Threatened with serious damage or all-out destruction, America's most endangered historic houses face a very bleak future if immediate action isn't taken to rescue them from the brink of ruin.
We reveal some of the heritage homes that are most at-risk in the US right now, as highlighted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and state-specific preservation societies. Click or scroll to discover their stories...
This abandoned mansion overlooking Klutho Park in Jacksonville was once one of the finest homes in the neighbourhood. The majority of the house is fashioned from smooth concrete blocks, while the front hexagonal porch was built with Ashlar stone.
Built in 1909 by renowned physician Dr. Horace Drew, and photographed here by Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, it features an eclectic mix of styles from the early 20th century, including Tudor Revival, Queen Anne, and Spanish Colonial Revival.
Among the curious features of the house is the so-called 'crying porch', where a mother could rest a crying infant at night without disturbing her husband.
Dr. Horace Drew converted the third-floor attic of his home into a billiards room in the early 1900s so he could play pool with his close friend actor Oliver Hardy when Jacksonville was the capital of the silent movie business. He also owned a successful printing company and lived here with his family until he died in 1926.
Occupied by the Mears family until the 1960s, the house sat abandoned and became known as the ‘haunted house’. With some gorgeous original features and beautiful wood details, the house is fragile and susceptible to damage over time.
Renovated in the late 1970s and inhabited until 2006, the property has slowly decayed ever since and remains on the list of Jacksonville’s most endangered historic properties for 2023.
A non-profit began restoring the house in 2018 but work ceased due to the pandemic and, sadly, little has been done for several years. Hopefully, this tragic home has a happy ending and work will begin again soon.
There was widespread outrage in September 2023 when it emerged that plans were in motion to demolish the final home of movie star Marilyn Monroe, where she died in August 1962.
The Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes star purchased the single-storey Brentwood house in in the early 1960s for $75,000 (£59K) after the end of her third marriage to playwright Arthur Miller.
Los Angeles officials were forced to block the destruction of the four-bedroom hacienda-style property and consider it instead for historic preservation. The tragic home was purchased in July 2023 by a mysterious entity known as Glory of the Snow Trust for just over $8.3 million (£6.6m).
It is unclear what the new owner intends to do with the plot but any further action has been halted while the city considers its status as a landmark.
The screen legend tragically passed away aged just 36 in a bedroom of the home. Despite her fame, the Spanish colonial-style home was the first and only property she had ever owned.
The star, who had spent part of her childhood in an orphanage and foster care, nicknamed the home 'Cursum Perficio', a Latin phrase which means 'My journey ends here' and is etched on tiles on the front porch.
Los Angeles city councilwoman Traci Park said she had been overwhelmed by calls insisting she save the home of the actress. “For people all over the world, Marilyn Monroe was more than just a movie icon,” she says in The Guardian.
“Her story, from her challenging childhood… to becoming a global sensation, is a shining example of what it means to overcome adversity. The overwhelming sentiment here is clear. This home must be preserved as a crucial piece of Hollywood’s and the city of Los Angeles’ history, culture and legacy.”
This attractive, late 19th-century residence can be found at the southern edge of the Dan Ryan Woods in Chicago and is part of the National Register-listed Ridge Historic District.
Once used as a 'Watchman’s Residence' for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the picturesque house now lies vacant and decaying and was included in the 2022 list of the most endangered historic places in Illinois.
Built in 1894, the Tudor Revival style house belonged to prominent Chicago real estate developer and financier, Eugene S. Pike who also played a large part in rebuilding the city following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Originally the building remained a part of Pike’s private estate at the edge of the woods, before the house and 32-acre grounds were purchased by the Forest Preserves District of Cooks County (FPDCC) in 1921 and used as a superintendent’s office and later the Watchman’s Residence.
The now dilapidated abode was designed by renowned architect Harry Hale Waterman, who worked in Joseph Lyman Silsbee’s office alongside architects Frank Lloyd Wright and George Maher, a notable period in architecture.
When speaking to the Beverly Area Planning Association, Tim Samuelson, a retired Cultural Historian for the City of Chicago stated: “Its impact on the creation of a living organic architecture that naturally evolved into globally influential modernism has fundamental importance in architectural history."
Having sat vacant and neglected for some years, the historical home has deteriorated significantly, but help could be on its way. According to reports, Pike House Foundation is now working with The Beverly Area Arts Alliance to raise funds to turn the building into the arts group’s home base and avoid demolition.
The group sees Pike House as “an oasis of arts and culture” in the area. However, they will still need to raise significant funds themselves first since their long-term use is not directly in tune with the mission of the FPDCC.
Deemed one of the most iconic houses in Washington, this endangered home was built circa 1793 by Anthony Poullain and purchased by Savannah merchant John Bolton in 1803.
It was extended for use as a Summer home before Robert Sims added the Victorian detailing in 1883. No less than 11 rooms were added in total, most probably due to the owner having 10 children.
The extensive 18-room home became known as The Cedars during the Victorian era and was home to numerous famed Washington residents throughout its life including George Walton, who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Unfortunately, this Washington historical landmark has fallen into disrepair, recently listed by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation as a Place in Peril. With no improvements made since the early 2000s, the Cedars faces the risk of demolition by neglect.
The house was listed in 2021 for $438,000 (£347K), even boasting its original kitchen from 1793 according to records. It seems like a bargain for a house of this pedigree.
The house is now off the market, so hopefully it has found a loving owner prepared to give it the love and attention needed to bring it back to its former glory. Watch this space.
Previously one of Louisiana Landmarks Society's 'New Orleans Nine', the organisation's list of most threatened buildings, Luling Mansion dates from 1865 and is one of the most notable Renaissance palazzo-style homes in the Southern United States.
The impressive home was designed by James Gallier Jr. for cotton merchant Florence Luling. But tragedy struck when, not long after moving in, both of Luling’s sons drowned in the Bayou.
The Civil War devastated the Luling’s cotton business so the remaining family left for Europe, never to return to New Orleans. But before she left, she sold the home in 1871 to the Louisiana Jockey Club, and the mansion was used as a clubhouse for several decades.
The Jockey Club left the building in 1905, and it was turned into private apartments. The thirty acres of gardens were transformed into new streets and smaller family homes.
By 1934, Luling Mansion was completely converted into apartments and has been owned by the same family since 1950. But according to the Louisiana Landmarks Society, the building is in desperate need of some TLC.
Maintenance of the structure has been poor in recent years and the building shows signs of water damage and decay. Action needs to be taken as soon as possible to stave off the rot and preserve the historic mansion for posterity.
Built in 1848 for sisters Mary and Eliza Freeman, these clapboard houses are all that is left of Bridgeport's Little Liberia, one of the earliest settlements of free people of colour in pre-Civil War Connecticut history. Slavery was practised in Connecticut until 1848.
The properties provide a rare insight into the lives of free African Americans and Native Americans. The settlement prospered against the odds to create a thriving community, which boasted several well-appointed homes and businesses.
The drawing above shows roughly how the seaside village was laid out.
This sketch shows how they would have looked in the 19th century. Left vacant for decades, the houses, which were designed in the Greek Revival and Italianate styles, have fallen into a sorry state of disrepair and have featured on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of America's Most Endangered Historic Places.
Fortunately, the Mary & Eliza Freeman Center purchased the properties in 2010 and has worked tirelessly on restorations.
Although set back by the pandemic and rising building costs, the Freeman Center hopes to complete Eliza's house by June 2025, according to ctpost, after which it will become a gallery space and community hub.
The Mary Freeman House meanwhile, will operate as a museum, depicting the lives of Mary Freeman and her tenant, an African-American minister, assuming that sufficient funding is raised to pay for the major restoration works.
Also known as The Ship on the Desert, the modernist house in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas featured on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2018.
However. not much in the way of restoration work seems to have happened since.
The house was built by geologist Wallace E. Pratt during the 1940s in the stark 'International' style, which was all the rage at the time. It 'floats' above the high desert landscape like a ship and is the only manmade landmark in the area, surrounded by the beautiful wilderness.
Now off-limits to visitors, the William E. Pratt House is suffering from neglect and the National Trust for Historic Preservation has been concerned that the structure may deteriorate further if remedial works aren't undertaken soon.
There could be hope on the horizon, however. In 2022 the park entered a partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation to raise funds to provide for the future restoration of the Ship on the Desert, says the NPS.
Not much has happened since the A. B. Seavey House in Saco featured on Maine Preservation's most endangered list in 2017.
Completed in 1890, the house is one of the best examples of Queen Anne Revival architecture in the city and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Exquisitely designed and constructed with quality materials, the clapboard house is considered a real gem by architectural experts and has been described as being 'elaborate without being pretentious'.
It's not had the easiest of histories, however...
A major fire devastated the property in 2012, destroying much of the roof and third floor, while the first and second floors sustained smoke and water damage.
Fortunately, much of the decorative detailing throughout the property remained intact and the house was acquired by the City of Saco, with a view to carry out extensive renovation work.
According to a report by the Portland Press Herald, Biddeford Housing Authority bought the house in 2020, with a plan to restore the house and provide homes for several families in the area.
Little has happened since then, however. Biddeford Housing Authority still owns the property and continues to seek funding to convert it into a multi-unit site for the community’s emergency housing needs, according to Maine Preservation.
Charlotte Park and James Brooks were abstract painters whose works were vital to the development of Abstract Expressionism. Their home and studios in East Hampton were designated a local landmark in 2014 and placed on The Preservation of New York State’s most endangered historic sites list for 2022-2023.
Originally sited in Montauk, the couple’s home and guest cottage were moved by barge to their current location following a hurricane.
Though not as well known as Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, whose East Hampton home and studio have been preserved by Stonybrook University, James Brooks gained acclaim for painting the largest site-specific wall mural at LaGuardia Airport’s Marine Air Terminal in the 1950s.
His artistic evolution placed him at the forefront of the Abstract Expressionist movement, of which he and Charlotte Park were integral. The 11-acre site in the Springs section of East Hampton includes Park’s studio, which was reportedly originally a post office.
Park continued to live and work on the property in the years following Brooks’ death. She flourished artistically, although her accomplishments were not widely appreciated during her lifetime.
Following her death in 2010, the buildings, including Brooks' studio, seen here, were abandoned and deteriorated significantly. They were purchased in 2013 by the town of East Hampton who have partnered with the Brooks-Park Arts and Nature Center to save them for the nation.
The non-profit organisation, whose mission is to celebrate the artistic legacies of James Brooks and Charlotte Park are, according to reports, likely to receive the green light and funding to restore their home and studios, including the Brooks studio, which the artist designed himself and requires the most extensive preservation work.
The first step is to secure the property, say organisers. “There are paint cans lined up on a shelf within Brooks’s studio that any museum would want to get hold of…”
Originally built in 1853 by Margaret Neville Bowie, widow of Rezin Bowie, who invented the Bowie knife, Watson Chateau is one of the oldest homes in Austin with strong links to Texan, architectural, women’s, LGBTQIA+ and Black history.
Perched high on the cliff above Waller Creek, the property was carved from hand-cut limestone and, according to writer and researcher Marta Stefaniuk, is rumoured to have had the first mansard roof (a roof sloped on every side) in the United States west of the Mississippi, probably due to its owner Margaret Bowie having lived in New Orleans, where there was a strong French tradition in architecture.
Owned by many leading Austinites over the decades, the house is probably most closely associated with its last owner, interior designer Arthur Pope Watson Jr, who purchased the property in 1959 and lived here with his partner Robert Wayne Garrett, until he died in 1993.
The couple hosted legendary parties in the home, known by some as simply 'The Chateau', providing a much-needed respite for members of Austin’s LGBTQIA+ community to gather safely, reports Preservation Texas.
Interior designers Watson and Garrett decorated their home in Fortuny wallpaper, art and antiques, as well as unique finds from their travels. “They loved beauty,” Stefaniuk explains to Kut News. Guests included the cream of Austin society and occasional visiting celebrities: Rock Hudson and Pavarotti were two.
While the University of Texas acquired the property in the late 1960s, the couple were allowed to stay. After Watson’s death in 1993, Garrett remained until 2009.
Now hidden from view and dwarfed by surrounding new construction, the house is physically deteriorating and in peril of being lost to future generations.
Preservation Texas has placed it on its list of most endangered places and the hope is that the University of Texas will reinvest in its future. “It’s important to the city’s history as a whole but also especially as an LGBTQIA+ historic space,” Preservation Texas director Lindsey Derrington told CBS Austin.
It may look like a picture-perfect cottage, but Jonathan Fisher House has been identified as one of Maine’s most endangered historic places for 2023. The plank-frame house was designed and largely built by Jonathan Fisher, the first Congregational minister of Blue Hill, who was a 'renaissance man' and an accomplished artist, cabinet maker, farmer, scientist, mathematician and writer of poetry and prose.
Sadly, his charming homestead is in peril and suffering extensive structural damage which threatens its very existence.
The small three-room house Fisher built when he first moved to Blue Hill with his wife Dolly in 1796 was extended in 1814, following the birth of their seven children.
This photograph taken in 1888 features Fisher’s descendants outside the new house, which looks much as it does today. The house is now owned by a non-profit foundation, the Jonathan Fisher Memorial and operates as a house museum.
As well as building most of the furniture throughout the house, not to mention the tools needed to fashion them, Fisher built furniture and painted signs and sleighs to sell for extra money.
He was a journalist for the local paper and was a well-known artist, producing oil paintings, watercolours and woodcut engravings which adorn the walls of his home to this day. All this alongside his daily job as a pastor and farmer of 300 acres, including an orchard which is currently being restored.
Now facing serious structural problems caused by age and long-term dampness, the house needs urgent attention. The unique plank-frame design is a rarity in historic houses but makes it more exposed and vulnerable to the elements.
The board are currently assessing a restoration plan which they anticipate will cost up to $2 million (£1.6m), which they expect will be covered through a combination of fundraising and grant money.
The Huston House was built in 1927 by T.L. Huston, a former co-owner of the New York Yankees. Photographer Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast captured the exterior and intriguing dilapidated interiors of Huston House.
Formerly a rice plantation dating back to the 1790s, the historic building and its land hold a fascinating story. It was placed on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s Places in Peril list in 2019.
In the 1790s Major Pierce Butler planted rice on the Altamaha Delta. His grandson, Captain Pierce Butler married a famous British actress, Fanny Kemble in 1838.
Kemble immediately became very opposed to the treatment of slaves and published a book which is reported to have helped convince the British to oppose slavery and contributed to the swell of feelings that ultimately led to the Civil War.
When Huston purchased the Butler Island property in 1926, he converted the property into a dairy farm and proceeded to raise cows. Locals claimed Huston’s Dairy produced 'the best milk east of the Mississippi'.
However, Huston found greater success using the land to grow iceberg lettuce and within a decade, Butler Island became one of the largest iceberg lettuce farms on the east coast.
After Huston died in 1938, the property was purchased by tobacco heir R.J. Reynolds, Jr. The plantation is now owned by the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division and remains open to the public for birdwatching and fishing. The Huston House itself, however, lies dormant with no plans in place for use or maintenance.
Due to climate change and recent hurricanes, Huston House continues to deteriorate and is at the mercy of rising tides, according to The Savannah Morning News.
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