Omega

Esopus, Ulster County, New York

Completed in 1911, for Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne (1839-1917), a bachelor whose shares in Standard Oil placed him in the top 30 of wealthiest ever Americans. Omega was designed by the famous firm Carrere & Hastings of New York. The 42,000 square foot mansion on some 400-acres was built on the site of a former Astor mansion - Waldorf - and is situated almost directly opposite the Vanderbilt Mansion....

5 images

This house is best associated with...

Oliver Hazard Payne

Colonel Oliver H. Payne, of New York City; Treasurer of Standard Oil

1839-1917

Henry Payne Bingham

"Harry" Payne Bingham Sr., of New York City, Paris & Palm Beach

1887-1955

Harriette Gowen

Mrs Harriette (Gowen) Bingham, Miller

1892-1971

Raymond A. Rich

Ray Rich, CEO & Chairman of U.S. Filter Corps

1912-2009

Payne never married and left no children. He left Omega to his sister's youngest son, Harry Payne Bingham. In 1933, Bingham donated the estate to the Episcopal Diocese of New York and it became the Wiltwyck School for troubled boys. From 1942, the mansion became a retreat for the Marist Brothers who established Marist College. It fell into bad disrepair until it was purchased in 1986 by Raymond A. Rich who restored it to its former glory and lived here until his death in 2009. He willed the house and its remaining 60-acres back to Marist College and today it functions as an Institute for Leadership Development.