The most beautiful abandoned manors

The irresistible fascination we have with abandoned homes speaks to the power of good architecture: beauty lasts, even if the building has lost its purpose. Despite crumbling facades and sand infiltrations, these abandoned buildings nonetheless draw tourists and locals from around the world. Nature’s reclaiming its rights gives them a charming appeal, or the bittersweet memory that these buildings were once a family’s entrance. Regardless, their beauty is stunning. Whether it’s a Tuscan mansion or a neighborhood of empty castles that don’t have anything to envy Disney, these manors were left for record but won’t be forgotten.

The Villa De Vecchi, designed by Alessandro Sidoli, was Felix De Vecchi’s summer home. This war hero, who fought to free Milan from Austria, wanted a peaceful retirement with his family. Repose was brief. Felix De Vecchi returns home to find his wife brutally murdered and his daughter missing. Before committing suicide, the comte searched for his daughter for a year. Biago, Felix De Vecchi’s brother, inherited the house and lived there with his family until World War II. Without a permanent owner since 1960, the property has changed hands several times. Many believe the abandoned manor is haunted due to its tragic past.

Consider US balbutiements, 300 years ago. In 1736, Georgian colonist and Parliament member James Oglethorpe bought Cumberland Island and built Dungenees, a hunting pavilion. Over time, several important Americans have lived on the island, including Nathanael Greene and Henry Lee III. Thomas and Lucy Carnegie bought the ruins of Nathanael Greene’s wife and second husband’s house in 1881 and built their own. The National Park Service reported that the Carnegie Dungeness covered around 3,400 square meters and cost $200,000. The family moved in 1924, and in 1959, the house burned down (rumor has it that braconniers started it).

In 2010, Shenyang’s State Guest Mansions, 650 kilometers northeast of Beijing, opened. After two years, the project was halted and the half-finished manors were abandoned. Corruption and funding shortages have been blamed for the project’s premature end. Today, farmers have made surrounding land workable.