Abandoned places have their kind of charisma and mystery to unravel. Even when it is decaying and falling apart into ashes, their beauty remains intact. Besides the charm, abandoned places stand as a reflection of the past personified: standing still amongst the sands of time. There is a unique eerie hidden in these private homes. Though they are worth a million or more, these homes were left to die alone in despair. Let’s find out what has happened to these abandoned mansions.
The Houses | Abandoned places
The mansion was brought to daylight yet again after a while by the Instagram page holder bigexplorez. This mansion was first bought by the star in 2003, but later he sold it to the developers in 2007.
The mansion is located in Georgia, where the builder planned to demolish the house to build 11 houses on the land, where the city corporation did not allow them to build there. The house accommodates 7 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms with a pool house. It also has a 5-car garage with an apartment on top of a tennis court. Currently, the house is owned privately from 2020 and is to be renovated eventually over some time.
Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch
The Neverland consists of Zoo animals, bumper cars, two separate railroad tracks and more to fill up the amusement park and whatnot. Michael Jackson purchased the 2700 acres of Californian property in 1987 for $19,5 million. He used the place to throw lavish parties when he lived here. He even organised a party for Kim Kardashian for her 14th birthday, which all came to a dead-end after the allegations placed on him for child sexual abuse in 2003.
Time after time, due to repeated allegations and rides conducted at his home, the court took a financial toll leading to the selling of the property to Colony Capital for 22.5 million in 2009. The house underwent a lot of renovations and rebranding, after which it was again put on the market in 2015 for $100 million after Jackson’s death in 2009.
Two years later, it was discounted, to 67 million from there it went right away to 31 million, in 2019. In December 2020, the abandoned ranch was sold to Pittsburgh Penguins, the managing partner of private investment firm, The Yucaipa Companies for an amount of $22 million, which is much less than a quarter of the original price.
Bruce Lee’s abandoned Hong Kong home | Abandoned places
Bruce Lee died in 1973 at the age of 32, when his Hong Kong home was quickly purchased by a Chinese Philanthropist Yu Pang-Lin, a year later. He converted his abandoned home into a Love hotel. Furthermore, he planned to sell the property to raise funds for victims of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. Followed by this, Lee’s fans requested him to preserve the house, as an honour of Lee, thus putting the plan on hold.
Later, he decided to turn the mansion into a museum wherein the government rejected his approval. He died in 2015, leaving the entire mansion and his estate to charity. Presently, the mansion was converted to a Chinese Studies centre.
Unfortunately, the house faced many problems structurally, deteriorating with only four window frames and a colourful mosaic structure made by Lee left, leaving the rest of the structure to be destroyed and rebuilt.
Mike Tyson’s Mansion
Southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, at less than 50 miles distance, sits the 25,000 square-foot abandoned mansion. Mike lived lavishly in this home where he used to practise, before going to jail in 1992 for a rape conviction. The home comprises a 10,000 sq. ft room, which had an indoor pool, a beautiful wrought iron spiral staircase, impressive money covering ceilings and walls, and also had cages for his four tigers.
Mike returned to his home after a three-year prison period. He sold the house in 1999 for $1.3 million to Paul Monea, a businessman well known for his Tae-Bo exercise videos. Monea was sent to jail in 2008, for money laundering and later on, the home went abandoned, once again until 2010. Finally, the house was sold for $ 6,00,000 and donated to the Living World Sanctuary church. The house was unoccupied for over a decade, plus completely overgrown before it underwent renovations.
Carlton Villa | Abandoned places
The Carlton Villa was built in 1894 on Carleton Island,NY by the famous typewriter William Wyckoff as a summer residence. Wyckoff’s wife died of a heart attack a month before they moved in, adding to that, he died of a heart attack the night they moved in. Later his youngest son took over the mansion, but within a few years, the family was financially shaky thus leading the house to fall into despair.
Then, the villa was sold to General Electric, who planned to demolish the house and sell the salvaged materials and goods like stained glass and flooring material etc. Soon after World War II broke, the property was left abandoned. The villa which had beautiful views of the gorgeous river is currently listed for $ 4,95,000 but will require a lot more than nearly a million to recover to its former glory.
An heiress dies leaving three abandoned mansions!
When the eremitic copper heiress Huguette Clark died in 2011, at an age of 104, it was revealed that she had spent the last few decades of her life at the hospital, leaving the property abandoned. She owned a 42-room apartment on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, a $ 24 million Connecticut chateau, Bellosguardo and a palatial Santa Barbara estate that valued $100 million.
All these properties were maintained by her caretakers, as she could arrive any minute, but she never came back. Clark did not visit the Bellosguardo mansion since 1960 and never went to Connecticut chateau. While the Connecticut home still remains in the market, the city of Saint Barbara has opened its gate to the public.
Round Mansion in Belgium
The Round Mansion in Belgium was discovered and photographed by an urban explorer, Andre Govia. This nine-bedroom mansion was abandoned by the owner in the early 1990s. It seems that the tenants have left the place in haste leaving behind all expensive toys and furniture at the house. The house was plundered in, by urban explorers and thieves who have swayed away, leaving the house intact.
Steve Jobs abandons his North Californian estate | Abandoned places
The 17,000 sq. Ft home known as Jackling house, abandoned by Steve Jobs in 2000. The mansion was constructed by the copper icon, Daniel Cowan Jackling, in 1925, which was purchased by Jobs in the 1980s and it stayed as a private residence for over a decade before turning into a rental place and eventually falling into despair.
In 2004, Steve had an idea of altering the Jackling house and to construct more modern family homes in place, but he indeed ended up with more opposition from the preservationist side. The battle over the home went in court until 2011, at last, the permission was granted to build his new home. Unfortunately, he passed away later that year due to pancreatic cancer.
Blake house
The Blake house, a former residence for many UC Berkeley presidents, has been abandoned since 2008. The future of the 13,000 sq. Ft house and 10 acres of surrounding garden are under scrutiny. Since the funding has been cut to the university leading to criticisms arising among the students and the executive staff, leaving the house abandoned.
Currently, the estate is rated to be unliveable, as there is a leak in the roof, moulds growing and fixtures found to be broken. Rat traps have also been placed at various positions at the mansion. The house estimates start at about $ 2 million for recreating the house as before. For a more ambitious remake, it might take up to $ 10 million.
Pineheath House | Abandoned places
The Pineheath house in Harrogate, Yorkshire, once owned by Indian aristocrats, has been standing untouched for more than a quarter of a century. The grand mansion consists of 40 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms and long ago was home to the shipping magnate Sir Dhunjibhoy and Lady Bomanji. After the death of Lady Bomanji in 1986, the house and its belongings were left abandoned. The house is filled with relics dating back to 1920 which includes hand-painted wallpaper, ornamental China and antique furniture. Presently, the home has been purchased by a local businessman, who intends to restore it and convert it into a single residence.
References:
Nati, M., 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.oddee.com/item_98826.aspx> [Accessed 4 September 2021].
stars, 6., 2021. 6 abandoned mansions that were once owned by Hollywood stars. [online] Business Insider. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/6-abandoned-mansions-that-were-once-owned-by-hollywood-stars/slidelist/80435835.cms#slideid=80435903> [Accessed 4 September 2021].
