Staggering $ 250 million mansion sold for zero dollars

In 1900, Peter Widener, one of the richest men in the world at the time, built a sumptuous mansion.

The residence has been named Lynnewood Room. But then he was known as “the last Versalles American”.

The site chosen was a 14 hectare site near the town of Philadelphia cream, to United States, and the design was in charge of Horace Trumbauer, a prominent American architect known for the design the residences for the richest individuals of the moment.

In its original design, it had 55 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms. In addition, an indoor swimming pool, a ballroom with a 1000 seat dance floor and its own art gallery.

A 2014 Philadelphia Inquirer magazine article described the mansion as a place “soaked in silk, velvet and golden trimmings, with its rooms furnished with chairs from the palace of Louis XV, Persian rugs and Chinese ceramics and the corridors filled with precious works of art by Raphael, Rembrandt, El Greco, Van Dyck, Donatello. “

Expander he had amassed a large part of his fortune on public transport. When he retired from trading, he moved to Lynnewood. But they weren’t peaceful or happy years for him at all.

Family tragedy

The lavish owner of the huge mansion was the 20 percent investor of the Titanic.

The was saved from the shipwreck because he refused to take a seat on the ship due to his advanced age. However, your son George, his daughter-in-law Eleanor and his grandson Harry were there.

All three had traveled abroad in search of a chef for the new family hotel, they decided to return home in style and boarded the iconic boat that found its way to the bottom of the ocean. Only Eleanor survived.

Three years after the terrible shipwreck, Peter Widener deceased.

His youngest son, Joseph, inherited the mansion and later died in 1943.

New directions for Lynnewood Hall

Almost a decade later, Radio star Carl McIntire converted the house into a religious school, but the facility closed in 1992 due to financial problems.

It seems, Mcintire He sold a lot of furniture and household items. And he limited himself to “sealing damaged areas of the building” instead of fixing them. Who progressed with the deterioration.

Then the New York’s first Korean church bought the property and, at present, is the owner of the property.

The ridiculous sale value

In its moments of splendor, the mansion was valued at over $ 250 million. Although the information that is circulating is that the religious group bought it for US $ 0.

“It is truly unfortunate that this once desirable and iconic mansion has fallen into such disrepair,” Harry Cherry, real estate agent for Main Line Luxury, told the Daily Star newspaper.

The declining state was decisive for its value. But also, “While many of Horace Trumbauer’s designs have stood the test of time, the location of Lynnewood Hall is not what today’s wealthy families are looking for.”Cherry lamented.