This mansion could be yours for free - but there's a bizarre catch

By
Kristy Johnson
June 26, 2024

A free mansion? Yes, there is a catch. And it’s a big one.

The 1834-built property known as Hood Mansion in Limerick, Pennsylvania, could be yours for not a cent… but you have to move it to another location.

Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society have made it their mission to preserve the home before it is knocked down by the current owner. Their website states that they have “reached an agreement that the mansion can be moved off the property for free in a timely fashion”.

Moving the home may prove to be a very expensive task. Tyler Schumacher, president and founder of the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society, told Realtor you would be “looking at probably around $US700,000 ($AU751,343) to a million to move the home”.

This mansion is for free... but there's a bizarre catch. Photo: Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society

The current owner is a developer based outside of Brooklyn, New York, and has plans to build a warehouse complex on the site.

The brownstone mansion contains 17 rooms, eight fireplaces, chestnut floors and oak beams. There are boarded-up and broken windows, chipped paint and graffiti on the walls.

The mansion in Limerick, Pennsylvania, was broken into and vandalised in 2016. Photo: Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society
The sandstone mansion is available for free, should the buyer be able to move it to another location. Photo: Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society

The property has a varied past. Built in 1834 by Irish immigrant John McClellan Hood, it was sold to a developer in the 1980s who had initial plans to build a golf course around it. It was rented out until 2008 when it sold again to Boyd Gaming who had plans to build a casino on the site.

These plans were denied and after vandals broke into the home in 2016, the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society made it their mission to acquire and preserve it. It has since sold to the developer who resides outside of Brooklyn.

The property contains 17 rooms, eight fireplaces, chestnut floors and oak beams. Photo: Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society

A Facebook post on May 31 by the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society reveals their tiresome dedication to preserving the mansion.

“Offered for FREE to anyone who can move her to a new location. Otherwise, she will sadly be reduced to a pile of rubble,” the post reads.

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