What Happened to the 4th Largest Mansion in America? (Inisfada) 

Never give anything valuable to a Church unless you want it gone for good. They have...let's say different values, different goals and most importantly nobody to doubt their motivations or question their ways. They'll sell your grandma and say they couldn't afford upkeep while pocketing every penny they made. That's how religion do. They're all the same cults you see today but with centuries worth of wrath and fervor so you end up killed over something everybody agrees with as soon as it's not about someone's faith anymore. Quite the puzzle

Yet such opulence is Impractical and all that goes up must come down.

@@IntriguedLioness You must be a developer. It's only impractical if you lack imagination. Many old manor houses and castles are repurposed and reused in Europe, where they respect their old architecture.

I agree SuperB719. So much history and architectural magnificence.

​@@noellem3417 I agree with you 100% And I'm no fan of opulence. I do abhor the waste & destruction of anything well crafted. I'd much rather see historical buildings, refurbished & saved whenever possible. Profit is unfortunately valued above all else.

Apparently there wasn’t a supply of cocaine available for these people to snort. I suppose that a ridiculously huge mansion for them and no kids was required. I wonder how many millions they donated to Catholic charities? Did the church support any charities they way Jesus would want?

In the sixties, almost nobody got married in “a venue.” Those wanting a non-church, non-country club, non-hotel (the usual places people gathered for significant events like weddings back then) would have been mystified by the idea. But I get it. It’s too bad it wasn’t turned into something….

Creeping Philistinism....

You are right Klaus. A nation that considered ruthless and greedy millionaires as role models could not act otherwise. "If you want to know the end, look at the beginning". Having said that, it was very much the same in my country, Argentina, where the ultra-wealthy landowners (we did not have an entrepreneurial upper class) build enormous and beautiful mansions between 1880 and 1914. Almost 90% of them were demolished between 1950 and 1980, regardless of their beauty (our architects followed the French Beaux-Arts school)

Beautiful? Maybe. But it must have been amazingly uncomfortable - sitting near a fireplace during the winter, and no air conditioning in the summer. Much better to have been torn down and livable homes built there.

​@@Patrick462those huge estately mansions demand too many people to maintain and are too impractical. They might look nice but are in fact an abomination of inequality

I wonder where all the antique European paneling and furniture came from?

Also wondering what years for building? JIM

Thank you .

Colleges need to start a new Major in "Nice Home Restoration and Engineering". Better than Sociology , Criminology, or "Media".

1937 was still during the depression. Given the cost of maintaining that large an estate, I’m not really surprised it was demolished. It’s sad, but understandable given the times.

​@@MinnieTricksI think he means in 2013 before it got demolition. At the time, I think most people assumed that with amounts of money finance guys happily drop in the Hamptons one of them would scoop this place up. But unfortunately, it didn't happen like that.

hmmm the developer paid 38 million for the "no value" of the house environs.

@@pavelow235 The 38 million was for the land, not for the house, because the house held no value to the developer.

​@@pavelow235 she's absolutely right. The land is what was important. They do this all the time with historic churches they buy them for millions of dollars just to knock them down and make a football stadium.

One person's treasure is a morlock's trash.

Blame the foolish mayor of North Hills and the entire village board, they refused to grant preservation protections and village lost its architectural showplace. The village residents didn't do their part either to save this treasure. Ignorance and greedy developers work hand in hand and the low grade crap that is being built here now is horrible and cheap.

In Buffalo, New York also.

Something of this size would always be beyond the abilities (and sensibilities) of a religious order to maintain. My guess is that Genevieve Brady hoped it would house a school or even nascent college. It was too big even for a seminary. It might have survived if donated to the City of New York or a NYC museum. I got a degree in historic preservation in the 1980s and even small treasures (Frank Lloyd Wright houses, Tiffany mosaics, etc) were very difficult to maintain via private funding. If there’s not an almost immediate secondary use for a building like this, only a “vanity purchaser” can save it. People with that kind of money are rare. Even the original owners usually find they cannot afford to maintain the property they’ve paid to have built. This is something that architectural enthusiasts are usually unaware of. It made working in preservation a very depressing experience. That’s why I eventually went into design and engineering instead.

​@@rosezingleman5007 thank you for being a voice of reason in these comments. I just left a comment as to my family background in a very large Manor House in Britain. Many were sold off and razed after WWII and tax laws just as in the case in the US. Museums, tourist attractions, gardens, and even hosting events such as wedding is the only way that we have any of these large houses left in Britain. However I do not shed too many tears as in the US these houses rarely lasted one or two generations as tax laws had changed and no descendants wanted to take on the burden. The same will happen to the ugly mcmansions that oligarchs and the nouveau riche now build in LA and other emerging economies.

Thank you for your reply. When I was growing up my mom allowed me to see a rather adult movie based on a Noel Coward play (I think) called “The Grass is Greener,” starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr as a landed gentry couple who, coincidental to the plot, open their home weekly to tours. I was maybe 10 years old and it opened my eyes to the reality of ownership of someone else’s dream house. Years later I would encounter this up close when I was a volunteer in the first restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Jacobs I house in Madison Wisconsin. It had been rumored for years that Wright had raided the Johnson Wax corporate building project in Racine Wisconsin for basic building materials in order to bring the newspaperman’s “modest house” in on budget-a highly publicized $5000. At the time that was still a bit rich for most people. I have, to this day, two bricks from the original Jacobs house and they are curved, which confirmed that they were, in fact, from the other project. Herb Jacobs sold the house. *All architect designed structures are “vanity projects” for both signers of the contract.* That is a hard truth in rough economic times.

Yeah I'd pay good money to tour the place.

It has been done . Thousands upon thousands have been torn down in Europe . The reason being huge inheritance taxes being owed when deaths occurred. All sad tales lead back to government.

@@kenj.8897 😥😥

In Europe the iconoclastic religious movements destroyed an estimated 500,000 priceless works of art. Generations of Europeans raided old structures to build new structures. There’s precious little of the actual built history of any civilization still standing. Look at how fast the French were to suggest turning Notre Dame de Paris into a “multicultural center” by removing most traces of the original ornamentation from the interior. There’s always a mania for newness. People like us who value the antique are the rare ones.

I hail from Britain and hundreds manor houses were razed after the two World Wars as they are impractical and nowadays no one has multi-generational large families, especially the wealthy. The few that are left had 95% of the lands they lorded over sold off to developers and the main houses have survived only to become museums and event facilities.

@@IntriguedLioness The large tracks of land had to be sold due to incredibly high taxes in most cases, the same thing happened in the US, but turning those grand mansions into museums is better off than tearing them down. Here in the US, we tear down not only mansions, but architecturally worthy/significant buildings in cities all over the country, but in most places in Europe, especially in Spain, they can't tear them down, they can be updated/refurbished/add floors to it, but the facade most stay standing.

@@rosezingleman5007 Look at what they did to Notre Dame during the French Revolution ! It took 100 years to undo that....

@@steveschramko2386uite true. Also in the wake of Luther. All social upheaval leads to destruction of some kind, as we have witnessed in very recent times.

The wood Tudor-revival staircase at Frank Augustus Seiberling's "Stan Hyet" mansion in Akron, OH is similar and is a museum. (He was the founder of Goodyear Rubber Co.). I think there is an episode on the house on this webchannel.

Either pronunciation is acceptable.

It is an "inglenook".

Ha, I thought the same as you at first glance! Then, after a closer look, I realized that there are some differences. I believe that (Dodge) house was designed by William Kapp of the firm Smith, Hinchman, Grylls, some years after this house. In any case, this Long Island mansion was taken down as recently as 2013?!?!..very scary!

@@MrFullService It is CRIMINAL to hear that an architectural masterpiece like this was taken down as recently as 2013! You'd think by now we in North America would've learned a thing or two about preserving the past & architectural masterpieces! Anna Dodge built a French styled mansion along the Detroit River called "Rose Terrace Two" and this house was demolished in 1976. This house was a carbon copy of a mansion over in Newport RH called "Miramar" which was built for Mrs Widener after she lost her husband & son during the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. Rose Terrace Two was slightly larger than Miramar (by two window lengths) but, the two homes were almost identical in both the exterior & interiors. Take a moment to google image both houses and you will laugh that the architect basically used the same plans twice! When Anna Dodge passed away in 1970, the contents of the house were sold at auction and relatives of mine purchased various items from the property. Literally two days ago I moved a cabinet from the mansion down to my basement (felt sacrilegious to do so) because it "overwhelmed" the living room. Then I moved a desk into the living room (which I knew was old) but, moving it saw that it was also from the 1971 auction (Lot 135) and was purchased for $490.00. I also have an entire French bedroom set commissioned by Anna Dodge for Rose Terrace II and some of it is in storage because the furniture is too large for my guestroom LOL. Are you from Michigan that you also first thought that this property was Meadowbrook Hall?

Im so glad you made this comment. Although this mansion was beautiful, as are many others in Newport etc., they are grossly ostentatious. Many mansions were built around the Great Depression simply to show off wealth to other wealthy people. Museums, charities, religious orders and other non profit organizations who were gifted these places need more and more money just to maintain them.

Disagree.....the big homes are built in the popular areas of the world's wealthy.....which Long Island is not the popular areas of the big homes anymore. Rich people are building extravagant homes at the same clip they were in the Gilded Age. You just need to look worldwide.

@@pavelow235 While I agree with the concept you put forward, I must remind you that back in the day we had artisans who spent months or even years crafting moldings, furniture, reliefs, ceilings, ironwork, and anything you can think of that a home would need. Everything you need for a "mansion" now is mass produced and dare I say, "affordable". Being from the NYC area, I see this every day.

@@kathycasey9153 I was actually astounded by one of the aerial views. It was bigger than my boarding school in Britain. I’m not joking! If you count the support buildings, it was bigger than a boarding school for 300 girls!!!

2013

For some reason he omitted all the years regarding its construction and demolition.

@@peggypierce8020 it was built 1916-1920 sold in May 2013 to the developer and torn down in Dec. 2013

Horribly devoid of dates. REWRITE!

I imagine they are extremely difficult to maintain.

No, it would definitely NOT be good to see it. The shacks built in the former estate are HOVELS compared to Inisfada.

Glad you are enjoying them! Cheers!

Right on! Whether it is hammerbeam, queen truss, king truss, I want that ceiling too! I think the homeowners and family would just sat back with a nice snifter of cognac in their recliners and stared at the truss beams for hours of entertainment on weekend nights.

What should they have done? The point is, with all its furnishings, it wasn’t an appropriate place for a holy order. They wanted a stripped down house. Sure - it’s extravagant but she wanted them to use it. Yea, they sold it and it went to other causes. I guess this is where you bring up mistreating kids.

@@kattengat2 Pedos all the way.

@@kattengat2 Actually live in poverty lmao 🤣😂 like their oath said to.

@@badxradxandy it doesn’t require they live in poverty. By the way, never end a sentence with “to”. It really shows ignorance. Guess you were not educated by the Jesuits.

@@kattengat2 lmao so they aren't that committed to it are they to?

A few survive, the Biltmore for example.

@@tradeprosper5002 Yeah, but sadly it is one of only a few

Built in the same time period, some only take two years to build, this one was four. It's very odd. Just like the World's Fairs. The one in New York had a Crystal Palace just like the one in England. They make no sense. Actually, this one did take only two years to build.

They need to save the Widener's mansion outside Philly before the roof collapses more. The family had died out by the 1940s (and the father and son (Harry Elkins Widener, Harvard '07) drowned on the sinking of the Titanic in 1912) and was sold to some church group then they left after some legal squabbles and it went derelict. Hollywood actor Hopwood DePree is trying to restore his ancestral 14th Century manor outside Manchester (Hopwood Hall) and has dedicated his life since discovering it in 2017. He wrote a book about the ongoing restoration "Downton Shabby". He is doing a pretty good job with it using various national preservation societies and craftsmen. He is also hilarious on his videos. The 2 sons of the last owner had been both killed in WWI and the sorrowful father passed away around 1940. The Hall then became a religious order teacher's college and in the 70-80s the students even built a nightclub inside that featured many of the British New Wave acts and even Ozzy Osbourne. Then it closed in the 1990s to the point of near collapse from roof leaks and vandalism. Chopin had played there in the 1800s. Bryon had slept there as well. It will be amazing when the restoration is done.

They also bought the New York City Chamber of Commerce Building in Manhattan as an industrial bank. Its interiors were the setting of the fictional "Heritage Club" in "Trading Places" with Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy. I bet they dismantled that nice mahogany-paneled Assembly room and sold all the paintings of the capitalists.

Before there was income tax, the people who made the money got to keep the money :-)

Interesting. I had to look this up. It was given to them. 'Andrew Carnegie's widow gave Shadow Brook to the Jesuit Society of Jesus in 1922. In March of 1956, the castle burned, but was rebuilt. The new building does not approach the quality of the old one.' But this is another mansion that was built in just two years, the original one. SMH

The mayor of North Hills at the time, a really ignorant person, didn't believe in landmark protections nor preservation so his legacy is that under his watch, the village of North Hills long island lost this architectural masterpiece and gained a tacky cluster of developer grade mcmansions. Nice going mayor! Your title as the dumbest mayor ever is secured.