Looking like a pink and white-iced wedding cake with its painted stucco walls, this grand old home fires up your imagination upon first sight. Set on the waterfront at Dunedin, Florida, it's a very fine example of Mediterranean Revival architecture. Photographer Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast gives you the last chance to see this beauty which has sadly been slated for demolition. Quick – let's look inside!

Stepping into the entrance foyer, Moorish arches featuring hand-painted murals dazzle, as do the marble columns topped with gold-leaf Corinthian capitals. According to the Dunedin Historic Preservation Advisory Committee, some of the murals were commissioned by the mansion’s most famous owner, an industry tycoon whose invention may well be in your breakfast bowl every morning – William Keith Kellogg, the Corn Flakes cereal king!

A closer view of the intricate paintings reveals stunning mosaic detail. The glittering chandelier likely dates from the Roaring Twenties, when the house was built. In 1925, businessman Edward Frischkorn began developing a waterfront area in Dunedin, Florida as the Dunedin Isles subdivision. He wanted to create ‘a city within a city’. Picking a prime spot overlooking idyllic Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands, this house was built for him and was originally called Villa Moreno.

Once the height of opulence, this candy-coloured living room wouldn’t look out of place in a French chateau. In fact, royal palaces and grand villas were a key influence on Mediterranean Revival architecture, which was at its peak during the glitzy Twenties. The hand-carved wood-coffered ceiling is a stand-out feature, looking like pastel pink honeycomb. The columns on the fire surround are miniature versions of the ones in the foyer.

Bursting with character, this dining room is distinct in style from the other downstairs spaces. Instead of pastel pink, it has a masculine look using natural dark wood and navy-blue colour schemes. The beamed wood ceiling dominates with its unusual hand-painted flourishes of flowers and foliage. The beautiful wall mural, shimmering chandelier and floor-to-ceiling windows – crowned with swathes of velvet curtain – make this space look super-dramatic, like walking onto a theatre set.

This downstairs kitchen is homespun hacienda-style, with exposed brickwork, red tile flooring, simple wooden units and a mosaic depicting a Mexican scene. Arches are repeated in the shape of the doorway and the radiant stained-glass window. The house became known as the Kellogg Mansion when William Kellogg bought it in 1934 as a winter home. Despite Kellogg only reportedly spending two winters here, the famous name stuck.

Curving staircases are a signature style of Mediterranean Revival interiors. Notice the cupboard, on the right, neatly hidden behind Moorish keyhole shapes and ornate lattice screens. The house is thought to be the work of renowned American architect Addison Mizner, whose love of Mediterranean and Hispanic cultures defined his designs.

If you don’t fancy navigating the winding staircase, you can always take the elevator to the second floor. But don’t expect a boring metal interior, as this lift was lined with luxurious leopard-print velvet! The landing has black marble walls, more murals and intriguing spiral columns that resemble old fashioned telephone wire. The two-storey mansion is almost 8,000 square feet and set in more than an acre, with a private dock. 

The second-floor landing looks more like a grand ballroom than a hallway, with a polished wooden floor and pastel ceiling with painted floral flourishes. During World War Two, the house became a base for US Marines. The military tested tank-like amphibious vehicles, nicknamed ‘Alligators’ by piloting the monstrous machines from the property to the romantically named nearby Honeymoon Island.

Imagine sitting by this arched window on a sunny day, surrounded by the fine wall paintings, looking down to your private dock and out across the sparkling water. Heavenly! It’s thought the Kellogg family accidentally invented Corn Flakes in 1894, while trying to develop a new vegetarian health food for clients at a spa resort they managed. Today, Kellogg products are sold in 180 countries and the company is valued at about $14 billion.

The master bedroom looks fit for a king. It’s dominated by a majestic cherry-wood canopy bed with matching cabinets and has wooden trim adorned with delicate gold-painted carvings. The wood was sourced from the estate of President Thomas Jefferson’s father, called Pantops, according to a local newspaper.

There's plenty of room for getting ready in this adjoining dressing area, where the cherry wood and gold trim theme continues. You can see a wardrobe with full-length mirror and a very smart marble surround fireplace. The decoration of the master bedroom and bathroom areas is not original to Kellogg’s time at the house – it was re-vamped by later owners.

Here's the breathtaking master bathroom with a big marble hot tub. The mansion has a relatively modest five bedrooms, but has six full bathrooms and two half-bathrooms. The emphasis on hygiene may reflect Kellogg's role as co-manager of The Battle Creek Sanatorium with his doctor brother. It was a cutting-edge health resort in its heyday, with celebrity clientele including aviator Amelia Earhart, inventor Thomas Edison, industrialist Henry Ford and First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln.

With opulent marble from floor to ceiling, the master bathroom is a delight to behold. The Jacuzzi tub is big enough to fit four people! Massive mirrors create an optical illusion of repeated space and decoration that’s almost too dazzling to take in. According to the son of a former owner, the tub taps ran with salt water, which is believed by many to possess health-giving properties.

Adjoining the bathroom is a splendid dressing room with lavish carvings on the table legs. But the star of the show is the remarkable room divider, which is skillfully rendered as a bough of foliage. An astute businessman, Kellogg first put a toy, such as a colouring book, into his cereal boxes in 1909. Resulting in children clamouring for the product, parents being pleased their child was occupied – and Kellogg very happy as adding a toy was much cheaper than adding more cereal.

This upstairs bedroom with sitting room is missing its bed but you can still see the sumptuous fabric canopy in place, with a headboard propped up on the floor. The swathes of artfully draped fabric over the windows give the room a regal look. Notice the beautiful French doors which open up onto a balcony with spectacular views over the water.

This ensuite bathroom is compact but still has plenty of eccentric decorative details, though the painted croquet scene, ironwork storage holder and blue and lilac colour scheme look a little odd and dated now. Kellogg eventually donated the house to his charity. The Kellogg Foundation was set up in the 1930s to improve education and health of children around the world. It’s now the seventh-largest philanthropic foundation in the USA.

Here’s a peek inside another bedroom. This one betrays a distinctly feminine touch, with floral wallpaper, pale pink bedspread and pillows, plus a mother and child religious painting with an ornate gold frame. The house was sold by the Kellogg Foundation in 1946 for $63,500 to William and Caroline Nolan, according to a local newspaper. From then on it remained in private ownership.

Look at this intriguing niche. With an angular shape, dark wood and stained-glass windows, complete with a family crest, this feature wouldn’t look out of place in a medieval castle. Yet the name on the crest, "Matthew", provides a link to another influential owner of this wonderful home.

In the Swinging Sixties, newspaper broker William Matthew bought the mansion and made it his home for the next four decades. He added many of the more flamboyant interior design flourishes. For example, this amazing disco room has a fabulous floor painting by famous psychedelic pop art painter, Peter Max. It also has an amazing planetarium ceiling which opens up by remote control so guests can dance the night away underneath the stars. Retro heaven.

It’s easy to imagine the glamorous parties that might have taken place here. Matthew installed this games room to entertain guests, perhaps once-filled with a pool table, card gaming tables or a slot machine. The stained glass around the door arch is beautiful and very much part of Mediterranean Revival style, as is the mosaic detailing on the internal arches. Notice the lattice covering over the arched window – so guests could party in private, undisturbed by the sunrise.

This eye-catching bar definitely has a louche Sixties look to it, with over-the-top leather padding, mosaic inlay and a mirrored ceiling! Matthew was a media mogul, brokering big-time sales and mergers of newspaper companies. He based his business from the house – and it made him extremely wealthy.

Climbing the stairs from the bar to this rooftop tiki bar must have been a thrill for lucky guests. Tiki bars typically serve exotic fruity cocktails and often have a Polynesian theme. You can see this motif reflected in the murals behind the bar. Local artist Don Ringelspaugh was commissioned to paint murals throughout the house. This talented artist also contributed to the decoration of the now-defunct but once nationally famous Kapok Tree Inn restaurant in Clearwater, Florida.

Sipping on a gin fizz in the warmth of this hot tub must have been a truly luxurious experience. You're surrounded by classical-style columns with a waterside view. Notice the Greek Key mosaic design on the tub surround. The soothing pink and white stucco colour scheme adds to the relaxing vibes.

Continuing the Moroccan influence first seen in the foyer, this outdoor terrace seeks to seamlessly blend nature with architecture. The repeated smooth arches and latticed wood give an exotic feel, as does the hexagonal shape of the central seating area with colourful, patterned flooring to draw the eye.

The idea of bringing architecture into the garden is illustrated nicely, here. The elaborately covered walkway continues the Moorish architectural style as it leads out into the garden full of mature trees and shrubs. The skillfully rendered floral metalwork lining each arch is simply divine.

The Kellogg mansion exemplifies the grandest sub-type of Mediterranean Revival architecture. It’s designed in a palatial style on a huge scale with classical columns and ornate detailing, drawing inspiration from 16th century Italian Renaissance buildings. Despite being a priceless piece of architectural history, the house was never added to the National Register of Historic Places.

You can get a sense of how sprawling the building is from this shot. It has plenty of intriguing alcoves and niches tucked away inside. The numerous balconies and huge windows are part of the Mediterranean ethos of blending the building into its surroundings to enjoy nature from the many terraces, balconies, patios and walkways. The mansion was put up for sale in 2013 for $4.5 million (£3.4m). But it languished unwanted for seven years.

Here’s one of the external walkways with eye-catching mosaic murals. Notice how light and bright the area looks even though it’s undercover. It seemed the mansion's fortunes had recovered when it sold this year for $4 million. But in a devastating blow, the new owners plan to tear down this historic house, citing asbestos, mould and structural issues. A demolition permit was recently approved. The owners will build a new home on the site.

Exploring around the side of the house you’ll find the guesthouse with signature mosaic and red brick flooring. A rumour that James Bond film star, Sean Connery, stayed here is untrue, although one of Bill Matthew’s children was friendly with the Hollywood actor. A plan to preserve the guesthouse by transporting it to another location sadly fell through. But the Dunedin city authorities wanted to make a 3D video of the interior as a virtual tour to preserve the property digitally.

Here’s another view of the exterior with a fountain and benches in the foreground. The historic fixtures and fittings inside the mansion are said to be worth $100,000 and the new owners made a deal for the city to salvage them before bulldozers moved in. However, in a shocking turn of events, the owners arrived to find the mansion ‘stripped of the valuables promised to the city’, including ironwork, chandeliers and statues. This beautiful old building now waits to be torn down. Leland's new book, Abandoned Alabama: Exploring the Heart of Dixie, has just been released and features the McDonald house and many more incredible time-worn buildings across the state.

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