the self-proclaimed Prince Mongo, transformed it into a nightclub, The Castle. Fast forward to the 1990s, when Robert Hodges, a.k.a.
At some point after that, Ashlar Hall and the surrounding land were purchased by investors who built skyrises around it and left it to rot.īut the inside looks completely different today, telling a decidedly less conventional tale. After about a decade of grueling upkeep, the family decided to turn it into a place of business, operating it as a restaurant. They lived there enjoying its eight bedrooms, six bars, five bathrooms, and indoor pool until his death in 1942. And its earlier history is relatively similar: A wealthy man, Robert Brinkley Snowden, built the property in 1896 for his family and dubbed it Ashlar Hall. Which begs the question: Is it cursed? Probably not, but you never know!įrom the outside, this 11,000 square foot Memphis, Tennesse mock castle doesn't look like it boasts a history too different from that of Elda. Little is known about the home's history between then and now, but, several different owners tried to revive the home to its former glory before falling on hard times themselves. So perhaps the stately home has a mind of its own and is simply determined to fulfill its fate as a place of decay. Strangely enough, part of it was designed to look like the ruins of a Medieval castle. Left alone, Elda soon fell into disrepair. moved with her eldest daughter until her own death in 1955.
#Abandoned castle upstate ny series#
Right after it was completed in 1928, a series of tragedies struck the family: First, their daughter Lucy died in an accident at her dad's factory, and then the patriarch himself passed away from rheumatic fever in the home, at which point Lucy Sr. Abercrombie's wife, Lucy Abbot Cate, was the architect behind the home, and she decided to name it after their four children, Elizabeth, Lucy, David, and Abbott. Abercrombie, the co-founder of Abercrombie & Fitch, this Ossining, New York mansion sits on a whopping 50 acres. It went into foreclosure in 2006 when the McIntire organization couldn't pay the mortgage.īuilt in the 1920s by David T. By 1945, Widener's estate was valued at $98,368,058!Ī developer later tried to sell Lynnewood, but the only taker was a fundamentalist preacher, Carl McIntire, who bought the home in 1952 for $192,000. His son Joseph inherited the mansion and lived there until he died in 1943 and no surviving members of his family, even his children, wanted to take on the responsibility of the place. He had three sons (one of whom died on the Titanic) and lived in the house until he passed in 1915. It was built in 1900 for Peter Arrell Brown Widener, a businessman who became wealthy from investing in public transit and meat packing, among other things.
Unsurprisingly, it's from the Gilded Age. It features a whopping 110 rooms (like a ballroom that can accommodate 1,000 guests) outfitted in neoclassical architecture, and it once held the most important private art collection of European masterpieces in the country. Indeed, it's the twelfth largest historic house in the U.S. To say Lynnewood Hall is massive would be a massive understatement. Railway Power Station No.Oooh, how the mighty have fallen.Never fully completed, the building represents an impressive example of the romanticized medievalism that emerged in American culture at the turn of the twentieth century.īuildings on the property include the castle, tall ornate iron gates with stone piers, a one-lane stone bridge on the service road, several "service" buildings along the Road and a farm complex in the southwest corner. Gold leaf was used to cover it.Ĭonstruction on the castle was begun in the early years of the First World War, and ceased in 1924, three years after the owner’s death in 1921. The fireplace in the reception room was valued at over $5000 in 1910. The roofing slate came from England, the marble for the floors, fireplace and staircases from Italy and the iron gates from France. The castle had 36 rooms and legend passed down from generation to generation says that each room had steam heat and electricity long before any home in the township had them. The design of the castle is thought to have been inspired by late nineteenth century interpretations of medieval European castles constructed in Scotland. Complete with Gothic windows, turrets, towers, steep parapeted roofs, crumbling walls, and a courtyard overgrown with shrubs and trees The Ravenloft Castle has been a landmark and a source of stories both real and romantic for almost 100 years. Sitting high on a dark hillside outside of a small town in Upstate New York, The Ravenloft Castle looks like it escaped from the pages of Grimm’s fairy tales.
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