He completed his pastel-colored, 18-spired castle and opened it to the public (free) on Christmas Day in 1932. It became a popular stop-off for tourists en route to Atlantic City. Daynor boldly described his creation as "the greatest idea of originality ever conceived in the history of the world by one man with his two hands." But tourists knew it simply as "The Strangest House in the World".

Daynor was a bit strange himself. He lived inside an old car on the site for 3 years while he drained the swamp and built the Palace. He had a long beard and shoulder length red hair which he held back with bobby pins. He also wore lipstick and rouge. He liked to dress as a prospector when giving tours of his Palace; otherwise he wore striped pants with spats, a swallow-tailed coat and formal shirt and bowtie. Recently, it was discovered that Daynor did not build or live alone. He concealed the fact well that he had a wife, taking full credit himself for the Palace. In fact, Florence Daynor, who died in 1983, took an active role in the construction of the Palace for 26 years until 1955 when she left him.

In 1956, at the age of 81, Daynor got involved in a kidnapping case, claiming the kidnappers had contacted him about hiding the child at the Palace. The publicity scheme went awry and he wound up in jail for a year for fraud, during which time vandals badly damaged and burned the Palace. Daynor returned from prison in poor health and was hospitalized in 1961 for malnutrition. He died 3 years later and was buried in Potter's Field.

Although Daynor believed his structure would stand for a hundred years or more, by the 1940s it had already begun to deteriorate. Daynor just couldn’t keep up with maintaining and protecting it from vandals. A local high school art teacher tried to save it in the 1960s, but the property was purchased by the City and it was razed in 1969 to make way for a park.

The only remaining structure is a gazebo-like small ticket booth made of rusted fenders and the hoods of old cars. There are also some irregularly shaped foundations and rubble (painted bricks and such). In the 1970s, restoration plans were abandoned due to lack of funds. However, the latest efforts of The Palace of Depression Restoration Association have been highly successful.

The Association, led by Kevin Kirchner, has unearthed many of the original foundations, tunnels and basements under 4-6 feet of fill-in dirt. Much of the original structure will be rebuilt. Jeff Tirante, shown in the bottom row of photos above, has done extensive research to create a model for use in the reconstruction.

There will also be a cultural center on site with artifacts and images of the Palace. The center will host art classes in tile work, sculpting and glass-blowing. The new palace is being built with the leftover materials from construction sites. Local construction companies have also donated their services and concrete to build the foundations for the project. The project will take a few more years to complete.

In 2004, vandals damaged a wall and details, setting back reconstruction efforts a couple months. As of 2009, the basement level is nearly complete and Kevin and Jeff are now working on the ground level. Volunteers are welcome.

For more, see these websites: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.