The house and a lot of its belongings date back to at least the 19th century. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. For this massive project, one of Trumbauers largest, he based the design off of two famous mansions and architectural wonders: Prior Park in Bath, England; and Ballingarry, an estate in New Jersey. But after the Titanic sank, that all came crashing down and hard. Please enter your email to complete registration. Katie Warren contributed to an earlier version of this story. But there is one mystery: no one knows who bought the old Widener estate. An abandoned property can cause many problems for the community in which it sits. Outside of the flaking paint there's too much stuff and it's in to good of condition. When they were built, these lavish homes were likely worth today's equivalent of millions of dollars. Widener wanted his home to make a statement, and that started with the very first steps that anyone took inside. someone's probably been taking care of it. Both designers wanted the estate to be a depiction of Wideners vast wealth, highlighting his love for the finer things in life. The house underwent a lot of renovations and rebranding, after which it was again put on the market in 2015 for $100 million after Jacksons death in 2009. Located in the Taiwanese countryside, it's been abandoned since the 1950s when the family fled abruptly. Some claim the state park's name means "laughing waters," which could either be adorably cheerful or downright creepy, depending on how you see it. Abbott said he stumbled across the villa while searching Google for rumored abandoned mansions in the area. Around that same time, just three years prior, another catastrophic event had taken place, and news of it made international headlines. We're asking people to rethink comments that seem similar to others that have been reported or downvoted, By using our services you agree to our use of cookies to improve your visit. Thanks for reading Chris Colgan's Newsletter! The new modern house would overlook a pond, great woods, and a preserve area. More than 300 works were inside just this one room. The future of the 13,000 sq. Your account is not active. We learn all that in today's video. Ft house and 10 acres of surrounding garden are under scrutiny.