It's not the initial cost of construction that's daunting, it's the never-ending cost of maintaining and staffing, hence the ultimate demise of so many of these grand behemoths.
Overwhelmingly tiresome ... Not where I would desire to be focused Course a "Property Manager" would be the 1st Hire, should I be responsible for an Estate of magnitude. ☀️
It’s still a crying shame . These homes took 2-4 years to complete and are so beautiful and lavish . It’s too bad more couldn’t be saved . Wall Street Crash and the Depression Years 😢
When I was a young girl, my grandmother’s best friend visited Biltmore and told me all about it. I had never seen a mansion or palace and could not imagine it. About 9 years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Biltmore myself and I was NOT disappointed! It’s a beautiful house but so many very interesting points (that pool!!!) and one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen from that veranda. It is splendid and worth the wait of 35 or so years of dreaming before I could see it for myself. Oh, and the wine! 🍷 ❤😊
The Biltmore House is the most amazing I’ve ever visited 😊. I live near it, an hour and a half away and I love to visit. Rooms change from time to time. Furniture rotates so every time you visit you see something different. The grounds, gardens, and greenhouse are breathtaking.
I would've loved to have seen Millionaire's Row in Manhattan before the mansions were demolished. Seeing a street full of Gilded Age style mansions in person would've been a sight to behold.
By far my favorite is Biltmore. I live just an hour from it and have visited it many times over the years. It never gets old going there, always something you see you didn't see the time before.
We visited Biltmore and were suitable impressed (how could you not be?). That being said, we preferred Hearst Castle. The grounds and style were the nicest I have seen (and those two pools!)
Whitemarsh Hall also contained two gate houses. When Stotesbury arrived at the gatehouse in his carriage, the gatekeeper would call the main house to alert the organist, who would then play (the sound echoing throughout the valley) until Stotesbury arrived at the house. There was also a limestone building over 80' long which housed only the valves used to water the gardens. Throughout the property were extensive statuary, some of which still exists in the post-WWII suburban neighborhood. The main house had three underground levels. When I urbex'd the mansion one evening during the tearing down process, the lowest level was full of water. The levels available underground had individual rooms dedicated to specific trades (tailor, electrician, plumber, etc...) During the destruction of the mansion, they found perfectly preserved pocket doors over 12' tall and a locked safe. Upon opening the safe, the only contents were the breeding records of Stotesbury's thoroughbred horses.
I live about 150 miles from Biltmore House and I've been there several times.....And will be heading back there at the end of this month for my birthday! What and absolutely wonderful place to see and visit! Can't wait to see it again ❤
I lived in Lake Orion, Michigan for many years. I loved to visit Meadowbrook Hall. Also Henry Ford's Fairlane and the Edsel and Eleanor Ford's mansion.
****Can you cover the historical homes in Galveston, TX? The Moody Mansion, Ashton Villa, Bishop’s Palace, Michel B. Menard House? They all survived the great storm of 1900 and they are all still standing today. That storm hurricane flattened some of the city, but those beautiful gems survived. It’s a city that doesn’t get coverage, but the history and architecture is amazing. ***
"Before it was introduced to the wrecking ball". I am loving that line! Of the ten, Oheka looks to be the nicest (extant) place for weekends - NYC's garbagemen certainly thought so, back in the day.
My dad was pretty successful and i grew up in a 7,800 sgft house on ~250 acres and i always thought that was wayyy too much house especially for the 3 of us we didnt even use the 2nd and 3rd floor ever and only 2/3rds of the 1st floor however the land is totally worth it having acreage is better than a mansion
Biltmore is large but Hearst Castle has spectacular views of the Pacific and surrounding Santa Lusia mountains. The architect was Julia Morgan and she designed the mansion to be able to withstand earthquakes ( which in did in a 6.5 in 2003). Also, the indoor and outdoor pools of Hearst Castle are incredible. Hearst Castle is a State Parks of California Historical Monument. The surrounding land is still owned by the family and is a working beef cattle ranch.
Another fascinating video. I love these glimpses into the lives of the rich and powerful. If I would have lived back then, I'd be cooking in the kitchen or cleaning up manure in the stables and carriage house. Solidly lower middle class! But gawking is so fun!
Indiana limestone comes from a small town, Bloomington Indiana about an hour away from where I live. They have a great big cord and a very real white pink color. It’s very pretty all the houses are wonderful, but I like built more than this because of the grounds and the dining room Dining was fantastic and the table is made out of Maple. I hope you had a good day and blessings and thanks for the wonderful videos you put out.😘😘
Im partial to Lynnewood Hall a guilded age estate that is 77,000 to 110,000 square feet and sat on over 300 acres (30axres today), the house had been disrepair for awhile, about a year ago it was purchased by the Lynnwood hall foundation with plans of Restoration
Bravo Ken !! This was an amazing video and you got some amazing Mansions in here !! Wow they are really breathtaking in size and grandeur Whitehall was beautiful alas some that I like were demolished . The First estate that Inspired “ The Great yGatsby” was amazing . as well as. The lavishness with these estates always leaves me breathless with the beauty of the ground s and the sheer opulence in design of the interiors . The Luxury which these people lived is amazing . This was a Gem Ken !! Great Work !! Laura a Fan in Canada❤😊👍🏻🙌🏻😌😌🇨🇦🇨🇦
Super Great Episode Ken, thanks! I have been to Asheville, NC many times to see the Vanderbilt's little country house, Biltmore. I think the rooms at Winterthur are most comfortable looking to me though. Next time you visit, be sure and stay ath The Grove Park Inn, a very historic hotel!
Biltmore House is just magnificent. At the time the wife and I visited it, it was $40 a piece. Well worth the price. Greenhouse, winery, working orchard, working farm. Jaw dropping views of the mountains. Absolutely spectacular!
It's like $120 now. Having visited it numerous time due to the fact I'm just a little over an hour away It's kinda getting to the point of not really worth it. If you've never seen it then it will be worth it.
It's so sad these beautiful structures get torn down. Props to the lady that invited the public to tour the house, and had them strip the ornate architectural elements to be repurposed.
Excellent video. I've toured Biltmore and Meadowbrook Hall, but I really wish that I had seen Whitemarsh Hall. For any future videos: Mackay is pronounced Mackie (no idea why).
I thought Lynwood Hall would be on the list. But its a bit smaller at around 70k Sq feet! The amount of craftsmanship lost when the big places where taken down is tragic!
I grew up near Whitmarsh Hall….a stunning mansion even in its decline…it should have been repurposed but developers do what they do for money and destroyed her !!! I belong to a private group on RU-vid and Facebook for Whitemarsh…we all have our eyes out on saving further destruction of these properties!!! We use to drive up to the mansion as teens and peek and just wonder about life there!!!
My Grandparents lived a couple miles from Biltmore. As a child, I never visited it but after my wife and I married we started touring it once a year. Have been back since my grandmother passed in 1995.
The Vanderbilts had many gorgeous and stunning mansions fit for the Gods on Mount Olympus, it's just staggering to comprehend that extent of wealth at the time of pre income tax era, so they sunk all those million$ into Lavish homes fit for a king, it still fascinates me the super rich robber Barrons of finance and industry, and how well they lived when the average person was struggling to survive Hand to mouth...
They found(ed) them after the worldwide mud flood of around 1800 that covered all old already existing buildings in the world, dug them out and cleaned them up and then said that they owned them.
Nobody of the current people built that stuff, it was already there from a previous civilization. The previous people were probably 8-10 feet tall, looking at the doors and windows. In India there are older buildings for people of like 20-30 feet tall.
It was also shown at the beginning of the old Pruitts of Southampton ( later changed to The Phyllis Diller Show) tv series back in '66 - '67. Shadow Lawn was the home of Daddy Warbucks in the original movie version of Annie.
The fireplace from the entrance hall of the Vanderbilt mansion is on display at the MET. What about Hearst Castle? Also the Schwab mansion in Manhattan?
Hearst Castle is about 78,000 sqft and Charles Schwab’s Mansion was around 50,000 sqft. The bottom of our list was just over 85,000 sqft, so even as massive as they were, they did not land in the top ten.
@@ThisHouse Did you take into consideration the three guest houses square footage at Hearst Castle? They were integral to the design of the main house and were actually built first.
You missed Whitehall in Palm Beach Florida. It was built for Henry Flagler and is 100,000 square feet. I assume that some of the research for this video came from Wikipedia, which did not have Whitehall listed. I have toured this home and it is really impressive. I have added this home to the Wikipedia list of largest homes in the US.
Can I just say how much I appreciate you ignoring The One and not beating a dead horse by talking about something that everyone else has already attempted to use to get clicks? Shows real integrity. Much respect.
Irony it was the only mansion I didn’t know about, so I was disappointed he skipped over it. I actually wanted to hear his perceptive and research of it. I am also not interested to click on those click bait videos to learn about it. Well, in the end, it doesn’t matter.
I work at the Visitor Center there. The views are spectacular and the indoor pool absolutely blows away the drab one at Biltmore House. I guess the square footage is smaller than all those other mansions but, I would also include the surrounding gardens as part of the whole mansion including the outdoor Neptune pool and it's very large dressing rooms.
What I took from this video is that bigger isn't always better lol. I want a house that's just big enough to be impressive but not so much that I can't afford to maintain it or move around in as i get older.
What an absolutely fascinating video! The only two that I have personally seen are The Breakers and Biltmore. Both were unforgettable. When I came home to my house which I had always thought was pretty nice, it seemed like a shack in comparison! Oh well.....😢
In the photos on Winterthur (Delaware) is one of the fountains at Longwood Gardens (Pennsylvania). Both are former DuPont estates but different family members.
Like many, I have toured Biltmore. In fact, there was an incident involving yours truly. My tour group was walking on the second floor around the Vanderbilt bedrooms. There is a carpet runner on the floor, and you are told to stay on it. And I did stay on it, until I was startled by a child just ahead of me. I moved away from him and momentarily stepped off the carpet. One of the tour guides saw my right sneaker on the wood floor and screamed at me, GET BACK ON THE CARPET! I was so embarrassed that someone would scream at me and then really angry that someone would scream at me. So, I did the best thing I could think of, and I screamed I'M SORRY right back at her. After the group moved up a bit, I gave this girl my best stink eye, then walked on. I didn't look at anything else; I just left. I had seen enough to know that the Vanderbilt family would not be inviting me to dinner. Did I learn something that day? You bet I did -- and I'm still in fine voice.
How does Lynnwood Hall compare to these grand estates? Just wondering; I hope it gets renovated and saved as I think it’s very deserving of preservation.
Almost forgot: Florham is tied with Harbor Hill at 80,000 sq ft (for 11th place, but you are not including the perpetually unfinished Versailles). Just a fun note: Horace Trumbauer complained that the worst part of building Shadow Lawn was having to deal with Mrs Perkins' terrible taste
Can you do a dedicated video about Clark's Folly in Manhattan? The William Clark mansion along 5th Avenue? What happened to his underground railroad to bring coal into his mansion? What Salon was ripped out and placed in a D.C. Museum?
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman is the story of the daughter of William Clark. Her name was Huguette Clark. It’s a fascinating story about her life as the heir to her father’s copper mines.
I found it hard to understand some of the names of the mansions as you named them. Could you have the name of the mansion on the screen instead of the numbers? Thanks
My mom actually went to oakland university, which is on the meadow brook property donated by matilda dodge wilson to michigan state university for a satellite campus.
Many of these 🇺🇲 houses clearly took several and real inspiration from European/France Palaces and big country Mansions. But 🇺🇲'The Biltmore' tops them all!! Especially with the 13:21 & 16:19 façade corner "closed" spiral staircase - which is an almost EXACT COPY of the "open" spiral staircase of the 'Chateau de Blois'. Residence to 7 Kings & 10 Queens of France. Still standing and towering above the city centre of the ancient, once Royal, City of Blois looking out over the Loire river in France 🇫🇷. Building started in the 13th Century (even Jean d' Arc visited this Castle) and they kept adding to it till the 17th Century. ✌🏻😊
What I find hard to imagine is ballroom dancing to a pipe organ…. This became so popular but I’ve never heard an organ being played except for at a church, used in an orchestra, or while watching some film about vampires. It’s the weirdest item found in most late guided age mansions
