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14. Orphanage in Rum
Where: Turkey
Year: 1898
Expense: Over $12 million
On Buyukada, one of Turkey's Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, stood the enormous wooden structure known as the Prinkipo Palace, or Rum Orphanage. The largest wooden structure in Europe and the second-largest in the world is Rum Orphanage. It has a 65,617 square foot area. Constructed in the late 1800s, it was formally inaugurated as an orphanage in 1903.
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Turkey's Rum Orphanage / Shutterstock ©aydngvn
The Rum Orphanage featured 206 rooms, a kitchen, a school, a library, and other workshops. Situated atop the 656-foot-tall mountain, Isa Tepesi, is where the Orphanage was built. Amid tensions between Greece and Turkey, it closed in 1964. It had fallen into disrepair, and the 1980 fire that destroyed much of the site only made matters worse.
15. The Asylum of Willard
Where: Waller, New York
Year: 1869
Expense: $900,000
Designed in the "Second Empire" style, Willard Asylum (full name: Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane) was constructed in 169 by George Rowley. It was once a state hospital where patients with mental illnesses were kept. The hospital was situated next to Seneca Lake in Willard, New York.
Willard, New York @Beth Charlette / Pinterest - Willard Asylum
In 1995, Willard had a makeover. Although the Willard Drug Treatment Center has opened on the Asylum's grounds, the Asylum itself has not changed. In 1975, the National Register of Historic Places granted it a listing, saving it from demolition. Willard State is a large UrbEx site with a lot of eerie rumors.
