Are you from the US and fancy a trip to Europe — but don’t quite have the funding? Just north of Philadelphia is a small district called Bryn Athyn, which has . . . A Medieval mansion and cathedral. Or, almost. Glencairn Museum falls into the category of “unique homes of the wealthiest business tycoons of the early 20th century in the US.” And that actually makes it a historical attraction for people from all over.
The Glencairn Museum was built by the Pitcairn family between 1928 and 1939. The Pitcairns made piles of money in fascinating ways — first, through investing in oil in the 1870s, like standard industrial magnates of the day. Later, the Pitcairns founded a successful glass-making company called the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company founded in 1883 (PPG Industries is still a Fortune 500 corporation). The funds from these enterprises allowed the Pitcairns to build a neo-Romanesque/Gothic Cathedral in Bryn Athyn between 1913 and 1928, and afterwards, their nearby home, and not even the Great Depression slowed down the process.
Glencairn is a blending of the surnames of Mildred Glenn and Raymond Pitcairn, and their home was an homage to their religious beliefs, which were founded on a Christian sect called the New Church, spun off from the writings and teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg (d 1772). Swedenborg emphasized that family unity was a critical part of spiritually, and the Pitcairns really took that up. Mildred and Raymond had nine children, and on the archway above their mansion’s entrance, a ram and an ewe overlook nine lambs to symbolize their family.
The creation of Glencairn was undertaken under the direction of five chief artisans, including carvers of wood, metal, and stone, and experts in glasswork and mosaics. These men worked to integrate the Romanesque-style building with the Pitcairn’s extensive collection of Medieval European artworks, which include many stone sculptures.
The castle/mansion officially became a museum in 1982, and today, visitors can tour some of the 90 + rooms and view the 8,000 artifacts from Medieval and Ancient history.
Sources: The familial fortunes continued into the 20th century, when Harold Pitcairn managed to successfully sue the US government for a patent infringement on an aircraft he had developed. In 1967, the payout was one of the largest ever made (the legal proceedings were heard by the Supreme Court): $32,048,738.00, according to Wikipedia
