The Most Unbelievably Excessive Homes In US History

To say that William Randolph Hearst’s estate was gigantic would be a massive understatement; his whopping 250,000 acres in San Simeon, CA, hosted his decadent castle. Hearst’s 68,500-square-foot mansion, modeled after a Spanish medieval cathedral, broke ground in 1919 and did not complete construction until 1947. The project set the magnate back $5.6 million. Today it is worth about $700 million. 

“It was the place god would have built if he had the money,” George Bernard Shaw said of the property which boasted, among other audacious treasures, a zoo that was once the largest in the world. Today it operates as the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument and offers guided tours.

This monstrosity in Windermere, FL, will be largest home in America upon its completion in 2020, after 17 years of construction. The structure takes up an incredible 90,000 square feet, and as billionaire Jackie Siegel likes to say, “It's the same size as a Super Walmart.” The mega-mansion and the Siegels were made famous after the release of the 2012 documentary Queen of Versailles, which chronicled the construction of their dream home in the midst of the 2008 recession.

Settled in 10 acres and costing a whopping $100 million, the monstrosity is said to include a bowling alley, a full-sized roller rink, and a 30-car garage. 

The Vanderbilt family’s “summer cottage” on 13 acres in Newport, RI, boasts a Neo-Italian Renaissance-inspired facade and interiors that remind one of Versailles. Some rooms in this behemoth were actually constructed in Europe, then sent to the US to be reassembled. 

Built in 1895 for $7 million, the equivalent of more than $150 million today, the current estimated worth of the mansion is around $400 million. The local Preservation Society now owns the home and operates it as a museum.

On 250 acres in Sleepy Hollow, NY, lies John D. Rockefeller’s six-story mansion, Kykuit. Built in the style of a Classical Revival villa, the home features a world-renowned art collection and six separate swimming pools. 

Upon its creation, landscaping alone cost Rockefeller a massive $750,000 (about $12 million in today's money), which dwarfed the costs of the house and furnishings combined. Now worth a minimum of $6 million, Kykuit is a museum, hosting tours and events. 

Combining their surnames to produce the moniker Glencairn, husband and wife Raymond Pitcairn and Mildred Glenn built their 11-floor, 90-room dream home in 1939. The mansion’s medieval Romanesque architecture and large collection of religious tomes and medieval art reflected the couple’s lifelong obsession with their faith and the medieval period. Built on 6.2 acres in Bryn Athyn, PA, the property’s most audacious addition has to be its in-house chapel, with soaring, antique mosaic ceiling.

In 1980 the mansion and all of its contents were bequeathed to the Academy of the New Church schools. It now operates as a museum.

The second-largest private residence ever built in America, Oheka Castle was said to have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The epitome of decadence and luxury, the mega-mansion and its 443 acres contain three fountains and eight reflecting pools. Built in 1919 in Huntington, NY, for $11 million, the property was estimated to be worth $40 million in 2014.

The castle now operates as a hotel, as well as hosts tours and events.