And the second day of those huge houses.
We all know about the cost of living. In our abodes. Many of us are busy worrying about mortgages or rent, or even home repairs in the place we own.
But some Americans in history had very different concerns. They were thinking about things like where to put the sixth swimming pool, or how many acres of gardens were enough. Their homes weren’t just big, they were enormously overwhelming.
Take the Versailles House in Florida. This thing is ninety thousand square feet. That’s the size of a Super Walmart. They had all sorts of amazing things like a bowling alley, roller rink, and a 30-car garage. Yes. I said a bowling alley — my dream come true in a home. Anyway, add all that together and you’ve got $100 million of pure opulence. The family’s story was even turned into a documentary, The Queen of Versailles.
That’s not the only one.
There’s the Hearst Castle in California. It was William Randolph Hearst’s enormous estate. It once contained the largest private zoo in the world. George Bernard Shaw famously said, “It was the place God would have built if he had the money.”
The Vanderbilts had The Breakers in Rhode Island, where entire rooms were shipped from Europe and reassembled stateside.
Another biggie? John D. Rockefeller’s Kykuit Mansion in New York had six swimming pools. And get this. The landscaping that cost more than the house itself. I guess he liked a good lawn.
In Pennsylvania, a place called Glencairn stood out for its medieval art collection and in-house chapel with antique mosaics.
Finally, in New York again is the Oheka Castle. This estate sprawled across 443 acres. Rumor has it that it was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s model for The Great Gatsby.
I think these homes say a lot about the people who decided to build them. They were symbols of ambition and excess And maybe more than anything else, they were a big display of ego.
Today, most are museums or hotels. The grandest mansions eventually outlive their owners. Like the old saying goes, you can’t take it with you.
Where they are now:
Versailles House — Windermere, Florida | Private residence, still under construction
Hearst Castle — San Simeon, California | State Historical Monument, guided tours
The Breakers — Newport, Rhode Island | Museum, Preservation Society property
Kykuit Mansion — Sleepy Hollow, New York | Museum, guided tours and events
Glencairn — Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania | Museum, part of the Academy of the New Church
Oheka Castle — Huntington, New York | Luxury hotel and event venue
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“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” — Mahatma Gandhi
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“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” — Erich Fromm
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“You can only wear one pair of shoes at a time.” — Czech Proverb
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