Forget Yuri Milner's Silicon Valley megamansion and David Tepper's $44 million Hamptons teardown -- America's most opulent homes were built decades ago by titans of industry like Alfred I. du Pont and William Randolph Hearst.
The largest historic homes in America, all built before 1952, are sprawling estates located in every corner of the country.
Sprawling estates built by titans of industry.
Some are now publicly owned, others are still in private hands.
NEMOURS, WILMINGTON, DEL: 47,000 square feet. This estate, built for industrialist Alfred I. du Pont in 1910, is now open for public tours.
WALKER McCUNE MANSION, PARADISE VALLEY, ARIZ: 52,000 square feet. Built for an oil tycoon, this six-acre estate was once owned by the heiress to the Hormel Foods fortune.
THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, DC: 55,000 square feet. The press briefing room in the President's official residence was once a swimming pool built for Franklin Roosevelt.
WHITEHALL, PALM BEACH, FLA: 60,000 square feet. Henry Flagler, a co-founder of Standard Oil who built this mansion 1902, died after falling down a flight of marble stairs in the home at age 83.
HEARST CASTLE, SAN SIMEON, CALIF: 60,645 square feet. This castle, built for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and completed in 1947, has 56 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms.
STAN HYWET HALL, AKRON, OHIO: 64,500 square feet. The name of this estate, built for a founder of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., means "stone quarry" in Old English.
THE BREAKERS, NEWPORT, RI: 65,000 square feet. The mansion, completed in 1895, was built as the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
LYNNEWOOD HALL, ELKINS PARK, PA: 70,000 square feet. The grounds of this 110-room, Gilded Age estate were used to train military dogs during World War II.
MEADOW BROOK HALL, ROCHESTER HILLS, MICH: 88,000 square feet. Scenes from "Transformers 3" were filmed at this estate, built by the wife of auto pioneer John Francis Dodge.
WINTERTHUR, WINTERTHUR, DEL: 96,582 square feet. This 175-room house, once the home of Henry Francis du Pont , is now a museum that houses around 85,000 objects.
OHEKA CASTLE, HUNTINGTON, NY: 109,000 square feet. Completed in 1915, this Long Island mansion was built as the country home of financier and philanthropist Otto Kahn.
BILTMORE ESTATE, ASHEVILLE, NC: 175,000 square feet. This 8,000-acre estate is still owned by one of builder George Washington Vanderbilt II's descendants.
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