On my Pittsburgh bucket list was the Bayernhof Museum (pronounced "bay-ern-hof myu-see-am" rather than "buy-ern-hof mu-seh-um"). It was the private home of Charles Boyd Brown, III (1935-1999), also known as "make-a-buck Chuck" for his financial prowess in the gas-light industry and for being a cheapskate when it came to spending his own money (except on lavish parties). He decorated the 19,000 sq ft with Bavarian kitsch because he wanted to, and it is now home to >150 rare musical machines, because he needed some other reason for the public to want to visit. Turning his house into a museum was his idea of living forever, although his neighbors weren't thrilled about the idea after he passed away from kidney failure caused by chronic gout. They're open 7 days a week except for major holidays, so I booked us a tour on one of my days off.
Probably the best part of the tour was the guide, a retired music teacher whose joking demeanor reminded Dear Husband of some of his uncles and that he described as a relic of the 1980s. Which is, incidentally, also when the house was completed, after 6 years of work. The first two rooms completed were a bedroom for the general contractor and the pool room. Priorities. All told there are 2 living rooms, 3 kitchens, 6 bedrooms, 8 full and 3 half bathrooms, 10 fireplaces, 12 wet bars, 17 staircases, and 1 each formal dining room, office, observatory, wine cellar, boardroom, gambling room, and billiard room. My favorite part was the subterranean water features.
Brown's great-grandfather, John Schneider Loresch, had immigrated from Bavaria. (That's a life-sized wooden carving of him in the entranceway.) Brown collected almost all of the furnishings, light fixtures, kitsch, etc., during trips back to The Old Country, so the décor looks a lot like you would expect (Biersteins, dirndls, drinking monks, etc.), and then some. Apparently he was also a trickster, so I won't say much more in case you ever visit us, and we take you for a tour. It's a whole experience.
The guide demonstrated a number of the music boxes, which range from Edisonian wax-cylinder Victrolas to the first juke box to player pianos to orchestral set-ups, including one from the 1930s that lights up. I didn't take more or better photos, because we missed the very beginning of the tour, and possibly the part when guests were asked not to take photos. So I mostly kept my phone in my pocket and enjoyed looking and listening instead. You'll just have to see for yourself! (You can also read about and listen to some of the music boxes at the first link above.)
