New York City is one of the most populated cities in America with over 8.5 million residents. You would think that as skyscrapers are built up and rent prices skyrocket to accommodate the quarter-million people who move there each year, there isn’t any room for secrets. Where would they hide? From deep inside the cavernous subway tunnels (which are constantly under construction) to the tippy top of the Empire State, there's seemingly not an inch of the five boroughs that have gone unexplored. However, an abandoned mansion proved there's still plenty of mystery in the big city.
How Does An Abandoned Mansion Remain Fully Intact And Completely Filled With Mystery?
Not a whole lot is known about this abandoned mansion just a few miles outside of the bustling heart of Times Square, yet it remains almost entirely untouched.
A photographer named Bryan Sansivero made his way through the abandoned property and delivered a collection of beautifully haunting images. For more of Sansivero's photos, please visit his Instagram page.
Photographer Bryan Sansivero Unlocked The Mystery Behind This Abandoned Home
This mansion would still be lying unknown, unseen and decaying just outside of Manhattan if it wasn't for the New York-based photographer Bryan Sansivero. Sansivero specializes in capturing scenes of urban decay, focusing mostly on abandoned buildings. In 2008, he shot an award-winning movie about a crumbling psychiatric ward in Kings Park, New York called Shadows of Kings Park.
The film showcased what he does best – making people pay attention to things that have been long forgotten. Sansivero managed to gain access to the 57-room mansion and photographed the interior.
This 57-Room Mansion Has Been Abandoned For 40 Years
The expansive mansion is a crumbling relic of an era. After being built in the late 1930s, it was last inhabited in the 1970s. That was over 40 years ago. No one knows why the original owners of the property left or why no one else has moved in.
The mansion expands across 57 rooms with an indoor tennis court and bowling alley. It's in a prime location, and the perfect type of property to transform into a hotel (and make some serious bucks), yet it's been left to decay.
The Current Owner Likes To Watch Grand Properties Crumble
This gorgeous mansion was certainly grand in its heyday. Who lived there and what they did for a living to afford or need a 57 room household remains a mystery, but we do know it was at some point, well taken care of. While it may appear abandoned now (and in quite a hurry, at that), the property does have an actual owner.
According to reports, the mansion is owned by an unnamed wealthy property owner who regularly buys large mansions and leaves them to deteriorate. The owner has apparently purchased a number of lavish homes and left them all to rot.
The Mansion Rests On A Six Acre Estate
It's not just the interior of this sprawling mansion that is impressively gigantic. Though the actual home boasts 57 rooms, the mansion stands on six entire acres of property. The mansion is almost like an entire city wrapped up in a neat, little box.
There are a bowling alley and indoor tennis court, but if sports aren't your thing, the home allegedly had two bars and a private library. It's almost as if whoever lived there never needed a reason to leave. Perhaps they didn't, except for the very first (and last) time.
Whoever Lived In The Mansion Left In A Hurry
Nothing about this gorgeous, sprawling mansion seems like it was sold the normal way. There's something so utterly suspicious about the way it was left behind. Whoever originally lived in the estate left in an absolute hurry. Perhaps the original owners died suddenly in an accident leaving the home to be auctioned off.
Maybe they were running from the law. No one will ever know, but the home is preserved almost completely intact with closets full of shoes and clothing. Children's toys and furniture are left in places or scattered throughout the home like the owners didn't have time to pick up after themselves.
At Least One Woman Lived In This Home
There's not a whole lot we can deduce about the former inhabitants of this home, but we do know at least one woman lived here because she left nearly her entire shoe collection in the bedroom. Based on the type of shoes she wore, we can guess that she didn't do much physical activity, and had a very conservative style.
Her shoes are mostly slingback kitten heels in muted color like nudes and grays, save for a pair of green sling-backs and colorful, heeled peep-toes. There's not a sneaker in sight, we're guessing she didn't use the indoor tennis court too often. It's also likely she had children.
What Happened To The Children Who Lived In The Home?
We know a woman lived in the mansion, but she also may have been a mother. The interior is littered with things only a child would own like baby dolls and other toys. In the foyer, by a large spiral staircase, a vintage baby carriage in near-mint condition rests abandoned.
This leads us to believe there were multiple children in the home: a baby and younger children, perhaps of toddler age. The children had to be old enough to play with dolls and at least crawl around to leave their toys about the living room.
One Of The Children Was School-Aged and Enjoyed Golf
Though we know that this was home to multiple children, with one being a baby, we also know one of the children was school-aged. This image appears to show a boarding school trunk. It was typical for wealthy families to send their school-aged kids off to boarding school rather than attending public school.
This child also probably enjoyed playing a few rounds of golf with pops because this photo shows a carrying case for golf clubs. Of course, an abandoned home wouldn't be complete without a creepy painting of a child. Was this perhaps a portrait of the little boy who used to live here?
Were Some Of The Children Home-Schooled?
Images from this forgotten home show that maybe when these kids weren't at boarding school, they were homeschooled. It was quite the large house, so there was a room for almost everything. This room shows three child-sized desks that are typical in modern school rooms.
There's even a small antenna TV and alarm clock. Paint from these walls is slowly chipping off, exposing numerous paint jobs, from white to cream to a grayish color. Was the mother of this home a strict mom who made her kids study when they were home from boarding school? Was she their teacher?
The Library Still Has All Of The Shelves Filled With Books
The family who lived in this home didn't have time to pack up their books before they left, but they were definitely avid readers. If that wasn't evident from the schoolroom, which definitely shows that the family places high importance on education, it's evident in the library. In the private library, books fall off the shelves and rest on an ornate desk.
There's also a couch so family-members could read in comfort. Over the years, some of the books have lost their pages, which sprawled across the floor, but the room's wood paneling is still pristine.
The Ballroom Was Left Almost Completely Intact
Though the mansion rests just a few miles outside one of the busiest cities in the world, it's been almost completely untouched by trespassers. There's an odd bit of graffiti here and there, but hardly a single portion of this property has been defaced or destroyed by anything other than age.
In fact, this giant, sun-filled room is almost in pristine condition save for a tiny spot of graffiti, chipping paint and a cracked mirror. The family even left the opulent blue rugs, the floral window-toppers, curtains, expensive grand pianos and a suitcase perched atop a couch. Did they not have enough time to pack?
This Indoor Tennis Court Is Now Resting Space For Garbage
The home's indoor tennis court is perhaps one of the most stunning pieces of the property. The entire ceiling is covered with gigantic, expansive windows that let in tons of natural light. It's as close as you can get to being outside but still having the temperature controlled (New York winters can be fierce, but the owners of this house wanted to play tennis year-round).
Though this giant tennis court was probably frequently used and well-maintained, it's become a home for junk rather than a place of entertaining. Old tables, fans, and debris from the crumbling walls litter the room. There's even an abandoned car, turning this space into a regular old junkyard.
The Home Is A Time Capsule For Victorian Design
Though the 1930s were synonymous with art deco and the '70s were known for gaudy shag carpets and brown-tones, the mansion's owners favored Victorian interior design. This is evident from the furniture and accents in this crumbling room.
Victorian design was favored in the mid-1800s to early 1900s, and marked by bold prints, dark patterned wallpaper, ornate details and rich jewel tones. It also often contained elements of the Gothic Revival like the arched shelving or decorative pillars in this photo. The gold finish and ornate carvings in this room's trophy cases also give a nod to Victorian design, which is a unique choice for a family in the 1970s.
The Home Has Been Decorated Through The Ages
The owners of this home probably lived here a long time, and the property was probably kept in the family from the '30s all the way to the '70s. This is evident in home's interior design. Though many of the rooms reference Victorian Design, this photo of chairs pretty much shows design through all of the eras.
There are bamboo chairs which mark the '30s and '40s art deco movement. There's curved, ornate wood detailing showcasing Victorian style. There's the bold colors of the '50s and '60s midcentury modern, and the mustard and brown-tones typical of '70s style.
The House Is Not Immune To The Elements
In this stunning photo, we see a rocking horse. It was likely favored by one of the toddlers who frolicked around the home. The horse rests between two vintage couches that are deteriorating because the house is still subject to the elements.
Though a curtain still covers the large window to the right, it's not enough to stop the chilling New York winter from creeping into the home. The floor is covered with a sheet of snow, which reminds us that eventually, nature will take back the property unless someone steps in to shut it out.
The Owners Of This Home Were Quite Musical
Back in the 1930s when this property was built, television was new. In fact, it was invented less than a decade prior and by the '70s most families enjoyed sitting in front of the tube watching nightly programming. Unlike most Americans, the owners of this house hardly had a TV in sight (though there was just one, which we'll get to later).
Instead, there's an abundance of musical equipment. The ballroom has two grand pianos (one is pretty standard for a mansion, but two means someone in the family definitely played). There are also what appear to be accordions in one living space, and a smaller keyboard, speaker and record player in a different room.
The Fireplace Shows Expensive Paintings And Furniture Left To Decay
The creepiest part of this mansion was how quickly the owners appeared to have left. This room, which shows no evidence children has not one, but two TVs (if you look closely there's a screen all the way to the left). There's no fancy, comfy couch for kids to sit and watch, which leads us to believe this is where the adults enjoyed their programming.
Expensive-looking chairs are placed in viewing distance near the fireplace, which was probably way more effective at heating a room of that size than a regular heating system. Heating was probably a challenge in the winter considering the home's size and it probably was extremely expensive (not that you're counting pennies if you live in a house this big).
A Player Piano Sits Abandoned Next To A Chair
Player pianos are a rare sight in 2017, but even in the '70s, they were exceedingly unpopular. In fact, sales for these instruments peaked in 1924 and the stock market crash of 1929 nearly wiped out their entire production. The player piano is a relic of a time where electrical amplification didn't exist.
Clearly, the owners of this home did have electrical amplification, as is evident with their TV sets and record players. This was likely an heirloom passed down in the family or perhaps this home was owned by an older individual or number of families who lived there for generations from when it was built in the 1930s to the 1970s.
Why Did The Owners Leave So Suddenly?
The owners of this home up and left, but not before trying to renovate the property. Snapshots of the interior show a ladder left standing and sheets protecting the floor from the paint. Perhaps the owners first tried to repair the property before selling it and decided the renovations just weren't worth it. Maybe the new owners bought the property after the original owners left in a hurry attempted to renovate it, and decided it just wasn't worth the cost.
Maybe someone got bankrupt right in the middle of it all, as a mansion of this size takes millions and millions to upkeep. We'll probably never know the real story behind why it was mysteriously left in the condition it’s in. For more of Sansivero's photos, please visit his Instagram page.
