This sounds like an interesting building you could find in Charterhall or Brightstone. Its own private coal railway!

This sounds like an interesting building you could find in Charterhall or Brightstone. Its own private coal railway!

Originally shared by Mark Hunt

The William A. Clark residence at 952 Fifth Avenue in New York City as seen during demolition in 1927

The Clark mansion at Fifth Avenue and Seventy-seventh street by Central Park, “the most remarkable dwelling in the world” .

– Finished in 1907 after eight years in the making, “Clark’s Folly,” as it was called, broke all records. It cost $7 million to build, featured 121 rooms, and had its own rail line for the delivery of coal.

– The amenities boggled the mind: repurposed pieces from a French chateau, oak panels from Sherwood Forest, Turkish baths, vaulted corridors lined with Gustavino tile, 11 elevators, a pipe organ, 20-plus servant rooms, and galleries for Clark’s extensive art collection.

By the time Clark and his family moved in, however, this Gilded Age “pile of granite,” as the New York Times called it, was out of fashion. Architectural critics loathed it.