Some people buy mansions in order to live in them.
Others buy them in order to tear them down and build their own unique manse in its place.
The following are all gloriously huge, over-the-top mansions that have been torn down (or are in danger of being torn down) by their new owners so that they can built novelty real estate of their own on the previously-inhabited land. Some of these entries are historic places, while others are newer buildings that fell on hard times. They all have one thing in common, though: They’ve all been doomed.
Read on to learn more!
Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-doomed-mansions.html
Name of Property: Jackling House
Location: Woodside, CA
Built By: California architect George Washington Smith
Originally Owned By: copper mogul Daniel Jackling
Property Owner: Steve Jobs
Notable Information: This 1920s 35-room mansion that totaled nearly 15,000 square feet was going to be torn down and replaced with a new home by Jobs, but legal issues postponed a demolition permit for close to 10 years. It was finally demolished in February 2011. Nothing is planned for the site thus far.
Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-doomed-mansions.html
Name of Property: Land’s End
Location: Sands Point, NY
Built By: N/A
Originally Owned By: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and publisher of the New York World, Herbert Bayard Swope
Property Owner: N/A
Notable Information: F. Scott Fitzgerald may have used this 20-room mansion with 13 waterfront acres of land as the basis for Daisy Buchanan’s house in ”The Great Gatsby”. In the past, it housed extravagant parties by Swope, frequented by the likes of the Vanderbilts, George Gershwin, and even Winston Churchill. The home was demolished back in March 2010 and stands to be replaced by Seagate, “a new, gated community of five custom $10 million to $17 million mansions”.
Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-doomed-mansions.html
Name of Property: Coca Cola Mansion
Location: Delray Beach, FL
Built By: N/A
Originally Owned By: an heir to the Coca Cola empire and his wife
Property Owner: Mark Pulte, a super luxury South Florida builder with Mark Timothy, Inc.
Notable Information: The Coca Cola heir and his spouse changed their minds about this 40,000-square-foot oceanfront mansion at the last minute, leaving it 90% completed, and placed it on the market for $40 million. Pulte then swooped in 5 months later, bought it for only $16 million, demolished it, and constructed 3 smaller mansions in its place.
Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-doomed-mansions.html
Name of Property: Dragon Head Mansion
Location: Southampton, NY
Built By: N/A
Originally Owned By: N/A
Property Owner: fashion designer Calvin Klein
Notable Information: This “38,000 square foot Gothic behemoth with a 50-foot turret, towers and multiple chimneys on an idyllic seven- acre oceanfront plot” featured a shark tank, many medieval suits of armor, and even a 16th century Norman pub shipped in from France. Klein bought the place in 2003, tore it down in 2009, and replaced it with a modernist green mansion of his own.
Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-doomed-mansions.html
Name of Property: Belmead-on-the-James
Location: Powhatan, VA
Built By: American architect Alexander Jackson Davis
Originally Owned By: N/A
Property Owner: Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Notable Information: Originally an 1845 Gothic Revival manor built for plantation owners, Drexel and the Sisters came and turned it into “two private schools for young African American and Native American students, with a boys school headquartered in the former mansion”. It’s been slated for demolition due to “serious deterioration” and is a new entry on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
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Stephanie Huskey is the resident real estate blogger for Movoto and would never buy a nice mansion just so she could tear it down. (Seems like a waste…) Interested in getting her advice on your blog? She’s currently seeking guest blogging opportunities so she can share her knowledge with new communities! You can find her over here at Elance.com.
