P.T.
Barnum once said, “I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell
my name right.”
Hi everyone, Ken here, today we are uncovering the many mansions of circus mogul P.T.
Barnum.
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P.T.
Barnum wasn’t always the Circus Mogul we know him as today.
In 1810, he was born into a humble family of inn keepers in Bethel, Connecticut.
While he could have just gone into the family business, he wanted something more exciting
to occupy his time.
When he was 19 years old, he owned a general store which he used as a base to begin disrupting
society.
In the General Store, he sold copies of his own newspaper, titled The Herald of Freedom
which he used to attack and expose local church leaders for hypocrisy.
But this ended up with him quickly being sued for libel and imprisoned.
A few years later, in 1834, he sold his general store and moved on to his next venture, becoming
a showman.
Even though slavery was already illegal in New York, Barnum had found a loophole in the
law which allowed him to lease an enslaved person from another state and force them to
labor in New York.
The blind and paralyzed person, by the name of Joice Heth, was touted by Barnum to have
been George Washington’s personal nurse at the age of 161 years old, fibbing about
her age by at least 80 years.
He would put her in a stand for up to 12 hours per day and charge people an admission to
see her.
Then, when she passed away, he charged people an admission to see a live autopsy performed
on her body.
As awful as all of this was, it made him enough money to begin his next business venture by
opening Barnum’s Grand Scientific and Musical Theater.
Then, in 1841, he purchased his first museum and named it Barnum’s American Museum.
However, This wasn’t just an ordinary museum, it was covered in colorful flags with a non-stop
rotation of hot air balloons lifting off from the rooftop to give visitors a never before
seen view of New York City.
Inside, instead of displaying art and americana, the museum played host to exotic animals,
magicians, jugglers, and an array of unique people ranging from giants to dwarves.
He even claimed to have a mermaid, though museum visitors would quickly find out that
it was just an advertising gimmick.
This museum was so successful that he decided to go on his first tour in Europe, bringing
General Tom Thumb, a 4 year old who was highly trained to act as an adult as well as several
other acts.
Barnum put on a special show for Queen Victoria which was widely publicized.
Barnum capitalized on the stories coming out of Europe, having the press report on it back
in the states.
By 1846, his museum had expanded as hundreds of thousands of visitors paid ever increasing
admission prices every year.
This made him incredibly wealthy, so much so that in 1848 he decided to build a palace
in Bridgeport, Connecticut based on the Royal Pavilion.
The Onion domed mansion was named Iranistan and became an eclectic mix of Moorish and
Byzantine architecture.
He moved in with his wife, Charity, but the whimsical palace quickly burned down.
Instead of rebuilding, he chose a new lot on the other side of town and set out to create
a more refined and tasteful home, which he named Lindencroft.
The stately Italianate mansion was planned to have two symmetrical wings extending from
a tower with perfectly landscaped gardens surrounding it.
At the time of its completion in 1860, it was praised as the most handsome house in
all of Connecticut.
Entering the home below the tower, you would arrive in the rotunda with 3 story ceilings.
The walls were decorated in a tasteful collection of American art below a marble balustrade
set above a classically styled cornice.
The Sitting Room was finished out with antique furniture and heavy drapes, all illuminated
at night by carefully placed candles and gasoliers.
The Music Room was staged with antique sofas and chairs, none of which were matching, to
be arranged conversationally below a an elaborately crafted crystal gasolier.
Each room in the house flowed into the next with a pallet of deeply saturated colors for
the textiles paired with dark woods and delicate bronze fixtures.
The conservatory, which we are seeing now, was such a spectacular room that Barnum commissioned
an artist to hand color the stereograph of the room in the same year in which it was
completed.
All the while, Barnum had opened his first theater which he dubbed the “Moral Lecture
Room” where plays would be performed with family friendly themes and moral lessons.
He then created the first Aquarium in the United States and began writing several books,
but his ever expanding series of museums came to an abrupt end when he hired Pauline Cushman
to perform a series of lectures.
She had been an undercover spy for the Union Army gathering intel on the Confederate Army.
As she told crowds about her harrowing, action packed tales behind enemy lines, a confederate
sympathizer set fire to the museum.
Around this time, his wife’s health was failing.
And At that time, it was common practice for doctors to prescribe fresh ocean air to combat
a myriad of diseases, so the Barnums decided to sell Lindencroft and construct a new seaside
mansion which they named Waldemere.
The towering Queen Anne style house was covered in decorative gingerbreading and set at larger-than-life
proportions.
You would enter the home below a heavily ornamented port cochere doubling as a porch where Charity
could inhale the salty air.
The interior of Waldemere became an icon of Victorian Era home fashion with each room
boasting a dizzying array of geometric and floral patterns.
Every window surround and fireplace mantel was finished out with hand carved relief work
while the ceilings housed combinations of hand stenciling and murals.
With Charity’s health slipping with each passing month, the Barnums entertained from
their house frequently to keep her in good spirits.
Of course, with such a lavish lifestyle, PT needed to find a way to continue to fund it.
Following the museum fire, he was back at square one.
That’s when he decided to create a traveling circus.
He partnered with James Bailey, a young orphan turned circus performer who knew the tricks
of the trade.
Together, they created what would eventually be called the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Together, they trained elephants, acrobats, and what they called their “Freak Show”
in a series of entertaining acts.
Then, they boarded trains and traveled all around North America performing circus shows.
To ensure that he was always on the cutting edge, Barnum, now over the age of 60 years
old, only hired young advisers around the age of 20 years old to ensure that his shows
would be appealing to the next generation.
This gave him the upper hand in the highly competitive world of circuses as his acts
were always fresh and pushing the limits of what people thought to be acceptable entertainment.
Just as he was starting to see his new career take off, the one the world would remember
him for, Charity passed away.
The couple had been together for 44 years, since they were teenagers, and PT was now
filled with unshakeable grief.
He went on an extended holiday in England and returned with a new wife, the 22 year
old Nancy Fish.
The two returned to Waldemere to start their lives together, but as PT aged, he found the
house to be too drafty as he was never able to keep warm inside.
Instead of selling the mansion, he had a new one built right next door.
When the house, which he named Marina, was finished, the couple moved in and bulldozed
the old house.
PT was now 78 years old and in poor health, so he let Nancy decorate it to her own tastes
knowing that she would probably out live him.
Just 2 years later, in 1891, PT Barnum passed away.
Marina was passed down over the years to his grandson who sold the property.
All of his houses suffered similar fates.
Iranastan burned down.
Lindencroft was demolished to make way for the new owner’s mansion.
Waldemere was torn down to be replaced by Marina.
And Marina was torn down to make way for the University of Bridgeport’s Dining Hall.
If you could go back in time and save just one of PT Barnum’s mansions, which one would
you choose?
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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exciting episode of "ThisHouse"