boasts lush gardens, a fountain, and an all-out authentic French chateau ambiance. The estate has been a venue for weddings, movie shoots, and music videos, including Swift’s “Blank Space”. In the clip, Swift and her male suitor are shown riding horses through a garden and having a picnic as their romantic relationship grows stronger or weaker.

Gary Melius said that he purchased the castle more than 40 years ago, in 1984. At that time, it was abandoned. "Since that time, it has been a labor of love of mine, and I have literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into restoring and improving the property," he was quoted as saying in The People.

“We are open for business. We have all of our events scheduled for 2025–2026. Everything is still happening," said hotel manager Steven Kessler. "We're always trying to preserve a piece of Gold Coast history so that others can visit us and experience the Gatsby era," Kessler told CBS.