Lynnewood Hall
Location: Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Year: 1897
Cost: $17.5 million*
When completed in the late 1800s, Lynnewood Hall was the classiest. The palace was filled with gilded moldings, silk and velvet curtains and rugs, and international art after three years of construction. Peter A. B. Widener hosted elaborate parties at his 110-room Gilded Age house. Indiana limestone was used for the mansion. The ballroom held 1,000 people. After Peter Widener died, the home deteriorated. Since 1952, Faith Theological Seminary has owned the property for $192,000 and discarded its interiors.
Lynnewood Hall
Mys Aniva Lighthouse
Location: Sakhalin Island, Russia
Year: 1939
Cost: $10 million*
Mys Aniva Lighthouse, built by the Japanese troops in 1939 on Sakhalin, has been abandoned. In the 1800s, the island was uninhabited until Russia wanted to seize it. The tiny island between the Seas of Okhotsk and Japan is over 590 kilometers long. Mys Aniva Lighthouse is seven storeys. Diesel engines, keeper’s quarters, storerooms, clockwork pendulums, and accumulators. A 662-pound mercury pool remains at Aniva Lighthouse. Mercury had a low-friction rotation surface. The waves are the only sound now.
Mys Aniva Lighthouse
