#1 Mayfield House in Ireland’s County Waterford
Mayfield House was reduced to a dilapidated, roofless shell at the turn of the millennium. For architectural salvage, many of its original characteristics were cruelly removed. The majestic mansion’s walls are now all that remain of it.
#2 Mayfield House in Ireland’s County Waterford
The estate was previously up for conservation proposals from The National Trust for Ireland, but it now seems the run-down building and grounds are for sale for a reasonable $910,000 (£676k). Could you bring back the splendor of this once-grand country estate?
#3 Afghan capital Kabul’s Darul Aman Palace
The largest abandoned structure in Afghanistan is about 10 miles from Kabul, the capital. The enormous palace was created in the 1920s as part of an effort to modernize the nation for King Amanullah Khan.
#4 Afghan capital Kabul’s Darul Aman Palace
The neoclassical palace would serve as the center of a new capital city that King Amanullah envisioned, and he also intended to build a narrow-gauge railway to link the structure to the previous capital.
#5 Afghan capital Kabul’s Darul Aman Palace
The palace, created by French and German architects, was intended to house Afghanistan’s future parliament. However, it was not meant to be. Amanullah Khan was forced into exile in 1929 by religious conservatives, who also abandoned the monarch’s modernization plan.
#6 Afghan capital Kabul’s Darul Aman Palace
The structure housed the Kabul University School of Medicine and functioned as offices for several Afghan ministries in the early and middle 20th century. At one point, the palace even served as a warehouse.
#7 Afghan capital Kabul’s Darul Aman Palace
A fire in 1969 significantly damaged the structure. The destroyed palace was quickly repaired and used as the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan’s headquarters in the 1970s before suffering further fire damage during the Communist Coup of 1978.
#8 Afghan capital Kabul’s Darul Aman Palace
After yet another repair, the palace suffered its ultimate blow when the Mujahideen shelled it into oblivion in the early 1990s. The demolished palace was a shell of what it once was by the middle of the1990s. The palace has served as an Afghan army post and a camp for refugees since the middle of the1990s. The structure was attacked by the Taliban in 2012, leaving it battered and damaged.
#9 Afghan capital Kabul’s Darul Aman Palace
Fortunately, the beleaguered palace was about to embark on a new beginning. In 2019, the majority of the abandoned building was brought back to life through an expensive restoration operation, sporting a brand-new, brilliant white façade. The structure was saved from destruction, and it will now hold a museum with items from the Presidential Palace archive.
#10 French city of Vienne, Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers
The heart-stoppingly picturesque Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers in the Vienne region of France dates back to the 13th century when it served as the family home of the noble Bauçay family. It seems like something out of a fairytale.
#11 French city of Vienne, Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers
During the Middle Ages, English armies twice conquered the moated château and turned it into a lavish banqueting hall. During the Renaissance, the château was once again under French control, but the French Revolution of 1789 left it in ruins.
#12 French city of Vienne, Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers
The once-dreamy château was severely damaged when wealthy businessman François Hennecart bought it in 1809. He undertook a massive rehabilitation project to repair the gorgeous structure and preserve it for the future, adding a vineyard to the site.
#13 French city of Vienne, Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers
The estate was sold to Baron Joseph Lejeune in 1857. The landed aristocracy rebuilt the structure in1870, incorporating several neo-Gothic elements that pay homage to the famous châteaux of the Loire Valley.
#14 French city of Vienne, Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers
Until one disastrous day in 1932 when Baron Edgar Lejeune attempted to build a central heating system, the château served as the Lejeune family’s residence. Many of the interiors were destroyed when a terrible fire started.
#15 French city of Vienne, Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers
After being forced to leave the grounds, the castle fell into wrack and ruin. A French bank acquired control of the castle before selling it to a local educator named Marc Demeyer in 1981. Demeyer’s attempts to renovate the château were unsuccessful, and the structure continued to deteriorate.
#16 French city of Vienne, Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers
The once-spectacular structure is now little more than a sad shell, yet there might be a happy ending for this fairytale château after all. The castle, which is currently accessible to the public, underwent restoration thanks to donations raised by a group named the Friends of the Château de la Mothe- Chandeliers.
#17 Palace Sans-Souci in Nord, Haiti
Wikimedia Commons [Public Domain]
The Sans-Souci Palace in Haiti, which means “without fear,” is regarded as the Caribbean version of Versailles and was formerly the most opulent structure in the West Indies. It was finished in 1813 for the tyrannical former slave and Haitian King Henri I. It is known that several workmen died while building the palace.
#18 Sans-Souci Palace, Haiti’s Nord
The palace, which served as a showcase for Haiti, was constructed to show the sophistication of the local Haitian elite to international countries, some of which were still involved in slavery, after they overthrew the French in the wake of a slave insurrection and founded the independent nation of Haiti in1804.
#19 Palace Sans-Souci in Nord, Haiti
The palace played host to lavish parties and dinners that drew royalty from all over the world during King Henri I’s reign. Particularly renowned and including exquisite water features were the palace’s gardens.
#20 Palace Sans-Souci in Nord, Haiti
On October 8, 1820, King Henri I committed suicide on the palace grounds after suffering a stroke. Some claim he used a silver bullet. Jacques-Victor Henry, the Prince Royal of Haiti’s son and heir, was assassinated at the palace by revolutionaries ten days later.
