Horace Trumbauer’s Lynnewood Hall is back on the market for $17.5M

After languishing both on the market and its 33 acres, Horace Trumbauer’s Gilded Age giant Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park has officially re-listed, for $17,500,000.

The listing appeared on BHHS Fox & Roach broker Frank Johnson’s website on May 18, after going off the market in September 2015. It originally listed in 2014 for $20 million.

Notably, this new listing description highlights the “endless possibilities for development.” In a recent Realtor.com interview, Johnson said some ideas that come to mind are “a boutique hotel with five-star restaurants, an art museum, or an opulent private estate.”

In an e-mail to Curbed Philly, Johnson noted that he has been working with “a number of people” on the site. “One group would like to do a joint venture with someone and another wanting to do an IPO to restore said site into a hotel [and] music venue.”

A bit of history: Architect Trumbauer designed the 110-room mega-mansion between 1897 and 1900 for street-car magnate P.A.B. Widener, who needed a new home to house his growing family and art collection. The 55-bedroom Neoclassical mansion sits on 33.83 acres, but has fell into disrepair over the past few decades.

Lynnewood Hall was purchased by Richard S. Yoon in 1996 at a sheriff's sale, and he planned to turn it into a branch of his church, The First Korean Church of New York. But the immense property proved to be too costly for Yoon—$100,000-plus in property taxes will do that—who has tried to sell off the property since 2014.

Courtesy of Frank Johnson

Today, the stately mansion is in need a lot of work. When Lynnewood Hall originally listed, an architect infamously estimated that it would cost a new owner a staggering $50 million to repair the mansion. But Johnson disagrees, telling Realtor.com that a renovation of the building “could cost as little as $3 million to $7 million.”

That, plus $146,240 in annual property taxes.

Here’s the new listing description in full:

Lynnewood Hall one of the largest surviving Gilded age Mansion in the Philadelphia area ... 2 parcels 310000820004 and 310000823001 (33.85 Glorious Gated Acres) Endless Possibilities For Development in Proposed MU 3 (Mixed Use Overlay District) This 110 room Neoclassical mansion was designed by architect Horace Trumbauer for industrialist Peter A.B. Widener between 1897 and 1900

Unfortunately, the new listing photos of Lynnewood Hall again don’t quite do the Gilded Age masterpiece justice. Instead, might we suggest peeking inside the mansion, with these photos taken in 2014?

• 920 Spring Avenue, Elkins Park [Frank Johnson, BHHS Fox & Roach]
• A Major Makeover: 110-Room Mansion Near Philly Requires a Revival [Realtor.com]
• Photos: Step inside the majestic Lynnewood Hall [Curbed Philly]