The Miami home of America's most notorious gangster, Al Capone, has been unceremoniously whacked. The historic waterside mansion, which had stood on the exclusive Palm Island, was quietly demolished in August. Campaigners had long fought for the preservation of the storied property, but in the wake of legal changes brought in by Florida Governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, the battle was lost. Click or scroll on to find out more about the home where Capone hatched his most infamous plot – and the place where he spent his final days...
Seen here in 1930, relaxing in a robe and slippers at his Miami vacation home, Al Capone was the boss of a mafia clan known as the Chicago Outfit or the South Side Gang. Dubbed the 'original Scarface,' he rose to power during 1920s Prohibition, fighting bloody gang wars to gain and keep control of the lucrative bootleg alcohol industry. Regularly fleeing Chicago for Florida to avoid his enemies and the cops, Capone was eventually brought to justice in 1931, at the age of 33, on a charge of income tax evasion. He served seven and a half years in Alcatraz, where he played banjo in the prison band. The Chicago Outfit's criminal activities expanded from bootlegging to gambling, extortion, political corruption and murder. Remarkably, the organisation is still active today.
Capone bought this elegant Mediterranean-style villa in 1928, at the height of his terrifying power. He paid $40,000 for the 30,000-square-foot estate, which would be roughly $718,000 (£584k) today. Built in 1922, the mansion fell into disrepair as it was passed from owner to owner over the years, following Capone's death at the mansion in 1947. In 2015, it was restored to its Prohibition Era grandeur and appeared to have been saved. However, it was sold in 2021 to developer Todd Michael Glaser, for just over $10.7 million (£8.8m), who intended to tear it down. Following local uproar, Glaser withdrew the application for demolition and sold the house on mere weeks later for $15.5 million (£12.7m). But the sale later turned out not to be the reprieve it appeared...
Despite its light, airy interior, the nine-bedroom villa is believed to have been the scene of dark deeds. Capone was staying at the retreat when the infamous St Valentine's Day Massacre took place, in which seven mob rivals were gunned down in a Chicago garage on 14 February 1929. It's said he actually planned the attack within these very walls. The crime was never officially solved. Just a few months later, Capone was caught carrying a concealed weapon and imprisoned for nine months.
The gangster's great-niece, Deirdre Marie Capone, is the only living family member with memories of the mansion in Capone's time, according to The Guardian. After his release from Alcatraz in 1939, Capone withdrew to the villa with his wife Mae, living a largely secluded life as he suffered ill health linked to syphilis. “The whole family would come from Chicago and gather around my uncle every Christmas. I kind of grew up there, I learned to swim there, and I learned to ride a bike there,” the mafioso's 83-year-old great-neice recalls. “I have a lot of early memories of playing there and being in the pool with my dad and my uncle, it was an unbelievable piece of property. It was a symbol of what Miami Beach was back in the beginning, and when you were in the house you’d feel old Florida."
Sadly for Deirdre and for the people of Miami Beach, who rallied and petitioned to save the building, hopes of preservation were quashed when Ron DeSantis signed into law the 'Resiliency and Safe Structures Act' in May 2022. It removed power from local Florida governments to prohibit, restrict or prevent the demolition of any structure in a coastal or flood zone believed to be a hazard. Critically, it even applies to buildings recognised as historic. Other buildings that may be at risk include the iconic Versace mansion, the 1947 Art Deco-style Hotel Delano and buildings in Miami's Art Deco design district.
After the law passed, the city attorney ruled that Miami's historic preservation board no longer had the authority to consider an existing preservation application without the consent of the owner, according to WPLG Local 10. And so the owners, who also own the adjacent lot, were free to demolish the landmark property, presumably to make way for a modern mega-mansion. Now, as we can see from this image, only rubble remains following the demolition in August. We can only hope that no more of Florida's historic houses meet the same fate. “We have all these great buildings and great neighbourhoods in jeopardy,” one local historian told The Guardian. “The developers are salivating.”
Read on to discover the true tales behind more mansions doomed to demolition...
What do Chicago's grandest mansion, O.J. Simpson's former Florida home and the one-time Connecticut mansion of disgraced sex offender Harvey Weinstein have in common? They were all unceremoniously torn down. Looking back over the years, we shine a light on dream homes that had to be demolished. Click or scroll to read on...
A native of nearby Newark, Joe Pesci has enjoyed a storied career alongside the likes of Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese in hit films including Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and, most recently, The Irishman (2019). Pesci’s portrayal of quintessentially volatile, ‘tough-guy’ characters has won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and two nominations in the same category. While Pesci officially announced his retirement from acting in 1999, he hasn’t been able to stay away from the silver screen.
This Art Deco-inspired beach house, which once sat on West Point Island in the Jersey Shore town of Lavallette, was the long-time home of beloved film actor Pesci. With its resemblance to a spaceship, the home was certainly distinctive from its more traditionally ‘East Coast' clapboard-clad neighbours. Pesci bought the property back in 1994 for a reported $850,000 (£691k). The iconic home benefitted from a fabulous waterfront location, eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 7,000 square feet of space.
The actor used some of the money from his numerous films on this architecturally distinctive abode. The house underwent many upgrades during Pesci’s ownership, including the addition of a private elevator and a luxury bathroom, and the restructuring of the first storey into an open floor plan. The home had sleek, modern interiors, with a largely white colour palette. There was plenty of natural light from the walls of windows that overlooked the wraparound patio, heated pool and spa, as well as the harbour beyond.
The home’s primary suite boasted a private office, private balcony and an adjoining luxury master bath. Another glamorous feature was the home’s media room, which once housed 24 movie posters of Pesci’s hit films, including Goodfellas, Casino, My Cousin Vinny, A Bronx Tale, Home Alone and Eureka, among many others. However, in spite of all of his custom touches, Pesci, now 80, sold the home in December 2021 for $5 million (£4m) to Richard DiTaranto, a partner at Northern Advisory Group.
Around a year after the new owners took over, photos revealed that the home had been demolished, with the intent to split the property into two adjacent waterfront parcels. In fact, the new owners have already built one of the new homes, which includes a double boat dock, and sold the second parcel for $2.7 million (£2.2m) in October of 2022. It is unclear whether they plan to retain the new house or sell it on for an even higher profit. Talk about quick work!
This palatial Tudor Gold Coast mansion was once the stately abode of talk show legend Phil Donahue, but now it’s overrun by vermin and destined for the wrecking ball. Situated on one of Westport, Connecticut’s most exclusive avenues and boasting 365 feet of waterfront acreage, the magnificent home was offloaded by the pioneering talk show host in 2006 for $25 million (£20.3m), but has since been allowed to fall into disrepair, and the rats and raccoons have moved in…
Phil Donahue, now 87, is an American media personality, TV producer and long-time host of The Phil Donahue Show – the first audience participation-based talk show of its kind – which ran for 26 years. Through an illustrious career spanning over half a century, Donahue became a respected voice in American media, receiving 20 Emmy Awards during his broadcasting career, including 10 for Outstanding Talk Show Host and 10 for The Phil Donahue Show. Over his storied career, the media icon has accrued a net worth of an estimated $150 million (£122m).
Donahue originally purchased the Tudor manse back in 1986 for $3.5 million with his wife, Marlo Thomas. In today's money, that's around $9.7 million (£7.9m). The house, which dates back to 1911 and boasts seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and five fireplaces, is currently being defended by the town’s Historic District Commission, which is campaigning to find an alternative to demolition. The Commission claims that the home is an essential piece of Westport’s 'Hollywood East' history, an era when the town played host to some of show business’s biggest names.
However, the home’s current owners, Peggy and Gary Reiner, who bought the property in 2020 for $16.5 million (£13.4m), insist that the house cannot be salvaged. The home had sat empty for three years before the Reiners bought it – at a significant discount given its initial $32 million ($26m) list price – and was already beginning to deteriorate. And then the raccoons took over. “It’s been infested by lots of different types of rats and rodents and moths,” Peggy told the Historic District Commission in a recent Zoom hearing. “It’s falling apart.”
Other structural issues cited by the Reiners include a caving-in roof, a water-logged basement and several balconies which are no longer safe to walk on. The Reiners, who have already completed construction on a new 20,000-square-foot beach house situated directly in front of the Tudor home (circled in red), have not engaged in any more discussions about demolition alternatives, and are intending to wait out the imposed 180-day waiting period brought by the Commission. A demolition sign has already been posted at the entrance to the property, underlining its impending doom, and although work razing the building was slated for September, it's unclear if it's begun...
As Harvey Weinstein’s wealth and reputation came crashing down around his ears, so too did his magnificent Connecticut 'Gold Coast' mansion – situated just down the road from Phil Donahue's aforementioned home. The white clapboard-clad home dated to the early 20th century, and occupied nearly 5.7 acres, with about 550 feet of frontage on the Long Island Sound. Weinstein originally acquired the vast estate in two separate transactions, the first in 1994 and the second in 2000, for a total expenditure of $8.2 million (£6.4m).
Co-founder of the entertainment company Miramax along with his brother, Harvey Weinstein was once a member of the Hollywood royalty, producing hit films including Pulp Fiction, Flirting with Disaster and the Academy Award-winning Shakespeare in Love. Weinstein was also a theatrical producer, mounting numerous lucrative Broadway revivals of both plays and musicals. However, in 2017, allegations of sexual abuse were lodged against the mogul, who was subsequently convicted of multiple felonies, including rape, and sentenced to a cumulative 39 years in prison.
The mansion served as the backdrop for Weinstein’s wedding to second ex-wife, red carpet fashion designer Georgina Chapman, and for multiple fundraising events for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. This picture from 2012 shows the presidential motorcade parked outside of the Westport property. In 2018, at the height of the former film producer’s legal troubles, Weinstein began liquidating assets to cover the rising costs of his passel of criminal and civil defence attorneys.
The Connecticut mansion was not spared in the purge, but in parting with the property, Weinstein managed to nearly double his initial investment, selling the estate for a shocking $16 million (£13m). The buyers? Commodities trader-turned-graphic designer Andrew Bentley, and his wife, art historian Fiona Garland. But the house was now irredeemably tainted goods, and new owners Bentley and Garland must have felt that the property would never sell with the existing buildings in place.
So that same year, 2018, the pair immediately sought permits to demolish all of the buildings on the plot. Heavy machinery was brought in to demolish the nearly 9,000-square-foot home, along with the swimming pool, sculpture gardens and two other smaller homes located on the lot. The empty estate was put back on the market, being sold as two separate parcels – a 3.03-acre lot, initially priced at $10 million (£8.1m) before being lowered to just shy of $9 million (£7.3m), and a smaller 2.63-acre lot, which was on the market for $9.5 million (£7.7m) and has now been slashed to the same price as its adjacent lot.
The beleaguered sportsman snapped up the residence back in 2000 for $575,000 (£469k), following a highly publicised criminal trial, where he was acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Seeking to avoid the media spotlight, he upped sticks to the quiet, leafy Miami enclave with his two youngest children. However, in 2008, the house was vacated when O.J. Simpson was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping after he held two sports memorabilia dealers in a room at a Las Vegas hotel and casino. He was sentenced to 33 years imprisonment but was granted parole in 2017 after serving nine years behind bars.
Left empty for four years while Simpson was incarcerated, the property was foreclosed in 2012 when the mortgage went unpaid, and it was later reportedly purchased by investment company Global Rental E & P. According to county records, the house changed hands for $513,000 (£418k), around $60,000 (£49k) less than Simpson bought it for. In November 2016, the property was listed for just under $1.5 million (£1.2m), an inexplicable hike, before the price was slashed to $1.3 million (£1m) a year on.
Images from the old listing show the empty interior of the property – the house had been renovated just before it hit the market in 2016 in a bid to attract buyers. The home's floor-to-ceiling feature fireplace is pictured here. The residence encompassed 4,148 square feet, covering four bedrooms and four bathrooms. Along with the pool, the grounds offered a guest house and a basketball court across the 1.65-acre plot.
Unable to stump up any offers, the house was demolished in 2022 according to the New York Post, and the vacant plot, shown here, was listed for sale the same summer for $2.6 million (£2.1m). Still struggling to attract any interest, the price tag was reduced to $1.9 million (£1.5m) and then removed from the market in February 2023. Just one month later the property reappeared on the market, listed at the slightly higher price of $2 million (£1.6m). Since he was granted parole in 2017, O.J. Simpson has resided in a golf community in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This quaint split-level home in the coveted Los Angeles Brentwood Park neighbourhood was the home of late TV legend Betty White for over 50 years. It was where she passed away in December 2021 just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. However, despite its legendary previous owner and charming kerb appeal, White’s fans were shocked to learn that the property was sold as a teardown in June 2022 for $10.7 million (£8.4m).
Betty White was widely revered as ‘the first lady of television’, a pioneer in the early days of the industry, and a titan of the entertainment world with a career that spanned nearly seven decades. After successfully transitioning from radio to television, White became a wildly popular game show host, and later was a staple of beloved sitcoms such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Golden Girls.
According to the Los Angeles Times, White bought the Brentwood home with husband and fellow game show host Allen Ludden in the 1960s, and the couple lived there happily until Ludden’s death in 1981. The five-bedroom, six-bathroom home was originally built in 1952 and spanned 3,029 square feet, offering a spacious spread for the couple.
Even after Ludden’s passing, White continued to call the property home and chose to spend her final days there. “She really is a homebody, so towards the end of her life, she spent most of her life at home, almost all of it,” White’s longtime friend and agent Jeff Witjas told ET Online. With a quarter-acre lot and this beautiful pool, we can imagine Betty being pretty comfortable here soaking up the LA sun.
However, when the property was put on the market following the star's passing, it was listed only as a teardown. Potential buyers could not view the home’s interior, only make plans for demolition and reconstruction. On 10 December 2022, White’s long-serving assistant posted this photo of the site of the demolished house on White's Instagram account. Her fans lamented the loss of the home in the comments, many calling the demolition ‘shameful’ and ‘heartbreaking.’
One of many Malibu homes belonging to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, this distinctive 20th-century property was demolished in November 2022, the fulfillment of a plan hatched three years ago. The home, which was designed by acclaimed avant-garde architect John Lautner, once apprenticed to Frank Lloyd Wright, had been remodelled and renovated several times over the past four decades, resulting in an architectural 'hodge-podge of somewhat divergent styles and tastes', according to Dirt.
Martin had purchased the property back in 2014 for $14 million (£11.4m) and lived there – along with Gwyneth Paltrow prior to their divorce – on and off for years. At the time of the purchase, Martin had hired designer Windsor Smith to remodel the interiors but the home never quite met his expectations and the Coldplay frontman applied for permission to demolish the house in 2019. Dirt reports that the house – described on the listing as "an architectural gem" – has now been completely razed, though efforts have been made to conserve the mature trees on the plot.
Built in 1972, the house had been modernised several times, once in the 1970s without Lautner's input, and then by a developer in the 1990s before Martin and Paltrow bought it and put their own stamp on it. Despite the renovations, the four-bed, three-bath original house was very much of its time with orange wood cladding, a 1970s stone fireplace and low ceilings. Heated sandstone floors ran throughout the home, which also featured a chef's kitchen and sliding glass panelled doors.
Outside, a professionally designed tennis court, weightlifting gym and private yoga studio would have kept fitness fiend Gwyneth happy during her time in the home. With ocean and mountain views, a full acre of verdant gardens and fruit trees, and direct access to the popular Little Dume Beach, the parcel itself is a tropical paradise, which explains why Martin is planning to build his new 5,000-square-foot dream home on the site. Outdoor amenities will include a new tennis court, a swimming pool and an outdoor amphitheatre.
Martin's plans for the new house include a two-storey main residence, as well as a detached garage building, a 900-square-foot guesthouse/studio and an open-air carport. For private beach access, an outdoor staircase will lead from the backyard to a woodsy pathway with direct access to Little Dume Beach. But the demolition was condemned by architecture fans and conservationists. The Lautner Foundation posted on Instagram: "If you don’t like it, don’t buy it! Shame on Chris Martin for knocking down the Garwood Residence… another Lautner lost to the ages."
Beleagured former US president Donald Trump snagged the showstopping Palm Beach retreat La Maison de l'Amitié – which translates as 'House of Friendship' – for the knockdown price of $41 million (£33.4m) at a bankruptcy auction in 2004. Following the sale, Trump told The Palm Beach Daily News that he intended to turn the Florida mansion into the "second-greatest house in America", after his nearby Mar-a-Lago estate.
Although reports emerged that Trump spent as much as $25 million (£20.4m) renovating the mammoth 60,000-square-foot property, the real estate mogul and 45th president of the United States told Politico that he'd simply “cleaned it up a little bit, but not too much".
The extravagant beach home boasted everything from a ballroom, art gallery and 100-foot-long pool to diamond and gold fixtures and a garage with space for 40 cars. Incredibly, the mansion was purchased in 2008 by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for the inflated price of $95 million (£77.4m), $54 million (£44m) more than Trump initially paid for it, despite the property having a serious mould problem.
The transaction later raised eyebrows and attracted accusations of alleged money laundering, but Trump has since been cleared of any wrongdoing. In the end, the mould issue is said to have got so bad that Rybolovlev made the decision to have the property torn down. It was demolished in 2016 and split into three parcels, which the oligarch went on to sell for a combined total of around $108 million (£88m), enabling him to recoup his losses and then some.
Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield splashed out the equivalent of around $700,000 (£570k) in today's money on this 10,000-square-foot Spanish Colonial mansion in LA's Holmby Hills back in 1957. She made the purchase shortly before tying the knot with Hungarian-American actor and former Mr. Universe, Mickey Hargitay.
Mansfield hired set designer Glenn Holse to transform the 40-room property into what she later dubbed the 'Pink Palace'. It rocked Barbie pink shag pile, a white and gold Steinway grand piano, a cupid fountain that flowed with rosé champagne and a heart-shaped pool, pictured here, built by her muscle-bound other half.
Following the actress's tragic death in a car accident in 1967, the luxurious home passed through several celebrity owners including Ringo Starr, who supposedly had the place painted white several times but couldn't stop the pink from coming through, Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas and classic crooner Engelbert Humperdinck, pictured here in the double-height living room.
After living in the manse for 26 years, Humperdinck sold it to his neighbour, the subprime mortgage tycoon Roland Arnall in 2002 for $30 million (£23.5m). Eager to expand his property, Arnall razed the house to the ground, much to the horror of conservationists.
Today the plot on which the Pink Palace once stood has been incorporated into Arnall's Owlwood Estate, which sold to a developer for a whopping $90 million (£73.3m) back in 2016.
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's marriage broke down not long after they moved in and they divorced in 1996, yet continued to live together with their two daughters.
The family eventually decamped to Windsor's Royal Lodge and the now-disgraced Duke flogged the modern mansion in 2007 to Kazakhstani investor Kenes Rakishev for $18.3 million (£14.9m), $3.7 million (£3m) over the asking price. The ultimate owner was later revealed to be billionaire oligarch Timur Kulibayev, but instead of setting up home in the property, he abandoned the expensive mansion
The country house deteriorated into such a sorry state that the local council threatened to confiscate it. After planning permission was obtained to knock it down, the dilapidated eyesore was reduced to rubble in 2016 and replaced with a larger home.
The most notorious drug lord of all time, Pablo Escobar is estimated to have been worth up to a staggering $30 billion (£24.4bn) by the early 1990s. While his main residence was in Colombia, the 'King of Cocaine' owned a number of dream homes around the world, including this pastel pink beach house in Miami.
Funded by ill-gotten gains, the infamous kingpin snapped up the 7,336-square-foot home in 1980 for $765,500 (£624k) and is likely to have used the flashy four-bedroom, six-bathroom villa as a cocaine drop safe house, according to Forbes.
But Escobar didn't hang onto his Miami bolthole for very long. In 1987, US authorities seized the property and sold it on to local lawyer Roger Schindler, who paid $915,000 (£746k) for the privilege. His crimes eventually caught up with him and the cartel boss was shot and killed on 3 December 1993 in his hometown of Medellín by Colombian security forces.
As for his former beach house, the property was damaged by fire in 2012 and remained unoccupied until it was purchased in 2014 by Christian de Berdouaré, the owner of the Chicken Kitchen restaurant chain, for $9.7 million (£7.9m). Christian de Berdouaré had the property razed in 2014, but not before an extensive search was carried out – Escobar was known to squirrel away vast sums of cash in his various residences around the globe.
As it happens, workers discovered a hidden safe during the demolition, though it's not clear what was inside. The restaurateur planned to replace it with a modern home but had a change of heart and the cleared plot was put on the market for $12.9 million (£10.5m), but the listing has since been taken down.
One of Fifth Avenue's most splendid Gilded Age mansions, the William K. Vanderbilt House was commissioned in 1879 by the scion's wife, Alva. According to Fortune's Children, a book written by clan descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, she wanted to use the magnificent home to win acceptance into New York's elite high society.
Nicknamed the 'Petit Château', the pristine white limestone French Renaissance-style mansion at 660 Fifth Avenue was completed in the 1880s and garnered rave reviews, with the Architectural Record lauding its “distinction, elegance [and] dignity”. The interiors showcased the Vanderbilts' impeccable taste and were replete with sumptuous furnishings and artworks acquired from antique shops and hard-up aristocrats in Europe.
The salon was designed and assembled in Paris by prestigious interior decorating company Jules Allard and boasted an ebony bureau that once belonged to Marie Antoinette. Not long after the mansion's completion, Alva finally secured her position in New York society by throwing a glittering fancy dress ball that was the talk of the town.
The power couple divorced in 1895 and the mansion was put on the market following William K. Vanderbilt's death in 1920. The beloved home of one of the world's most famous families remained vacant until the mid-1920s when it was purchased by real estate developer Benjamin Winter who promptly had the mansion demolished, erecting a towering office block in its place.
One of the first properties to be constructed in Chicago's upscale Gold Coast neighbourhood, this enormous Romanesque-style castle on Lake Shore Drive was the Windy City's largest private residence upon its completion in the 1880s.
The most breathtaking feature of the amazing American castle was the huge collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artworks amassed by Bertha Palmer, who was an avid collector. It included paintings by Pierre-August Renoir, Claude Monet and Edgar Degas. Today, these prized masterpieces are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Since 1900, almost 2,000 of England's finest country piles have been demolished, according to Lost Heritage. Termed “the lost houses”, these stunning stately homes were razed as the nation's upper classes were hit with punishing death duties and taxes, and lost much of their power and influence.
Among the most heartbreaking losses is The Deepdene on the outskirts of Dorking in Surrey, UK. The estate had a long and illustrious history and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The house dates from the 1760s when aristocrat Charles Howard (pictured here) built a Palladian mansion on the site.
The estate was purchased in 1807 by Thomas Hope, who at the time was one of England's richest men. Hope enlarged the property, commissioning a library, gallery, orangery and more.
Hope was a keen collector of antiquities and the Deepdene's entrance hall was packed with ancient statues, but these were later replaced with reproductions. The mansion was remodelled again between 1836 and 1841 to resemble a Roman villa, before being leased out toward the end of the 19th century to Lily, Duchess of Marlborough – her nephew, Winston Churchill, was a frequent visitor.
The social changes of the 20th century spelled the end for the estate. In the 1920s, it was broken up and the house was converted into a posh hotel, which operated during the interwar years. The mansion served as offices for Southern Railway during the Second World War and beyond, but was eventually torn down in 1967 and replaced with this Brutalist office building.
The seat of the Dukes of Sutherland, Trentham Hall in Staffordshire, UK is also among the grandest country houses that were lost during the 20th century, but its demolition had nothing to do with the century's social changes. With the site's early occupation dating back to the Middle Ages, the country house was reconstructed in an Italianate style in 1833 under the supervision of famed architect Charles Barry, who designed the UK's Palace of Westminster.
The sprawling country pile was considered so magnificent that when the Shah of Persia visited in 1873, he remarked to the future King Edward VII that their host was “too grand for a subject, you'll have to have his head off when you come to the throne.” By the 1900s, however, the stately home was plagued by a serious pollution problem.
The nearby River Trent was heavily contaminated with sewage emanating upriver from Stoke-on-Trent, which pretty much made the house uninhabitable, such was the overpowering stench. No buyer was willing to take on the abandoned stately home, not even the local authority, and the majority of Trentham Hall was pulled down in 1912.
These days, little remains of the once-majestic country home. The few parts of the building that have survived include the square tower and grand entrance, which is pictured here. While the gardens have been recreated in all their former glory, the remnants of Trentham Hall are a sorry sight.
The family was forced to give up their home for good during the Second World War when it was taken over by the Nazis. After the war, the property was renamed the Château de Noisy and repurposed as an orphanage and holiday camp. The country house was last used as a school before it was abandoned in 1991.
Beset by neglect and vandalism, the eerie abandoned mansion was severely damaged by a fire in 1995, while a freak storm in 2006 destroyed much of what was left of the roof. In 2016, local developer Luc Lavroff had ambitious plans to dismantle the structure and rebuild it in Spain.
Tragically, Lavroff was diagnosed with cancer in February 2017 and had to pull out of the deal, leaving the half-dismantled building in the hands of demolition firm Castignetti. Unable to find a buyer, the company made the difficult decision to demolish the château in October of the same year. According to Google Maps, the site of the château remains empty as of 2023.
Built in the early 20th century for local factory owner Charles Winship, the eponymous two-and-a-half-storey Colonial Revival residence in Wakefield, Massachusetts was one of the grandest for miles around. The historic home featured capacious reception rooms, 11 bedrooms, eight bathrooms and even a swimming pool.
Inside, the lavish interiors wowed with rich mahogany panelling, wooden columns and an ornately carved staircase. The mansion was sold after Winship's death in 1946 and served as a convent until 1978 when it reverted to a private residence.
A fire damaged the upper floor in 2005 and a few years later the mansion was lost to foreclosure in 2007. The bank was unable to offload it and the Charles Winship House was left vacant. Following its abandonment, the property was vandalised by trespassers who caused untold damage and trashed the interiors.
A shadow of its former self, the dilapidated dream home was sold in 2019 to local realtor James Gattuso for $585,900 (£477k). Despite its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the house was deemed beyond repair and unviable for preservation. The once-glorious mansion was bulldozed in July 2020 and was replaced by two single-family residences.
British real estate developer and millionaire Patrick Diter shelled out $64 million (£52m) in 2005 to build this stunning Tuscan-style palazzo near Grasse on the French Riviera. Wowing with numerous lavishly appointed reception rooms, 18 deluxe suites and two helipads, the palatial property was designed to be nothing short of sensational.
Since its completion, the palazzo has been rented out as a boutique hotel, wedding venue and film and TV location – the property served as Simon Cowell's Judge's House in the 14th season of the UK's X Factor and was featured in the hit series Riviera – no doubt providing a steady source of income for its moneyed owner. There was just one very big catch.
Diter failed to gain planning permission to construct the palazzo and made the fatal mistake of annoying his neighbours, Stephen and Caroline Butt. The couple complained that their quiet life had been turned upside down by the noisy construction work, constant parties and other boisterous events.
They sued and were awarded damages in 2021, while Diter was ordered by the highest French Court to demolish the illegally constructed property. Diter was fined $503,000 (£409k), plus a penalty of $580 (£472) for each day he fails to comply, and was given 18 months to demolish the house and restore most of the land to its original state.
That deadline passed in June 2022 but despite the court ruling, the palazzo was reportedly still standing as of May 2023. Although the palazzo's website appeared to have been recently deactivated, it's active once again as of October 2023. We're not quite sure how Diter is still skirting the law after so long, but only time will tell if the house will manage to escape the wrecking ball!
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