On June 4, 1920, the Westporter-Herald announced that F. Scott Fitzgerald had leased the Wakeman Cottage near Compo Beach. He and his new wife, Zelda, spent the summer at the house, 244 Compo Road South, according to the Westport Library’s research guide on the couple’s stay.
WSHU, the public radio station, has described the house as a 1758 Colonial that now carries a historical marker. The summer belongs to a long-running local argument, aired by WSHU among others, that Westport helped shape The Great Gatsby.
The estate down the road
WSHU has reported that Frederick E. Lewis’s 175-acre estate, now the Inn at Longshore and Longshore Club Park, hosted a 1917 benefit with Harry Houdini that raised more than $50,000, and that the estate is believed to have helped inspire Gatsby’s. The town bought Longshore in 1960, and it remains public, with an 18-hole golf course. Our guide to Westport’s amenities covers what residency gets you there.
A house with a past, priced like one
The Wakeman Cottage sold for $2.95 million in 2008 and for $2.5 million in July 2015, to Eric and Amy Lerner, WestportNow reported. Literary history is not a line item in an appraisal, and the 2015 price came in below the 2008 sale. But houses like this one carry constraints as well as stories. A house of its age is subject to Westport’s 180-day demolition delay, and owners of historic houses often face higher costs to maintain original fabric.
The artists and writers who came to Westport before and after the Fitzgeralds left a long trail of houses. Our story on where the illustrators lived maps several that still stand.
Sources
- Westport Library, Gatsby in Westport research guide, accessed Oct. 2026
- WSHU, The Great Gatsby, Great Neck and Westport, April 10, 2024
- WestportNow, F. Scott Fitzgerald house changes hands at $2.5 million, July 2015
- Wikipedia, Westport, Connecticut, accessed Oct. 2026
