rags to ridges is a theme we like to dream about
but how many of us can actually get there hi everyone ken here welcome to this house
today we are exploring linwood hall the home of a man who succeeded with the american dream
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this house in 1834 peter widener was born into an average working-class family his father
johannes was a brick maker and his mother sarah attended to the needs of their modest household
by the time he reached adulthood peter was by all means just an average man living in philadelphia
in 1858 he married the love of his life hannah and the couple would have three sons together
they were a close working-class family just like the one peter had grown up in
he made an honest living as a butcher's assistant packing meat and serving customers every day but
that would all change at the dawn of the american civil war hearing the murmuring from his customers
about the logistics of war an idea popped into his head he applied for a government contract
to supply the union army with meat and much to his own surprise the government accepted his contract
and funded him with a fifty thousand dollar grant or the modern day equivalent of about 1.7 million
dollars in cash this was more than enough to supply troops with food so he took his profits and
invested in the philadelphia attraction company as a founding partner building transit systems
between major cities made him incredibly wealthy so much so that he became a principal partner in
not only the american tobacco company but also in u.s steel with this money he became a major
stakeholder in standard oil and secured himself as one of the world's wealthiest men with a net worth
of about 100 million dollars or the modern day equivalent of about 3.2 billion dollars
with his wealth he purchased a vacation house in the 1880s known as linwood hall a high queen anne
style house that had originally been built in 1860 the family would enjoy only a few summers
here before hannah died unexpectedly in 1896 while sailing on the family yacht peter was a family man
and the death of his beloved wife and best friend was very hard for him he devised a plan to bring
his family back together under one roof and he had the means to do it he demolished linwood hall
and hired architect horace trumbauer to design a new linwood hall in its place
the mansion would be designed in the palladian style with a footprint of 325 feet by 215 feet the
110 room mansion boasted over 69 000 square feet with 55 bedrooms enough to house peter's entire
family along with several guests dominating the indiana limestone facade was a portico composed
of six limestone columns supporting a triangular pediment the intablature and round window would
be added later in 1910 behind the portico the facade allowed for 17 window bays to be placed
symmetrically spanning the width of the house until terminating in rounded pavilions adjoined
to either side surrounding the entire home was a terrace set at a half story above the ground level
you would enter the home through the center of the portico between bronze double doors before
arriving at a secondary set of gold leaf doors which welcomes you into the two-story entrance
hall the checkered black and white marble floors sapolo persian rocks plasters framing archways
led the eye up to the stained glass ceiling which allowed for a spectacular array of colors to flood
could accommodate one thousand guests the walnut wall panels were accented by gold leaf pilasters
above which was a ceiling mural contained in an oval frame with four crystal chandeliers
suspended from it the dining room was decorated with murals on the walls and a single persian
rug to cover the floors the solid marble fireplace was set against walnut panels and centered below a
cartouche pilasters were covered in gold leaf leading the eye towards the decorative freeze
set below a coffered ceiling with laurel accents later on in the mansion's life the walnut walls
would be replaced with white and green marble the drawing room was fashioned in the louis xiv style
in designing the home incorporating peter's vast art collection was of utmost importance
the entirety of the north wing second floor was devoted to gallery space here you could see works
of art by artists including raphael rembrandt mene renoir and degas peter's favorite artist
was van dyke so it was only fitting that he had a room entirely dedicated to him known
as the van dyke room here he not only kept art by van dyke but also housed the statue of david
by donatello in the center of the room above the fireplace hung a painting titled the meatpacker
painted by john singer sargon to serve as a reminder to peter of his humble beginnings
among its many great rooms were also spaces for the family with each of peter's sons having their
own private apartments inside the house which they each lived in with their own respective families
in 1912 peter's son george and his grandson harry met their fate aboard the titanic just
before george's daughter peter's granddaughter eleanor was to be married on the property soon
after in 1915 peter passed away and left the house along with 60 million dollars to his son joseph
joseph carried on the tradition of keeping family close by gifting the adjoining estate of ogants
to his niece eleanor who you can learn more about in our previous video joseph continued to
curate his father's art collection though his true passion was for landscape design he had 36 acres
immediately surrounding the home transformed into french gardens with marble balustrade and bronze
fountains he greatly increased and built upon the aesthetic vision of his father he opened
the house to the public for 25 years to allow anyone to come in and enjoy the art galleries
by appointment by 1939 joseph was growing old and relinquished control of the estate to his nephew
eleanor's son george weidner jr joseph spent his last few years ensuring that his father's
art collection would be properly cared for he donated 2 000 paintings and sculptures to the
national gallery in washington dc having secured the fate of the art he passed away in 1943.
his heirs were quick to sell off the remaining art antiques and furniture at several auctions the
mansion was too large and costly to maintain so as heirs began selling off the hundreds of acres that
surrounded it the mansion stood abandoned until it was purchased by a developer in 1948 for only
one hundred and thirty thousand dollars or the modern day equivalent of about one and a half
million dollars the developer was unable to flip the mansion as he had intended so he sold it to
dr carl mcintyre in 1952 the infamous preacher stripped linwood hall of its finest materials
to fund his controversial church's mission after losing non-profit status mcintyre was not able
to afford the mansion so it was foreclosed on in 2006. it was then purchased by another
wealthy pastor though the house continues to sit empty continuing to decay currently the fate of
linwood hall has yet to be determined though it is eligible for historic status it has not
been given any protections numerous attempts have been made by the current owner to sell it
but no buyers have been found in nearly five years since it hit the market what do you think
will happen to linwood hall will it suffer the same fate as so many of the other grand mansions
or will it continue to persist into the hands of the next generation let me know your thoughts
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