This spectacular neo-classical revival masterpiece is considered one of the greatest surviving Gilded Age mansions in America. Located in Philadelphia, the stately property was once one of the finest pieces of real estate in Pennsylvania state. But the fate of this magnificent stately home was tied to the Titanic's maiden voyage. Let's take a look around and discover the fascinating history of Lynnewood Hall. Click or scroll for more...
Now recognized as one of the 100 richest Americans in history, Peter A B Widener's wealth and immaculate tastes are reflected in the glorious design of his former home. This picture of him was painted by John Singer Sargent, widely considered to be the foremost portrait painter of the era.
Despite its grandeur, Lynnewood Hall had a sad beginning. Widener lost his wife Hannah in 1896 when she died on board the family's yacht off the coast of Maine. In the throes of mourning, Widener wanted to vacate their townhouse on Broad Street, Philadelphia and turned his attention towards the creation of a great family seat.
Widener turned to notable American architect Horace Trumbauer to design him a new home after he was widowed; somewhere 'comfortable' for him and his children to live. Covering 70,000 square feet, Lynnewood Hall was constructed from limestone and designed in a T-shape, which can be seen in this original floor plan.
Trumbauer is said to have taken inspiration for the estate's curation from two architectural gems: Prior Park in Bath, England, and Ballingarry in New Jersey, USA. This impressive frontage shows the sumptuous style of the house, enough to rival the world's greatest stately homes.
Lynnewood Hall from the rear, showing the sheer size of the house. It is thought to have cost $8 million to build and has 110 rooms, of which 55 are bedrooms and 20 are bathrooms, as well as an art gallery and a ballroom large enough to accommodate 1,000 guests.
Widener put his heart and soul into the house and it was decorated with the finest furnishings. Back in its heyday, it required 37 permanent staff members to run it and a further 60 employees to look after the extensive grounds. No doubt he hoped the house would stay within the family for centuries, but that was not to be...
Widener was fanatical about art and antiquities and The Philadelphia Inquirer once described the property's interior as "dripping with silk, velvet, and gilded moldings, the rooms furnished with chairs from Louis XV's palace, Persian rugs, and Chinese pottery, the halls crammed with art by Raphael, Rembrandt, El Greco, Van Dyck, Donatello."
Trumbauer hired two interior designers to kit out Lynnewood Hall: Jules Allard et Fils and William Baumgarten. The house could be entered by two sets of doors, the first set in bronze and the other clad in gold. These stunning doors led lucky visitors to the spectacular grand hall.
The extravagant entryway also featured dramatic Renaissance-style columns and a centralized staircase, providing a truly regal entrance. This photograph shows how the hall looks today. It remains one of the building's best-preserved rooms. But all the luxury came to nothing for the family and the house came to be inextricably linked with a tragedy...
Other notable rooms include the Baumgarten-designed dining room, which was once paneled in rich French walnut and later decorated with green and white marble. The room was adorned with two Gobelin tapestries, as well as a bust known as The Grand Condé, which depicted Prince Louis II de Bourbon, who lived between 1621 and 1686.
Widener and his family lived at Lynnewood Hall from 1900 and stayed for 15 years. After persistent spells of ill health, which many put down to grief, Widener passed away at the property in November of 1915, at the age of 80. His eldest son, George Dunton Widener Sr, should have inherited the property, but tragedy had struck the unfortunate family just three years prior...
Widener had been an investor in iconic passenger liner, RMS Titanic. In 1912, George, his wife Eleanor, and their son Harry, planned to travel home on the ship's maiden voyage, following a family holiday in Europe. George is said to have hosted a luxurious dinner party aboard the ship, celebrating its splendor (and his father's investment). The lavish event was attended by Titanic's now-famous captain, E J Smith, who departed early due to iceberg warnings.
Sadly, both George (left) and Harry (right) lost their lives when the Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. The historic passenger liner collided with an iceberg with catastrophic consequences. Approximately 2,224 people were on board and more than half lost their lives, making the Titanic one of history's most devastating marine disasters. Eleanor was lucky enough to survive, by boarding one of Titanic's famously limited lifeboats.
Due to the disaster, neither George nor Harry inherited Lynnewood Hall. Widener’s only surviving child, Joseph, took over responsibility for the expensive estate and received an estimated fortune of around $60 million. Joseph shared his father's love of art and took over the curation of the estate’s renowned collection, opening the home's private gallery to the public between 1915 and 1940. For this reason, the property became known as "the house that art built".
After the sinking of the Titanic, the library was turned into an extravagant ballroom. It was the largest space in the entire property and measured an impressive 2,550 square feet. The space was decorated with walnut-paneled walls, fluted columns and gold leaf embellishments. Its extravagant ceiling boasted filigree plaster and floral motif moldings accented with gold leaf. This photograph shows the grandeur of the original room.
This historic photograph shows the estate's original Private Gallery, once home to an extensive art collection curated by both Widener and his son, Joseph. At one time, the collection was considered the most important private collection of Gilded Age European masterpieces in the world.
Between 1915 and 1940, the spectacular collection was open to the public by appointment only. In 1940, Joseph donated more than 2,000 pieces, including sculptures, paintings and porcelains, to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. In the same year, the collection was valued at $19 million.
The estate’s gardens were once perfectly manicured and 480 acres in size. In 1916 French landscape architect, Jacques Gréber, was hired to redesign the grounds that surrounded Lynnewood Hall. He created a rose garden and a formal garden with a fountain, while a long driveway wound through the estate to enhance its grandeur. Gréber also filled the grounds with original statues that further enhanced the estate's elegance.
Joseph passed away in 1943, but neither of his children wanted to take on the epic responsibility of Lynnewood Hall. The property was left abandoned and quickly fell into disrepair. If it weren't for the Titanic, the house could well still be in the Widener family, but in 1948 a developer purchased the mansion and its acreage for the astonishingly low sum of just $130,000.
In 1952, the estate was purchased by the Faith Theological Seminary, a branch of evangelical Christians. The group bought the house for $192,000 but it was left to suffer further decline when much of Lynnewood's valuable assets were sold, including more than 350 acres of land. The house now boasts only 33 acres.
In order to raise funds, the Faith Theological Seminary also sold many of the home’s interior detailing, including its mantels, walnut paneling and landscape ornaments, which were very rare. In fact, a French bronze figural fountain, one of Gréber’s original commissions, was discovered at an auction in 2006.
If you visit the National Gallery of Art in Washington you can view the Dream of Rinaldo tapestry, created by François Boucher in 1751. The piece once hung in Lynnewood Hall’s reception room. In 1903, Joseph’s wife Ella Pancoast had her portrait painted by John Singer Sargent in front of the tapestry.
In fact, the gallery has even attempted to replicate the layout and style of the original room at Lynnewood, as a tribute to Widener. This includes a large banqueting table in the center of the room, surrounded by hanging tapestries and paintings, all gifted by the family.
Thanks to YouTubers svvvk, we can see what the building's former art gallery looks like today. Stripped of all of its historic and priceless artworks, the interior is now a shell yet its attractive glazed ceiling remains intact.
From great luxury to a sadly derelict condition, this is one unbelievably expensive abandoned mansion. Other rooms have suffered the same fate as the art gallery, with many of their interior splendor stripped away and sold over the decades.
Filmed in July 2018, this is what the building's lavish ballroom looks like after decades of decay. This once great house still has the famous gilded ceiling and despite its sorry condition it still has the wow-factor!
One of the home's 20 bathrooms can be seen here. Despite its decay, it's not hard to see how amazing this room could be if given a little TLC.
The estate's once stunning swimming pool is now in ruins. In 1910 the pool was enclosed by a squash court and changing rooms. The house at one time had its own electricity plant and was supplied with water from its own reservoir.
In 2003, Lynnewood Hall was added to the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, a list of endangered historic properties in the region. There is also an ongoing campaign to save the esteemed estate. Today, the property is the 12th largest historic house in the United States and has been described as "the last American Versailles", due to its intricate architectural beauty.
Age can't hide the amazing bones that this grand old dame of a building still has, from the elaborate wrought iron stair banisters to the awe-inspiring great hall that's still fit for royalty. The Lynnewood Hall Instagram account continues to share beautiful pictures and the fascinating history of the building shared by like-minded architecture lovers.
The historic home was originally listed in 2014 for $20 million, after remaining unsold for several years. In May 2017, the property was relisted for $17.5 million before being reduced to $16.5 million.
In 2017, the stunning estate hit the real estate market again, this time for $11 million. The house remained on the market for more than two years but it is finally now off the market though nothing is known about the deal. Is there a new mystery buyer ready to save Lynnewood?
If someone has bought the house, they must have deep pockets! A historical restoration architect has estimated that it would cost approximately $50 million to restore it to its former glory. Who said you can't put a price on history?
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