Constructed in the 1970s, this unusual castle is located in Birmingham, Alabama. While it was built with care by a local family, the property was later abandoned and quickly fell into a state of disrepair. Now ready to start a new chapter, the house was recently bought by a reality TV star who is planning to bring it back from the brink. Thanks to photographer Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, we can take a tour of the castle and find out what's in store for this unusual home. Click or scroll on to find out more...

Known as Roebuck Castle, the remarkable home was constructed in the 1970s on a large corner lot in the South Roebuck neighbourhood of Birmingham. It was originally built by the local Khalaf family, who owned Salem’s Pharmacy. "My mother sold the house in the 1990s," Nancy Bird Khalaf told a local news outlet. "The house was full of life as they had many parties and events for the community and family.” Since then, the property has changed hands numerous times, before it was vacated and left to languish.

A grand, sloping driveway takes you up to a set of crumbling steps, which lead to the front door. Losing the fight with Mother Nature, the building was partially consumed by strangling vines and weeds when Leland Kent explored the estate. By that time, it had sat empty for around 15 years. But it isn't difficult to see how impressive this modern castle once was, so it's really no wonder a celebrated TV renovation star spotted the home's potential right away...

In 2021, the abandoned castle caught the attention of Paul Mielke, former star of A&E TV show Flipping Down South, who now works with Monroe Park Properties flipping and selling on neglected homes. Paul was no doubt drawn in by the building's unique brick façade, which is finished with a soaring tower, impressive faux battlements and oversized arched windows. Plus, there's plenty of space to play with—5,000 square feet, to be exact.

Thanks to Abandoned Southeast, we get the chance to see exactly how the castle looked when Paul first discovered it. According to local news platform Bham Now, the reality TV star heard about Roebuck Castle in 2021 and was instantly interested in rescuing it. “I walked in, floors were falling in and it was literally raining inside. But I just immediately fell in love with it and knew I had to have it," he said.

After gathering together the finances, Paul and his team bought the place. Crumbling both inside and out, this extreme fixer-upper wouldn't have been suitable for your average renovator. “I do know that I was not the first person to look at it," he said. "I was just the first person that was up for the challenge." The ceilings in every room were rotting or falling down, while litter and personal belongings were strewn across all the rooms. “I’m pretty thrilled about it. It’s the biggest remodel I've ever done," he said.

As well as spacious living rooms, a retro kitchen, five bedrooms and three bathrooms, the property also boasts plenty of unique features. "It’s just a cool house—it’s got a library and an in-law suite downstairs. You walk into a foyer that has a fountain. It’s a spectacular home," Paul told Bham Now. As for architectural elements, every room enjoys six-over-six sash windows, high ceilings, full-height brick fireplaces and original built-in cabinetry. However, many of the elements aren't salvageable. “It’s the worst condition house I’ve ever bought," Paul admitted.

Paul is documenting the ambitious project on his Instagram channel, giving us a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse at a major home renovation. After buying the place, Paul and his team immediately ran into issues with getting permits approved for the renovations. To make matters worse, the work crews they hired would often fail to turn up, which led to further delays. In May 2022, Paul decided it was time to prioritise the project. He hoped to complete the job in just three months and had a $250,000 (£202k) budget for the work.

In July 2022, Paul took to Instagram to share a video of the first day of the renovation, posting this snap to highlight just how degraded the abandoned castle was. "This is going to be a huge project," he said. "The entire left wing of the house has caved in, including the roof and floors. It’s going to take a special crew to get in there and take the house apart, then put it back together piece by piece so the house is stable and safe.”

He also hired the Dearborn Drone Co to capture aerial footage of the castle. This still from the video highlights the progress the team made in just a matter of weeks. They started by taking out the entire top floor and roof, and stripping everything back. They had to remove more of the home's structure than originally planned, due to both rain and termite damage. In fact, around 90% of the property has been removed and reframed. 

As for his approach, Paul is retaining the unusual appearance of the castle. "On the outside, we’re going to keep the look," he said. "We’re going to wash it and have some iron work done to bring back the original pieces, like the plating on the side of the house. We’re going to try to get some reproductions made for the pieces that are missing." With its grand proportions and triple sash windows, this space was likely the home's master bedroom, however, it'll be unrecognisable once Paul completes the project.

The castle is still a work in progress—Paul sadly didn't manage to finish the job within three months as planned, mainly due to permit and structural setbacks. While he was originally planning to sell the property on, Paul has fallen in love with the place and is now reportedly planning to make Roebuck Castle his personal residence, according to Bham Now. Once it’s ready, he’s going to organise a neighbourhood viewing party at the house. 

The outside spaces will be receiving a dramatic makeover too. While Paul initially opted for the budget-friendly route of filling in the languishing swimming pool and creating a backyard, he's had a change of heart since deciding to call the castle his home. Instead, he plans to restore the pool and channel a "bohemian kind of vibe" across the property. We can't wait to see the end result. Keep your eyes on Paul's Instagram and watch this space for updates!

Read on to take a tour of more remarkable abandoned buildings across Alabama

When it comes to documenting the fascinating forgotten buildings across America's Deep South, Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast is something of an expert. Preserving the past through his incredible photographs, his work shines a light on the region's tumbledown treasures. Out now, Leland's book Abandoned Alabama: Exploring the Heart of Dixie tours the Cotton State's most incredible derelict buildings. Click or scroll on for a preview of nine structures featured in the remarkable release...

Kent has stumbled upon more than his fair share of crumbling abandoned mansions. Among the highlights is this brick beauty that was built in 1899 for State Senator Robert H. Moulthrop, who is best remembered for penning Alabama's Equal Education Bill. A hybrid of fancy Imperial Revival and Queen Anne styles, the turreted five-bedroom home is an absolute gem despite its tumbledown state.

Together with his family, the senator owned the state's largest brick manufacturing plant, hence the exceptional quality of the external walls, which are six bricks thick in places. As you can see from this shot of the columned veranda, the brickwork is in good condition while the roof and other parts of the structure have pretty much collapsed.

Exploring the interior isn't for the faint of heart. Swathes of the roof have come down in the parlor, while the rest looks like it could cave in at any moment. Piles of debris litter the floor and what was no doubt once an attractive fireplace is now nothing more than a disintegrating hole in the wall.

The bathroom may still have most of its tiles, but the wall has buckled in parts—the manse's interior walls aren't made of robust brick like the external ones—and it too is swamped with debris. There's even what appears to be a huge hole in the floor. The once-grand estate actually stayed in the Moulthrop family until the 1980s, when it was sold to a developer who let it go to rot.

Fortunately, the future looks bright for the Victorian pile. In June 2020, the manse and its grounds were snapped up by an LLC Group that includes descendants of Senator Moulthrop and the property is now undergoing an extensive renovation. The group planned to complete the project by Thanksgiving 2021, but building work presumably stalled due to COVID-19. Here's hoping the home's happily ever after is just around the corner...

This mid-century masterpiece in Birmingham was designed in 1960 by the influential John Randal McDonald. The colorful character described himself as “an architect with a capital A” and the “poor man's Wright”, since his work resembles that of Frank Lloyd Wright but was considerably more affordable. Despite this, McDonald went on to create homes for a roster of famous names, including Bjorn Borg, Perry Como, James Garner and Maureen O'Hara.

The only example of McDonald's work in Alabama, the two-bedroom house epitomizes his oeuvre, which is characterized by simplicity, affordability and the use of natural materials. The open-concept living area, for instance, features a hardwood ceiling, exposed brickwork and terrazzo flooring, which lend the space an organic feel, while floor-to-ceiling windows bring the outside in. Note the random grand piano and Christmas tree, no doubt left over from the holidays.

Abandoned after its original owner passed away, the 1,500-square-foot property had been unoccupied for many years when Kent paid it a visit. As you can see, the house was in a bedraggled state but its key features had survived, including the living area's sunken hearth fireplace.

The galley kitchen had been almost stripped bare, but the master bedroom was better equipped, with its wardrobe and even the decorative headboard and mirrors still in place. Moving outside, the in-ground pool was filled with dank, filthy water that would have provided the perfect habitat for mosquitoes, alligators and other nasties over the years.

There was also a 1960s Chevrolet Corvair rusting over in the backyard. Fast-forward to the present day and the architecturally important house has been fully restored. The property was purchased by a group of investors in 2021, who didn't waste any time fixing it up and putting it on the market for $225,000 (£166k). In the grounds, the pool was filled in and laid to lawn, but the whereabouts of the Chevy are sadly unknown.

Alabama has a troubled history of racial injustice—even Dixie, the nickname for the southern US states is problematic, with its connotations of slavery and the oppression of the Black community. This is reflected in many of the state's abandoned buildings, including the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane's infamous Jemison Center in Tuscaloosa, which is now a derelict shell following years of neglect and vandalism. A reported hotbed of paranormal activity, it's said to be the most haunted place for miles around.

Named after a Confederate senator and slaveowner on whose former land the facility was built, the foreboding asylum was established in 1939 during the segregation era to treat African American patients with mental health issues. In reality, the hospital operated as a forced labor camp, where rather than being cared for, those unlucky enough to end up there were more or less enslaved. Patients were expected to work on the plantation surrounding the hospital, tending crops in the fields to pay their way and support the underfunded facility.

This policy, which the doctors euphemistically called “occupational therapy”, attracted growing controversy in the 1960s as the public became increasingly concerned that the hospital was prolonging patients' stays to exploit them for their labor. The furore came to a head in 1970 when a journalist from a local newspaper visited the institution and reported on the appalling conditions patients were having to endure. Toilets and walls were covered in excrement and urine soaked the floors. Many lacked beds and 131 male patients were found to be sharing just one shower.

At the time, a lawsuit had been filed against the equally scandalous Bryce Hospital, and in 1971 it was widened to include the Jemison Center. The resulting landmark judgement set minimum standards for the care of people with mental illnesses and led to the long overdue closure of the facility in 1977. A painful reminder of Alabama's racist past, it has lain empty ever since.

The Outlaw House in rural Mobile County was designed by celebrated architect George Bigelow Rogers and completed in 1914. Not just any old house, the elegant manse was considered one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Alabama and ranked among the grandest period homes built in the state in the 20th century.

When Kent visited in 2019, the house had definitely seen better days. The window panes were cracked or missing entirely, paint was peeling off the walls and ceilings and the floors were strewn with detritus. But despite its woeful state, the manse was still beautiful and looked like it wouldn't have been too much of a challenge to fix up.

This is even more evident in the hallway, which had retained plenty of its original features. Given its name, you'd be forgiven for thinking the house was a fugitive's lair, but the reality is quite the opposite. The manse was actually named after its most notable resident, George Outlaw, who was, ironically, a former FBI agent who had been tasked with investigating the Ku Klux Klan, as well as a lawyer and hotshot businessman. 

Outlaw acquired the property in 1925, purportedly after winning it in a poker game. Ingeniously, he went on to build a dam across a spring on the 120 acres of grounds, which created a lake and provided the manse with electricity. In fact, the Outlaw House was the first in the area to have electricity and a telephone, and it's even said to have had a secret tunnel. Outlaw could certainly afford the latest mod cons, having co-founded the popular Morrison's Cafeteria chain.

The house passed to Outlaw's youngest son Arthur, who lived there until the mid-1980s when he moved to Mobile—as the serving mayor, he was obliged to reside within the city limits. The Outlaw family continued to own the property but it was left to wrack and ruin. Sadly, disaster struck in July 2021 when the house was gutted by a devastating fire that is yet to be explained. The property's charred remains were demolished in December.

Located on the site of a former plantation, this now-overgrown house was built in 1915 by an Atlanta-based architect for a wealthy Alabama family. A captivating example of the American Craftsman style, the rustic property was designed to blend in with the landscape, so it's rather fitting that nature is reclaiming it. 

The façade is typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, incorporating stonework and timber details, along with features such as wide overhanging eaves and lattice windows, which work in perfect harmony with the surroundings. Unlike the other properties we've featured so far, the sturdily constructed house appears to be in great shape from the outside.

While awash with debris and personal belongings, the interior seems structurally sound, with much of the damage appearing to be purely cosmetic. Note the grand staircase. Along with rest of the house, it was admired for its sophisticated design. One of neighbours even purportedly went as far as to rip out their existing staircase and replace it with a copy of this Craftsman masterpiece.

Attractive antiques abound, including in the dining room, which has some particularly handsome pieces. It appears the house was passed down in the 1940s by the original owner to his daughter, who was described as the “epitome of a gracious Southern lady”. She remained in the property until her death in the 1990s, at the age of 94.

It's thought the house has sat vacant since then. In 2020, Kent reported that the property had been put on the market with an asking price of $500,000 (£403k) but the listing has since been removed. Hopefully, a deep-pocketed buyer with a fondness for Arts and Crafts architecture has bagged it and is restoring the house to its former glory.

As well as exploring and photographing abandoned heritage buildings with heaps of architectural merit, Kent is partial to Alabama's discarded commercial buildings too, which can be just as interesting. Cue Montgomery's Governor's House Hotel, which was something of a local institution in its heyday.

Built in the 1960s, it boasted 197 plush guest rooms and a whole host of luxurious amenities, from a cavernous banqueting hall to a golf course and the gourmet Rotunda Restaurant and Filibuster Lounge. With so much to offer, the hotel fast established itself as one of Alabama's top convention centers.

Now looking decidedly worse for wear, the circular restaurant and lounge hosted an impressive number of VIPs over the years. Politicians regularly dined there—the hotel was also the most sought-after venue in town for election night parties—and the A-list Hollywood stars staying at the hotel would almost certainly have eaten in this room. 

According to Leland, the list of celebrity guests is said to include actor Whoopi Goldberg, who checked in while filming the 1990 movie The Long Walk Home in Montgomery. But the good times didn't last. The hotel began to look tired and some of the amenities that made it such a draw, like the golf course, were axed. Having gone down in the world, the hotel was rebranded as economy class.

The building did retain some of its wow-factor features, including the pool shaped like the state of Alabama. But it was a shadow of its former self by the late 1990s, when competition from newly opened hotels downtown started to kill the business. The Governor's House Hotel was reportedly put up for auction in the early 2010s. Since then, the building was claimed by the State of Alabama through a tax lien and was devastated by numerous fires. However, in 2022, the city of Montgomery purchased the hotel from the state for just $100 (£80). According to the mayor, their plans for the structure are still under consideration.

Dating back to the 1890s, this late-Victorian stunner in Tuskegee is a mash-up of two architectural styles—Queen Anne and early Greek Revival. Also known as the Drakeford House, it was built by John Drakeford, the founder and president of the City Bank of Tuskegee, who according to Kent, commissioned the manse as a wedding gift for his wife.

The house certainly has a fairytale feel, with its whimsical turret and the wonderful sweeping staircase that graces the entrance hall. Though it's devoid of decoration and isn't spotlessly clean, the space appears to be in decent condition, with the walls and plasterwork intact, as well as the hardwood flooring.

The parlor and solarium, later additions to the property, are in good shape, too. These rooms are packed with gorgeous original features—the parlor is adorned with ornate Victorian cornices, pilasters and sconces, while the solarium is decorated with an eye-catching Art Nouveau fountain. This was one banker who wasn't miserly when it came to spending his money.

But the cracks begin to show in the sitting room, which is missing a chunk of the wall and ceiling. The property ended up with a Michigan-based doctor, who has left it vacant for longer than he'd probably care to remember. The physician, who was born in Tuskegee, approached the city's university in 2018 with an exciting proposal.

In exchange for restoring the house, the university could use it as a learning center for historic preservation. The educational establishment jumped at the chance and is working with several historic preservation organizations to restore the historic house, though the pandemic massively slowed the project.

One of the more curious abandoned buildings Kent has encountered is Montgomery's Capital City Laundry. Founded at the turn of the 20th century, the venerable business was given a snazzy makeover in 1959, and by 1970 the firm had 11 locations across Montgomery.

The supersized laundromat's downfall came in 1993 when construction crews working on a site nearby discovered that a staggering 50 blocks of downtown Montgomery were heavily contaminated with cancer-causing toxins, including the key component in dry cleaning fluid. For obvious reasons, multiple laundrettes and gas stations in the area were reportedly identified as possible sources.

Along with other local businesses, the laundromat was forced to close down after almost a century in operation. Since the clothing was presumed contaminated, it was left behind, and the time-warp building is now a sort of twisted museum of fashion from the 1990s and earlier, somewhere a vintage fan would have a field day if only the apparel wasn't so toxic.

As well as the racks of clothes, more insightful items remain frozen in time within the building. They include this decades-old price list from the era when it cost less than two dollars to have a "civilian" suit cleaned. How times have changed. Following the shock discovery, cleanup teams from the Environmental Protection Agency descended on Montgomery, but there was no quick fix.

The decontamination process was painfully slow, but the formation of a public-private alliance in 2012 to oversee the project was instrumental in getting it done. At long last in 2020, the 50-block area was no longer deemed a threat to public health and officially detoxified. It's now likely the abandoned laundromat will be demolished to make way for a shiny new development. 

Located in Birmingham, this ranch-style Bessemer brick home was built in 1963 for steel magnate Norris Underwood and his wife Mildred. A time capsule of the era, the quirky house is packed with kitsch mid-century touches and plenty of jaw-dropping surprises that make it a real one-of-a-kind property. 

The couple went all out creating their dream home, splurging on all manner of custom features such as this Art Deco shelving unit and stone surround, which doubles up as a room divider. To the left of the shot, you can just about make out the bespoke kitchen with its old-fashioned dark wood units.

There's also a very louche chillout room with a bathtub, which is fetchingly covered in the same gaudy green carpet that covers the floor. Other bizarre features include the aviary. The Underwoods had the enclosure built to house their many pet birds. But it's not the manse's biggest surprise by a long shot.

Among the home's most unexpected features is the gigantic vaulted pool area, which was built in the 1970s. A Playboy Mansion-esque indoor tropical paradise, the cavernous space is peppered with fake exotic plants that surround a huge indoor pool complete with a stone waterfall, dinky plunge pool and grotto shower. And the surprises don't stop there.

As well as a secret passageway, the property hides three acres of exquisite Japanese-style gardens. Norris Underwood died in 2006, and his wife passed away six years later. Their daughter inherited the house but left it vacant as she struggled to find a buyer. After falling into foreclosure, the house finally sold in April 2020 for $255,000 (£205k), to a buyer keen to renovate it.

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