Bayernhof Museum

Housed in a Bavarian-themed mansion, the Bayernhof Museum is truly like no other in the world. Constructed between 1976 and 1982, the 19,000-square-foot mansion was once the home of Charles B. Brown III, whose idiosyncrasies included owning 283 identical blue button-down Oxford shirts and a tendency to tell outlandish stories.

The structure stands on a bluff overlooking the Allegheny River, providing astonishing views of downtown Pittsburgh and mountaintops more than 60 miles away. Brown’s Bavarian ancestry is reflected throughout the house with dozens of beer steins, Hummel figurines, deer-head trophies, tapestries and a chandelier made of battle axes that hangs above the main entrance.

Brown’s playful nature also ensures plenty of surprises for today’s visitors, such as a gambling room with a stained-glass skylight depicting gnomes and hunters in the Black Forest and an observatory with a telescope and retractable roof. There’s even a secret passageway that takes visitors through a simulated cave, complete with faux stalactites and stalagmites. The grand finale is the indoor swimming pool, which sports a rushing waterfall and a stuffed mountain goat perched on the rocks above.

The true gems at the Bayernhof Museum are the dozens of music boxes and other musical machines scattered throughout almost every room. There’s one that plays a piano and three violins simultaneously, an automatic harp, an art deco jazz organ that lights up, a Victrola hidden inside a fringed lamp, an Edison Multiphase Phonograph, an exquisitely painted Wurlitzer band organ and even a little “Bird Box” containing four mechanical singing birds. Best of all, visitors get to not only look at the music machines but also hear their distinct tunes. 225 Saint Charles Pl., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15215, 412/782-4231,
bayernhofmuseum.com