Witley Park was the whim of controversial mining magnate, financier and swindler Whitaker Wright, who took his own life in 1904 when he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years penal servitude. Part of a larger estate, which included well-known beauty spot the Devil’s Punch Bowl, the ballroom was built beneath a man-made lake and topped by a large glass dome that allowed light to filter into the subterranean space 40 feet beneath the surface. The house, seen here as a drawing, was known as Lea Park, then Witley Park, but ultimately demolished.
Designed as a secret entertaining space for his illustrious guests, the ‘underwater ballroom’ reflected the extravagant lifestyle of the entrepreneur, who used his investors’ money to build the lavish estate, seen here in an old photo, that included a 32-room mansion, stuffed with treasures from around the world, as well as a velodrome, a theatre, observatory, private hospital and stables for 50 horses.
When he was eventually caught up with and found guilty of faking the balance sheets, Wright escaped justice by downing a cyanide capsule and died within minutes. After his death, Wright’s estate was auctioned off and sold to Lord William Pirrie, notable for his crucial role in the building of the Titanic, who extended the property to include a deer park, say SurreyLive. It was purchased by wealthy newspaper owner Sir John Leigh in the 20s and then fell into disrepair after his death before a fire destroyed the main house in 1952. This statue of Neptune still marks the spot of Wright's underground wonder.
Standing out dramatically among the slick mansions of LA's Beverly Hills, this whimsical storybook home, which looks like it was transplanted from the pages of a fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, has prompted many a passing motorist or pedestrian to do a double take, and no doubt wonder exactly how it got there.
The Witch's House aka the Spadena House is the handiwork of acclaimed Hollywood art director Harry Oliver. The fairytale home was built in 1920 at the Willat film studios in Culver City, and originally served as offices, dressing rooms and a set for silent movies including an early Hansel & Gretel picture. Threatened with demolition, the charming cottage was acquired by producer Ward Lascelle and moved to Beverly Hills sometime during the mid-1920s.
Lascelle and his wife Liliane divorced not long after and Liliane, who managed to keep the house, married her former servant Lou Spadena, hence the alternative name. The cottage was sold to the Green family in 1965 but by the time it came on the market again in 1998, the property was in a sorry state and was threatened with demolition yet again. Thankfully, the house was saved from the wrecking ball in its final hour by local estate agent Michael Libow, who oversaw a meticulous renovation of the property.
The aptly named Villa of the Mysteries, in the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy, has stumped experts since its excavation in the early 20th century. An exquisitely preserved suburban villa on the outskirts of the ill-fated city, the property, which is Pompeii's most celebrated abode, derives its name from the Hall of Mysteries situated in the residential part of the building.
Some experts believe the frescoes depict a bride getting ready for her wedding, while others suggest she is being initiated into a secret cult linked to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, fertility and religious ecstasy. The latter makes sense given that the villa is thought to have produced its own wine, owing to the discovery of a wine press here in 1909 when the site was excavated along with the rest of Pompeii.
This fascinating property on the Isle of Man is full of twists and turns. Meticulously designed in the Palladian style in red sandstone with a domed copper roof, plus a 17th century bronze cannon standing guard on the drive, Arragon Mooar Estate on the Isle of Man is, according to its owner Dr John Taylor, unlike anything you've seen before. The celebrated inventor, who has over 400 patents to his name, is most famous for giving us the kettle switch, that turns off electric kettles when the water’s boiling.
Completed in 2014, the 23,000-square-foot building is an architectural masterpiece with its revolutionary elliptical shape and cantilevered stone staircase that have impressed even the most advanced engineers. "The most complicated house ever built", according to its creator, it features this stunning galleried atrium, with its three-dimensional-effect marble floor and a network of secret passages. A leading authority on early English clocks and a self-confessed puzzle-fan, Dr John C Taylor OBE says, "I never like to do what other people have done before".
The property features everything you could ever hope for in a homestead; including this amazing lift, your own library and a beautiful orangery (created in memory of Dr Taylor’s prize-winning gardener grandfather), but Taylor says it’s time to move on as now it’s just him and his miniature schnauzer in full-time residence at the house. “We rather rattle around a bit!” he told Metro. The property, which boasts a 360 degree terrace with views of Snowdonia, is being sold as a whole or in two lots with Savills for £30 million ($36m).
Packed with puzzling architectural oddities and boasting a backstory that's as curious as they come, the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California is hands-down one of the world's weirdest homes. Built over a 36-year period for Sarah Winchester, the troubled heiress to the eponymous gun fortune, the home was transformed from a simple two-storey farmhouse into a sprawling 24,000-square-foot mansion comprising an incredible 160 rooms.
Legend has it the construction of the vast house, which was completed in 1922, was guided by the spirit of her dead husband, who Mrs Winchester is said to have consulted during seances in the witch's cap turret room. The eccentric widow was, as the story goes, haunted by the ghosts of people killed by the Model 1873 rifle. The mansion's many oddball features, think faux staircases, a door to nowhere and a myriad of secret passages, were purportedly designed to confuse these vengeful phantoms.
As well as believing in ghosts, Mrs Winchester was obsessed with the number 13: the house has 13 bathrooms, staircases with 13 steps, chandeliers with 13 arms and so on, adding immeasurably to its eeriness. The Queen Anne-style mansion, which was so-named by escape artist Harry Houdini, was opened to the public in 1923. The peculiar property has since attracted 12 million visitors and even inspired a Hollywood movie, but many of its mysteries remain unsolved to this day.
Curiously, many architects around the world are so superstitious that they actually omit a 13th floor rather than run the risk of its consequences. Not so in this labyrinthine residence in Osaka, Japan, which proudly features 13 levels which you can see all at the same time. Designed by Tato Architects/Yo Shimada, who like Mrs Winchester clearly has no problem at all with the number, the abode is unassuming from the outside. Inside it's a different story entirely...
House in Miyamoto is an intriguing puzzle house that breaks every architectural rule in the book, taking open-concept living to its extreme and rocking a disorientating vibe reminiscent of the famous mind-bending, gravity-defying Relatively print by Dutch artist MC Escher. The clients, a family of three, wanted a space that would allow them to feel close to one another, so the architect eschewed internal walls and private areas. While starkly minimalist on first inspection, the property is actually the antithesis of Marie Kondo-esque pared-backness.
The clients requested that the building have zero built-in storage as they didn’t want to hide away their possessions, and as the family have accumulated furniture, artwork and knick-knacks, over time the interior has developed into a richly maximalist personal space. The end result is a distinctly quirky home quite unlike any other on the planet.
Labelled 'the strangest home in the world', Körner’s Folly in Kernerville, North Carolina gives the Winchester Mystery House a run for its money in the weirdness stakes. The oddball house was built in 1880 by artist and designer Jule Gilmer Körner aka 'the Man of a Thousand Peculiarities'. A riotous mishmash of styles, the exceedingly eclectic house has 22 rooms in total spread across three storeys and seven levels.
A home interiors' catalogue brought to life, the house has been open to the public from the get-go and features America's oldest private theatre, which sits on the third floor. Other oddities include a mini version of the house, which functioned as an outdoor toilet. After falling into disrepair during the Second World War, the idiosyncratic property narrowly dodged demolition before it was saved during the 1990s and nowadays is one of the premier tourist attractions in the area.
An atmosphere of mystery pervades the Ukraine's neglected Pidhirtsi Castle. Built between 1635 and 1640 by Italian architect Andrea dell'Aqua, for a high ranking Polish military commander, the neo-Gothic stately home has passed through a multitude of owners and been attacked, looted and damaged by flood and fire numerous times throughout its chequered history.
The scene of a whole host of ghoulish goings-on, the castle was confiscated by the Soviets following the Second World War and served as a tuberculosis sanatorium until 1956, when a devastating fire ripped through the building. The stately home was abandoned not long after and lay empty until 1997 when it was converted into a museum. While the castle remains in pretty bad shape, a major restoration project is ongoing.
The basement is said to have housed an alchemical laboratory and local legend states that countless treasures lie hidden within the castle. The stately home is also purported to be haunted by a ghost dubbed the 'White Lady'. Jealous of the admiring glances his young wife elicited, former owner Severin Zhevussky reportedly buried her alive in the dungeon's walls sometime during the late 18th century. It is alleged her phantom has been sighted on more than one occasion and explains why the castle is known as Ukraine's most haunted.
The creepy Dutch Colonial house that inspired the Amityville Horror book and series of movies still stands in the town of the same name, which is located around 30 miles outside New York City. The home was the setting of a grisly mass murder on 13 November 1974 when Ronald DeFeo Jr shot six members of his family. Talk about spooky!
Just over a year after the murders, the house was snapped up at a knockdown price by the Lutz family. They lasted just 28 days in the home. Besieged by supernatural forces, the family were traumatised by a litany of paranormal activity, from foul odours and green slime oozing out of the walls to terrifying apparitions and voices shouting “get out!”. George Lutz even observed his wife and sons levitating over their beds while asleep. Seen here in 2012, the house looks like nothing out of the ordinary, adding to the mystery.
Though doubt has been cast on the family's experiences, Mr and Mrs Lutz did in fact pass lie detector tests. We can't see anything terrifying in this laid-back living room... and five families have lived in the property since the alleged haunting, none of whom have reported any paranormal activity, though the Lutzes did call upon a priest to conduct an exorcism, which may have rid the property of its supernatural forces.
Mysteriously frozen in time for decades, the beguiling Bellosguardo mansion in Santa Barbara, California has lain empty since the 1960s, but unlike other grand forlorn houses around the world, has been pristinely maintained over the years at a cost of up to $40,000 (£32k) per month. The property is one of several that was owned by the late heiress Huguette Clark, whose long life spanned the Titanic, for which she had an unused ticket, and the Twin Towers disaster.
The daughter of multimillionaire copper baron and Montana Senator William Clark, the pampered heiress was born in Paris in 1906 and grew up in New York's grandest house. In 1923 the Clark family acquired Bellosguardo, seen here in its sumptuous glory, which served as their summer residence. Not long after, Huguette Clark married a law student, but the union didn't last and the couple divorced in 1930. Clark's mental health began to deteriorate following the break-up and extreme paranoia set in.
Clark retreated to her New York apartment in the 1950s and lived the last 20 years of her life in a hospital room until her death in 2011. Having inherited Bellosguardo in 1963, she instructed staff to keep everything in tip-top condition and under no circumstances make any changes. This is one of the many rooms used for entertaining guests. The house was bequeathed to a charitable foundation, and currently offers guided tours for small groups with view to opening to the public properly in the future.
The so-called 'Castle of Sorrow' hides a particularly sad history with a hint of mystery to boot. Previously a summer lodge built by architect Bradford Lee Gilbert in the early 1880s, the building of the castle was commissioned by wealthy New Yorker Ralph Wurts-Dundas in the late 1910s but he died in 1921 before its scheduled completion.
The abandoned castle has sat empty ever since. Today, the property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is out of bounds to the public and guarded by a caretaker. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of Josephine Wurts-Dundas and if local stories are to be believed, the water in the ponds on the estate turns into blood when the moon is full. How strange...
Australia's most mysterious house, Monte Cristo in Junee, New South Wales is also the country's most haunted, or so they say. A hotbed of paranormal activity, the property was built in 1885 by local pioneer Christopher William Crawley and belonged to the Crawley family until 1948. The house was vacant for 15 years before it was purchased by Reg and Olive Ryan, who restored it to its former glory, but not without incident...
The Ryans have reported everything from ghostly hands touching their shoulders and lights randomly switching on to hearing the sound of phantom footsteps, while visitors have reported similar phenomena. According to the owners a total of 10 spirits are thought to haunt the house. The paranormal activity comes as no surprise given the homestead's macabre history, which is marked by a number of disturbing events. The eclectic interiors only add to the curious nature this property holds.
Behind the opulent furnishings and odd antiques littered across the home lies a tragic tale or two. Sometime during the late 19th century, a maid who was said to be pregnant with Mr Crawley's baby threw herself off the second-floor balcony. Subsequently, a young child was pushed down the stairs by a malevolent force and a stable boy was burnt alive in a horrific arson attack. Adding to the mansion's harrowing history, the then caretaker was reportedly shot dead on the property in the early 1960s. Whether the property is cursed or simply unlucky is of course open to question.
Charlotte Brontë visited Norton Conyers numerous times in 1839, some eight years before her most famous novel Jane Eyre was published. Brontë had heard stories about a 'mad woman' confined to the building’s eerie attic, more likely epileptic or pregnant with an illegitimate child. The tragic tale is said to have inspired her infamous character, Bertha Mason, Mr Rochester’s first wife, who has been locked away. The house contained an undiscovered mystery until the early 2000s.
In 2004, a narrow stairway near Mr Rochester’s bedroom and leading to the attic was discovered within the thickness of the panelled wall, which further linked the historic property to the fictional Thornfield Hall in the novel. The stairs have been repaired, though there is no public access to the attic. “It’s such a sad room,” said Lady Graham to The Guardian. She and her husband Sir James Graham, whose ancestors bought Norton Conyers in 1624, are current owners of the house.
Beyond its mysterious connection to a beloved novel, the Grade II-listed property has played host to two Kings, Charles I and James II, who both spent the night here. Many of its 18th-century furnishings, including paintings seen here, have been well-maintained and the house is currently undergoing restoration works and is scheduled to re-open to the public in May 2024. So, you'll have to wait to explore the rooms and gardens that inspired one of history's most classic novels.
A villa, an amphitheatre, a war museum and mausoleum, the Vittoriale degli Italiani on the shores of Lake Garda in northern Italy is a testament to the lavish lifestyle and excesses of the poet Gabriele d’Annunzio. The unusual complex, which includes extensive landscaped gardens and bizarrely, the prow of an Italian battleship, is an eclectic blend of architectural styles and structures which pay homage to the soldier and proto-Fascist, who played an important role in his country’s cultural and political history.
D’Annunzio was gifted the prow of the Cruiser Puglia, which was used in the First World War by the Italian navy, in recognition of his commitment to Italian nationalism and his daring military adventures. His most dramatic exploit was an unsanctioned occupation of Fiume, now Rijeka, on the Adriatic. Outraged that it was to become part of Yugoslavia after the war, he invaded the port with a small army and declared himself ruler. Although he eventually surrendered, he was hailed a national hero and became a supporter of Fascism and Mussolini in the 1920s.
His affairs with wealthy women are no less legendary. He bedded scores of leading beauties but treated them abominably; indeed, one biography suggests he expected his housekeeper to sleep with him three times a day. In the main house, known as the Prioria, stained-glass windows cast an eerie light on the gloomy rooms, crammed with weird and wonderful artefacts. The author of The Triumph of Death, who took naps in a coffin-shaped bed, lived here until his death in 1938 and is buried on the top of the hill looking out to sea.
Towering above the tree tops in the tiny remote town of Talkeetna, Alaska, this fantastical house looks like it has been plucked straight from the pages of a Dr Seuss book. There is nothing fictional about Goose Creek Tower however, which was the creation of Alaskan attorney Phillip Weidner, whose initial plan to build a 40x40-foot log cabin, gave way to his imagination and turned into the 12-storey, 185-foot tower we see today.
The self-confessed “frustrated architect” spent more than 20 years adding floors, ladders and staircases, which seem to teeter haphazardly one on top of the other. The top storey offers 360-degree views of the surrounding wilderness and was described by Weidner, who has sadly since passed away, as his “poem to the sky”. “You can see for at least 300 miles and there are amazing views of the Northern Lights,” he told Great Big Story. “It gives you a sense of the enormity of the universe.”
Building is still incomplete on the weird and whimsical tower which is located on private property and monitored, say Atlas Obsura. Your best bet at catching a glimpse is from the air with an Alaskan bush pilot or drone like this TikTok tour, or taking a ride on the Alaskan railway, which affords some stunning views.
“I hope Goose Creek Tower will inspire people to do worthwhile things, not just in building, but whatever they do with their lives,” said Weidner before he died.
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