Only In New Jersey: The Palace Of Depression

VINELAND, NJ — There may be no better example of 'one man's trash is another man's treasure' than The Palace of Depression in South Jersey.

George Daynor arrived in Vineland shortly after he lost the fortune he built in the gold mines of Alaska in the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Kristian Kirchner, president of The Palace of Depression Restoration Association, told Patch. Soon after Daynor arrived, he reportedly spent the last $4 he had to buy some property sight unseen, Kirchner continued.

"When [Daynor] gets to the property, he learns it is a junkyard laid across swampland," he said. "Angels came to him and told him everything you need to build a fantastic castle is right here. So he got up the next day, started clearing and draining the swamp land and built his home using items he found in the junkyard, like car parts and pieces of clay."

From 1932 until his death in 1964, Daynor allowed the public to tour the building and grounds. A well-meaning but ill-prepared group of people tried to keep the Palace of Depression as Daynor had kept it but were unsuccessful, according to Kirchner.

In 1969, Vineland officials — citing the safety hazard, liability risk and illegal activities that keeping the building and grounds had become — decided to tear it down, he said. Unforeseen obstacles delayed the building's destruction, he said.

In late 1990s, Kirchner's father — who was one of those who had toured the place while Daynor was alive — became the head of Vineland's licensing and inspections department.

"To him, it was like a castle, like a Disneyland for its time," Kirschner said of his father. "He remembered the history behind it, how it once was really famous. And he said to Vineland officials, 'I'm going to restore this, give me a chance and see where it goes.'"

The older Kirchner was determined to renovate and restore The Palace of Depression using methods Daynor did and then open it to the public as Daynor did, the younger Kirschner said.

To that end, over the next 20-plus years and as funding and personal time allowed, the older Kirschner took discarded items like metal barrels that might have otherwise been discarded and used them to decorate the chimney. He also took pieces of glass bottles to create mosaics to adorn walls.

However, obstacles perhaps more challenging than bureaucratic red tape would hinder the building's completion over the years, the younger Kirschner said.

He battled cancer and kidney failure. Bringing the diseases under control took time and money away from finishing the building. Then COVID-19 brought work to a standstill and also claimed the life of the older Kirschner in December.

After a brief mourning period and in between chemotherapy treatments, Kirschner decided to finish the palace. He hopes to have it ready to open to the public by late summer.

Projects that must be completed before the restored and renovated palace can reopen to the public include landscaping, maintenance and repairs, according to Kirschner.

The palace has no square walls or edges, forcing the unpaid Kirschner and the other volunteers who are helping him finish the project to build things like doors and windows from scratch, he said.

"We can't just go to Home Depot and buy them," he added. "We also sometimes run into projects ... that are beyond our expertise and have to bring a contractor in. Any [financial] donations would increase our probability of getting to the finish line greatly."

Information on how to donate can be made on The Palace of Depression's Facebook page, according to Kirschner.

When the palace is complete, it will be made of about 90 percent to 95 percent recycled material, "just as Daynor would have done it," he said.

Although the completed palace will give visitors a chance to learn some of Vineland's history, he said he also hopes visitors will take something else away from it.

"Daynor built [the palace] against every adversity in the world, simply to show people what one man can do with a vision and with nothing. My father had the same goal," Kirschner said. "If you have a strong backing, and you have the will and drive to succeed, you can do it. You don't need millions of dollars."

Kirschner added, "that's pretty admirable, especially during the Great Depression, and especially in the times we're facing today."

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