The massive dining space, captured by Steve Ronin, nearly doesn’t appear abandoned. With its gleaming marble flooring, statuary, and gold chandeliers, it appears to be the ideal setting for a dinner party. Only the half-empty whiskey bottle and unclean glasses on the dining table give the impression that time has stopped.
The estate is perched on a cliff with sweeping views of the ocean and beyond. The living room is in disarray, with just a destroyed sofa and coffee table sitting among the majestic marble and bronze statues.
The bedroom is the most lavish room in the estate. A worn-out mattress lies on top of a red cloth platform, with a tiger-skin rug slightly out of frame. The phrase “crystal chandelier” refers to the fact that the chandelier is made of crystal. It’s difficult to believe that these gorgeous houses are unoccupied!
Lynnewood Hall
Lynnewood Hall, a stunning Neo-classical Revival masterpiece, is regarded as one of America’s finest remaining Gilded Period homes. Constructed between 1897 and 1900 for merchant Peter Arrell Browne Widener, who is currently regarded as one of the 100 wealthiest Americans in history. The construction is claimed to have cost $8 million (£6.9 million) – the equivalent of $211 million (£115 million) in today’s money – and has 110 rooms, 55 of which are beds and 20 of which are baths, as well as an art gallery and a ballroom that can seat 1,000 visitors.
Lynnewood Hall had 37 full-time personnel to administer it and another 60 to care for the enormous garden when it was at its peak. When Peter Widener died in 1915, the mansion was bequeathed to his youngest son Joseph, the lone living heir after the Titanic killed his oldest son George.
This image depicts the historic art gallery, which still has its original skylights. Joseph invested a large portion of his $60 million (£44 million) inheritance on the home, notably its famed art collection, which is regarded as the world’s most important private collection of Gilded Period European masterpieces. Raphael’s, El Greco’s, Rembrandt’s, Donatello’s, and Van Dyck’s paintings were among those that previously hung on these now-dilapidated walls.
This opulent ballroom, filmed in July 2018 by urban explorers svvvk, would once have hosted dances attended by the elite of Philadelphia society. The gold leaf mouldings and center painted ceiling panel hint at how grand this area once was. When Joseph died in 1943, no one of his children wanted to take on the enormous burden of overseeing the estate. In 1948, a savvy developer paid $130,000 (£96m) for the pile – nearly $1.4 million (£1m) in today’s money.
This excellent old property has all the hallmarks of elegance, including marble baths. In 1952, the Faith Theological Seminary, a branch of evangelical Christians, purchased Lynnewood and auctioned off its precious assets, including its carved mantels, walnut paneling, and unique landscape decorations, as well as more than 350 acres of land. The home presently only contains 33 acres.
The now-decrepit swimming pool was previously surrounded by squash courts and changing facilities and filled with water from the estate’s own reservoir. Lynnewood Hall was added to a list of endangered historic buildings in the region in 2003, and supporters of the estate are undertaking an ongoing effort to rescue the home for future generations.