Abandoned majestic homes'amazing secrets

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#1 Palace Sans-Souci in Nord, Haiti

After the murder, the palace was abandoned and turned up to nature. Sans-Souci was largely devastated by a significant earthquake in 1842; today, just the palace’s remnants remain.

#2 Palace Sans-Souci in Nord, Haiti

Since Sans-1982 Souci’s UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site, efforts have been made to conserve what is left of the disintegrating remains, which allowed the building to weather the 2010 earthquake.

#3 Palace Sans-Souci in Nord, Haiti

Didier Moïse / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0]

The remains are a source of great pride for Haitians today, yet they are virtually unknown to those living outside. Foreign visitors to the palace have been deterred by years of political unrest, and there are still very few visitors there

#4 Midlothian, Scotland’s Mavisbank House

Drawing by William Adam / Wikimedia Commons [Public Domain]

Mavisbank House, located close to Loanhead in Midlothian, was erected as the first Palladian mansion in Scotland in 1727. It was created by renowned architect William Adam. Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, 2nd Baronet, who worked with Adam on the design, commissioned the tasteful rural pile.

#5 Midlothian, Scotland’s Mavisbank House

The mansion, which was regarded as one of Scotland’s most significant country homes, was owned by the Clerk family up until 1815 when it was sold to the highest bidder. In the early to mid-19th century, Mavisbank changed ownership at least four times, and significant alterations were made to the building.

#6 UK’s Mavisbank House in Midlothian

Mavisbank was transformed into a mental hospital in 1876, and its name was changed to New Saughton Hall. In the 1920s, more wings were erected, significantly altering the property’s historic character, and the eerie abandoned house started to deteriorate.

#7 Midlothian, Scotland’s Mavisbank House

When the facility closed shortly after World War II, Dr. William Harrowes, the medical director, bought the property. Harrowes oversaw the removal of all 19th- and 20th-century extensions to the building and revived the name Mavisbank in an effort to restore the house to its previous splendor.

#8 UK’s Mavisbank House in Midlothian

Sadly, Harrowes’ambitious repair plans fell through, and in the 1950s, Mavisbank was given to a nearby auto dealer named Archie Stevenson. By this time, Stevenson was using the forecourt as a car park and scrap metal yard, and the house had fallen into a deplorable state of disrepair.

#9 Midlothian, Scotland’s Mavisbank House

The house was destroyed by fire in 1973, which obliterated much of what was left of the structure and put the final nail in the coffin. When Stevenson has kicked off the property in 1986, Mavisbank was essentially abandoned because it was unclear who owned it.

#10 UK’s Mavisbank House in Midlothian

The Mavisbank Trust was created in 2002 with the intention of preserving the building, although a number of restoration schemes, including this conversion idea by architects Simpson and Brown, have been proposed. Sadly, Historic Environment Scotland and the Landmark Trust’s request for assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in July 2021 was denied as Mavisbank continues to be a burned-out wreck and a shell of its former self. We can only hope that the house will be magnificent after it has been repaired.

#11 The Belgian city of Namur, Château Miranda

Pont 1833 / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0]

The towering neo-Gothic Château Miranda in Celles, Belgium, which may be seen in a postcard from1907, was constructed in 1866 by English architect Edward Milner for the aristocratic Liedekerke- Beaufort family. During the French Revolution, they were forced to leave their native home, the Château de Vêves.

#12 The Belgian city of Namur, Château Miranda

The Liedekerke-Beaufort family retained ownership of Château Miranda up to the Second World War when the Nazis seized and occupied the property. The mansion was bought by the National Railway Company of Belgium after the war, given the new name “Château de Noisy”and converted into an orphanage and summer camp.

#13 The Belgian city of Namur, Château Miranda

The eerie-looking château was a family resort until the late 1970s when Belgium’s National Railway Company decided to sell it. The dilapidated mansion was used as a school and filming site in the 1980s. However, it had been completely abandoned by 1991.

#14 Château Miranda, Belgium’s Namur

Since the early 1990s, the château has been vacant. The structure had a history of neglect and vandalism, and a fire in 1995 caused significant damage. A violent storm that struck in 2006 largely demolished what remained of the roof.

#15 Château Miranda, Belgium’s Namur

The owners firmly refused to sell for years, allowing the ancient château to actually crumble away, despite several offers from the municipality of Celles to buy and repair the building.

#16 The Belgian city of Namur, Château Miranda

In 2016, the owners finally consented to sell the château to a realtor who had grand intentions to demolish it and rebuild it in Marbella, Spain. In October 2017, the building’s demolition started.

#17Château Miranda, Belgium’s Namur

Tragically, the realtor learned that she had terminal cancer and decided to back out of the deal. Castignetti, a demolition company, made a charity campaign to try and salvage the partially demolished structure, however, they were unsuccessful in raising the money. The château was entirely destroyed in2017.

#18 America: Wyckoff Villa in New York

Courtesy of Paul Malo / Elizabeth Wyckoff Balderston

This superb neo-Romanesque-meets-Tudor Revival estate, also known as Carleton Island Villa, is situated on gorgeous Carleton Island in upstate New York. It was constructed in 1894 as a summer retreat for typewriter entrepreneur William Wyckoff and his family.

#19 Wyckoff Villa, USA, New York

The opulent home is located at the tip of the Government Point peninsula, which faces Lake Ontario. Wyckoff’s wife suffered a heart attack and passed away a month before he moved into the house in1895, seemingly by a curse. Wyckoff is claimed to have died in his sleep from a heart attack on his first night in the villa, leaving him destitute and broken-hearted.

#20 America: Wyckoff Villa in New York

When Wyckoff’s son received the property, it was kept in the family until the Great Depression, which wiped out the family’s wealth. The Wyckoff’s sold the home to General Electric in the 1930s out of desperation for cash.