Im sorry but this is the posterboard for everything thats wrong with this country . That house has become a useless black hole of cash that couldve housed thousands of people who dont actually have a proverbial toilet or pot ...to piss in. It takes hoarding to a whole other dimension
So sad to see this place like this. One wonders... you mentioned that the local Canadian gov't tried to auction it last for ~C$150k, but nobody bid... how is that handled? Is it still up for sale? Disclaimer: I'm a very silly fellow and I'm in the USA. Don't take me too seriously.
As an artist, a writer, an electronics hobbyist, and a computer tinkerer... I know EXACTLY what I'd do with it if I won the lottery. I'm a MYST fanatic. I'd find a way to live there, get some buddies together, and make it my life's mission and legacy to put together a sort of IRL Myst Island inspired thing. I live right now on Disability here in the USA, so I know how to live on a shoestring in difficult circumstances. My last place had pretty bad water damage, I swear we must've found about every fly-by-night roof guy in the whole dang county before I got out of there. (Now I live 3mi down the road in a rent-subsidized apartment and it's plenty better but it has issues of its own.) But I can take a box of copper nails, some old pillbottle lids, and a bit of badly stained wood, some telephone relays... you ever play Myst III Exile? You know that thing at the end of the Amateria age where you turn the lil circle things in the box to make a complete pathway...? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. It'll even look the part when I'm done with it, just use some fancy stationary and grab some nail polish from Dollar Tree to use as paints... works a treat. You can do the same thing with rotary encoders and an Arduino if you want but you'll be there a flippin _week_ swearing your tongue off in languages that don't exist unless you're an absolute expert, and I can be done in a real good afternoon -- three, countin full decorations -- and for a lot cheaper, too. It's just switchgear to make it all work, that's all you need, switchgear and a bit of ratcheting. I'd make it my life's work, the rest of what I have, take my time to do what I could, put the place back together, but as a MYST thing. I could do it, too, if I won the lotto. Fat chance of it tho. I don't hardly even play any more, it's not worth the odds, even the scratch-off cards. I guess it's fun to imagine tho.
The camera alone didn't give a good impression of the racquetball court, but when someone went down there to demonstrate the size, my jaw actually dropped.
Unlike other bloggers, I love how you actually give in-depth information about the houses and other abandoned buildings. All the questions I was asking myself about this house was answered.
As an architect it's sad to see a project abandoned like this due to unfortunate circumstances. Clearly lot of detail and care was put to plan this mega mansion. Poor engineer and architects never enjoyed the finished product.
Hi Tom: I’m not an architect, I’m actually an engineer, but I designed my own house and built it all myself. One of the things that I find very interesting about the human condition is that people think that rich people are super smart, but in fact they are generally pretty ordinary intelligence, and they are just pushy bastards. In my career and in my life I have been around a lot of rich people, very few of them do I consider in any major exceptionally intelligent, but they know how to push people around and how to get money that they don’t necessarily deserve. Some of them do deserve the wealth they get, most of them don’t. Most of them are just takers. This building is rather interesting and unique. I do not consider it good architecture by any measure. I tend to follow the Christopher Alexander school of thought, and that is that building should be Right sized for human comfort and delight. This is just a big pig house. Big rooms does not make them good rooms, just makes them big and dark and fucked up in every way
I feel like this is the only channel I’ve watched that provides an in-depth look at the structure but also includes a background on past ownership and financial information. Thank you for being so thorough.
Jake - "What an enormous waste." That was my first thought upon seeing the remains of a structure that could have been a stunningly beautiful home. How very sad.
I love that you explained the story behind the mansion-owner, what happened, etc. A lot of people just go in and say," I don't know who owned or why it's abandoned"...appreicate that you look into that and tell what you know. Very interesting. Very sad as well. Thanks!
I had to laugh when he corrected his friend by saying this is mr. grants office, while the whole time his camera was pointed at bitch written on the wall. What a waste this place ended up. God bless.
I can say, this is one of the most depressing modern abandoned homes I have ever seen. It sickens me how even the city did nothing with it, when it was still developable.
Unfortunately "the city" really doesn't have interest in rescuing personal failed financial problems,,, especially when it comes to private property, which it has no immediate control over because the property the mansion was located on was seized by a bank upon the tycoons' company financial fallout. The city surely did not have the $125k plus the additional amount of funds it would take to rehabilitate the dilapidated state of the structure at the time it was finally available at auction.
@@Profanity1 1st century christians and indigenous people are the only commies i know of. trick question, as communism is basically a stateless society...like Christ wanted.
I know right. Kid's with nothing to do. They never fail to leave drawings of the male anatomy for some reason. I would not do that,brought a repoed house where the people lived for two year's and paid nothing. They took the electrical box, the aluminum screen's, the well pump and tank, drew all over the wall's, and had animal's that pissed all over. I had to rip the floors out of most of the house and replace it, along with everything else they destroyed. I did feel good when the father of the girl who was evicted waited to long to buy the house, and he had the nerve to be mad when he stole all the stuff I mentioned. The house is nice now , and it's paid for. People who destroy property like this just aren't right. I forgive them, and hope they repent. Jesus does have a book. God bless.
I have been binge watch Abandoned for the last few hours. This one had me speechless!!! You are so great at your research and delivery. I cannot get enough. Thank you and keep up the great work!!!!
Jake, your production quality has become spectacular. That drone shot of the lake and mansion at the start is Hollywood level stuff …except this is more interesting. As for the property, just insane. Too expensive to rehab, too expensive to demolish.
I think it hurts because of the tremendous loss. Many of us could never even dream of affording a place like this, just to let it rot. And Mr. Grant still has a waterfront home, like this never happened
@@kimberlyphifer2391 I know it's a big waist of money, when 8 people can live in that house, why spend that much amount on a big house like that , than throw it away like come on people.
Sometimes i watch intro's to shows from the seventies and they make me sad. Then i realized that what was making me sad was all the actors/actresses who got their parts, hoping it would be the big break, only to end up on some quickly forgotten TVshow, never to be heard from again. This house is like that for me.
Respect would be protecting its location instead of posting it AND saying how much $$ is sitting there. He is contributing to the sad fate of this place!
The opening drone shot combined with that music felt like the final act of many Bond films. Or even more so recently - the beginning of a Hitman level. Very well done video. Fun to see Brennen & Jake together again too!
The building is definitely no longer structurally sound due to water damage. The slight damage done by people is negligible. Blame the bank that owned it
I think the people that built this ridiculously large and grotesque mansion no one can afford in an otherwise pristine natural location are even bigger scumbags. That house is an eyesore to begin with
Imagine trying to maintain those huge water features in the winter. In Canada. The glass had to be two layer argon filled because the whole place would freeze otherwise. That guy was nuts.
He would have been better with 3 panes of glass - warmer & less sound. An inert gas could be used between the panes, to avoid mould & other bio-intrusions.
@@AwkwardYet it wasn't that long ago, that triple glazing, wouldn't have been available, as double glazeings been around since before metal framed windows, came along early-mid the 1900's. Insulation was also around in those days - the guides did remark how cold it was in parts of the place - and I know from experience, how cold Canada, can get.
@@littlejackalo5326 not sealed well enough in some cases with the amount of growth in some. I knew the double glazeing has inert gas between the layers in modern windows - some that were upgraded, as wooden frame windows, are still clean & clear without inert gasses & those were done well before alunimimunm frames came in - the older iron framed windows, were never double glazed, where I live, which is most likely elsewhere to you.
For anyone interested in an update, the property was purchased in late 2023 by a Texas entrepreneur named Chris Fischer who intends to renovate the building for a new TV show called "Mansion Impossible".
Dude will figure out how much it's actually going to cost him to own renovate and own that place. It'll be up for sale again. People don't hold onto 65,00p sq ft homes because they arw enormous financial drains
@@jiceBERG Only way I can see it happening if it's stripped down to its bare minimum functions, nothing fancy while still using the existing walls and spaces, and that's still a stretch
Part of all the "business" portion of this property was so that Mr Grant wouldn't have to pay for his mansion out of his own pocket and could get the company to pay for it. When the Company when bankrupt, he lost the house like he lost the company. Therefore he could never go back and finish the last 30% of it because he never owned it. Grand Forest Products owned it.
Thank you to hum ever posted this video i worked on this project in 2007 building all of the wood panels for 8 months at the company that is was working for. I did not know hum they were for at the time nor did i see them installed. I only knew that the home was big and located up north. I was working in the Toronto area as a cabinetmaker. I still have some off cuts of the panels, they were custom laid up African Makore veneer on Grants special osb sheet material. It is nice to see them again and to know were they went unfortunately they are going to waste. I was glad to hear the fellow that did this video appreciated them and it would be great to hear from him. Regards Paul Newman.
Been a fan of abandoned exploration videos...but it is incredible to finally find one made by a man that actually understands architecture, design, construction and costs along with the unbelievable WASTE these properties tend to be. I've never understood why they aren't SALVAGED? How do banks just write off this level of loss? Curious. Subscribed.
It's pretty simple, really. When banks put up loans, most of the money they lend is made up out of thin air. They never had that money. So, the losses aren't as big as you'd think. This is called fractional reserve banking and it is how our monetary system functions. It doesn't take much thinking to realize what an incredible scam fractional bank lending is. They make up money out of thin air to borrow to people and then those people have to go get actual, real money to give to the bank, or the bank will get to own the real property and sell it. Incredible, legal, scam. It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. Henry Ford
@@choosetolivefree you're confused about how loans work. The bank has the actual cash to loan, how else would the house seller get their money, or the contractors building a new home get thier money? The financial institution gives the home buyer actual cash, which they can't make up out of thin air. The interest on loans is how the financial institutions earn money on the money they loan out. If you don't get a loan you get to use your own cash to buy or build. ? How is this a scam?
@@agirlisnoone5953 what you wrote is completely false. Fractional banking requires presently that the bank hold 7% of the value of the loan. If you borrow $100,000 to buy a home the bank needs to have $7,000 in "real" money(reserves in an account), the other $93,000 is literally made up out of nothing, electronically invented and put into an account for payout. Why do you think banks are so profitable Banks create money, literally create it, the interest they charge is even more profit, think about the profit margins available when you create debt, that is paid back with real dollars.
This is amazing! I simply can’t understand though why people think they have to destroy everything they find like this. I commend you for your respect for the property. But I can’t get over the disrespect others have shown it. Keep up the good work, I loved this video!👍🏻👍🏻
@Adam Cinq-Mars I just can't stand inconsistency. So we give tax breaks to entities you see fit, but not to businesses or individuals who also can't afford the bill? News, someone has to pay the bill, and "tax break" and "subsidized" is just another way of saying the regular taxpayer foots the bill. It's illogical and inconsistent. No charity would be able to afford any of this even if they had to pay zero tax. They make no money!
@Adam Cinq-Mars It would cost tens of thousands per month to keep that place running. Let alone rehab. In what is apparently not even a large city as far as tax dollars are concerned. You can't expect taxpayers to fund such an endeavor when cheaper options exist for those who depend on the system. It exists as it is for a reason. If there was value here, an investor would have found it by now.
Whenever I see these abandoned videos, especially this one, I always wonder if the original owners ever go back to see them in this state, or ever see these videos. I can imagine it would be very difficult to see a project you started get to this state of disrepair.
Yep, pretty much all of the wood (and glass) would need to be replaced. Which might require removing a lot of the stone panels. For some of the rooms that would be more expensive than building from scratch probably.
Ask any town that gets burdened with a mansion how much upkeep costs. It's incredibly expensive, and especially in a little, isolated town like that, there's gonna be next to zero in tourism revenue.
Yes as a mold contractor I can tell you the clean up/demolition phase of such a project would be more than the town could afford let alone a rebuild. This home could cost much more that the entire town is worth, all 75 homes combined. No one can afford to rebuild this home short of a billionaire. What a beautiful structure I bet when it was near completion.
Finally! An Abandoned Mansion TH-camr actually finding out the back story of the how/why/and whens, of the property and owner and sharing the reasons for its abandonment! You've just got yourself another viewer 👍
Wow, what a shame! It is so interesting to hear the history of the owners, instead of just seeing a property abandoned and left wondering why, so thank you for that 🙏.
What a waste. What a shame. Could have been one of the most amazing mansions of the world. Now it is nothing but a disrespected abandoned grand dames of Canada. Excellent video though. Thanks for sharing.
When the "hometown boy made good" flex turns disastrous. It's a shame it couldn't of become a community center or some kind of public building. It'd probably be too expensive for a town like that to maintain.
Oh, most definitely. The population of that area is teeny tiny. Hell, Haileybury alone, which this place is situated in, only holds about 3000 people. Unfortunately, there's just no way for the community to keep it running, even if it got retrofitted while the building was still in impeccable condition
Yes and no. Temiskaming is amazing. If you love fishing it’s one of the best destinations. Canadian highways are pretty simple... you either stay on Hwy 17 going W or East (to or from Ottawa) which brings you toward Sudbury (The Big Nickle) or you take the scenic route on Hwy 11. Haileybury runs off Hwy 11b which takes you through Cobalt (seriously amazing destination for anyone who loves history especially Mining history... I’m a huge fan of Cerro Gordo after living outside Cobalt. And Cobalts mining is what built Toronto, infact during the Haileybury fire TO sent rail cars to house the locals - there’s a memorial down the road from the Peter Grants boat house). Even if you chose to travel Hwy 17 Haileybury is only about 90mins North of North Bay When I lived in Coleman twp I had 3 lynx in my backyard. There’s a place called Devils Rock as well which Mind Fix Chill on TH-cam covered (check it out!! Breath taking footage). The area is extremely under marketed but I’m quite positive that will change in time. The boat house would’ve made an amazing hotel or city centre, the whole area is so easy to fall in love with I wish more people knew about it. And I wish the biker reunion would happen again - those were experiences you can never forget.. It was a huge fundraiser I’m honestly not sure what happened Edit: Temagami has a gorgeous view from the lookout. Grey Owl lived in Temagami. The Highland trail head starts in Latchford. Lady Evelyn is a great camping spot and that alone attracts a lot of people. There are so many reasons to explore the area lol but not many people don’t know about it, yet
@@brittany_bee it's weird because just this morning I was on Google maps tracking north through Canada to see where civilization truly ends... seems like Quebec City is one of the more northern large urban areas but anyway now I'm recommend this video... Google is always collecting information on us
One of the upmost, well done abandoned exploration videos I've seen yet. I never ever can watch more than 15 minutes because of the talking, super extended intros, loud noise, or the lack of creative outlook on where they are exploring, etc. As you said wow to the bowing in the roof, I did too. And as you said what a waste, I did too. Very well done, watched finish to end, and now subscribed, moving onto another video by this channel. Thank you!
Truly a victim of the location it was built in. If the population was any greater I’d imagine the local government would’ve been able to keep the property for use as a community centre or something of the sort. Imagine re-purposing the building as a recreation centre/community centre/library/preschool. Honestly the possible uses of the site are nearly endless just looking at the sheer size of the property… if only it was in better shape as I’m sure the property would be a white elephant for anyone who takes it on.
The problem is that a lot of these abandoned buildings actually *are* located in such area's but their local governments don't want to spend the time or the money to actually do just that: repurpose said buildings into something that is BENEFICIAL to the community. Instead they'd rather just let them fall into ruin. Now, admittedly, I know in some places this is intentional so as to leave a place for scientists to examine (there's a large island, I forgot where, whose community abandoned it after the 2nd World War, rich people and construction companies have been wanting to buy it but local governments have it listed as a historical site)
@@Rodger_Phillips at this level of decay, you would need to strip away all the wall covering materials in and out to ensure that the house is structural sound... to reconstruct and finish this , could take easy a fortune...
this reminds me so much of my grandfather's unfinished house. obviously it wasn't so enormous, but it was actually pretty similar in style, and it had some ostentatious touches like his own shooting range in the basement. he mistrusted contractors so he designed and built it all himself. it was almost entirely concrete because he was paranoid about fire. he sank an unimaginable amount of money into it, not to mention my mother and uncle's entire childhoods for their labor, but he couldn't figure out how to fit the roof tiles he had chosen over the dormers. so he left it roofless and exposed for almost forty years, to the point that there were small trees growing on the second story, and the concrete walls had started to split. all the while he lived and raised his children in an increasingly decaying trailer parked in front of the unusable house. at the end he and my nana had a tarp draped over their bed because the roof leaked so badly, and the floor had collapsed in multiple places. when he died nana got rid of the property as quickly as possible and the new owner had to raze the whole thing. my mother won't even drive by it anymore.
This made me heartsick. As I watch you walk through I could see the work that went into this place and what potential it would have had. The opulence was unbelievable and design, unimaginable! This was an excellent and well-executed video! Thank you for a job well done!
This would have been scooped up quickly in any other popular area, so much potential! So fun to imagine it finished, furnished, and full of family and friends enjoying themselves.
I had just sold my real estate brokerage about a year before the ‘08 collapse occurred. Every single person and entity from real estate brokers, to mortgage companies, to construction companies saw it coming long before it all came crashing down. It pisses me off to no end that this Mr. Grant was exonerated of his financial responsibility with the flick of a judge’s wrist and he’s now living in another fancy home in a fancy community while this home continues to rot and the nearby community suffers the consequences of his actions.
Y'know I think just blaming this shit on the 2008 crash is too simple and overlooks the gross hubris and wasteful opulence of this property and others like it. (I'm sensing a theme in a lot of these videos.) The crash was a catalyst, not the cause. What the hell was even the point if this?! To have a little remote cult? The only atonement left for this person is to submit his body to the trees. Whatever is salvageable should be given freely to anyone who needs it and the next of kin is responsible for demolishing the property.
One of the most heartbreaking films you've ever seen is a video about an unfinished mega mansion?? 😕 Ummm ok WOW... Let me help you expand your perspective. Enter some searches on topics like: poorest people in the world, people living in landfills, fentanyl in the US, plastic islands in the ocean, land mines in Vietnam today, child labor in African cobalt mines, etc. No need to thank me, but you're welcome anyway
Imagine the cost to heat a place like this. The building is a perfect example of overreach. The guy built himself a palace as if the company would always be growing.
His gas bills would have been insane. If his company was around today with the price of wood and building materials, dude would have been making stacks of money. Cruel irony...
@@Dbraddy15 Believe it or not, the hand drawn pee-pee pics are a global graffiti symbol. It was all over East Germany and the Ukraine after the USSR fell
Honestly this is the exact reason the locals resent the place so much. Well, and the fact that it got abandoned so quickly, it's legacy, and all the vandals and looters the building attracts. The locals just want it gone. The tourism it attracts isn't the kind you want to encourage
@Jeff J right it's not accurate to think of this as a house. This is a corporate headquarters that would basically also function as a hotel to corporate employees and business partners and likely their families. It's almost more like a corporate resort or getaway retreat. Come see the boss, do some business, have a little vacation. The house basically has to offer all the amenities because the town couldn't.
This makes me sad. It may or may not have been my preferred architectural style, but it could have become a stunning place. Now this structure is beyond saving. All the materials, the vision, the groundwork, the progress: all gone. All what's left is an eyesore for nearby residents. And this dedicated video. Well done!
I watched this video almost a year ago and still think about this mansion occasionally. Thank you for the awesome video, the mansion and the story had a lasting impact.
Before retirement I used to be a mechanical contractor and worked in homes like these, many on West Coast islands. The mechanical boiler room you seen is what our specialty was. It really is truly amazing the money spent on structures like these. We would spend upwards of three years on projects like this. The owner explains why OSB ply was being used in this caliber of a home. Construction appears to have stopped about a year or so from completion sad. I bet many a contractor were never paid and declared bankruptcy as well. The opulence is staggering to view by your astonishments.
Odd how it's so close to that small town and up north in BFE Canada.....I'd want it either further away from the town in a more secluded, out of sight out of mind area or closer to a nice city.
@@michaelbrinks8089 if he had have money coming in he would have been fine. So it seemed right for him but no one else was interested in this back water obviously. And by the sounds of it would have cost a cool ~30ish million to complete
Such an incredibly beautiful, spectacular building. It's practically a crime to see it go to waste like this. It would be interesting to see someone put together a computer simulation of what this might have looked like if it had been finished instead of abandoned.
This hurts my heart to see such a beautiful piece abandoned & falling apart. Such a lot of love & hard work went into this place! Loved the video, thanks for the back story!
My thought is had he envisioned a structure 1/3 this scale , it would have been completed before the unforeseen financial crash . Such a waste of not only materials , but talented labor .
Very cool that you found the plans left there. "it's The Grant Gallery" 😃 The boat dock alone looks 3x bigger than my place. $150K, I was go for that, but it would expect utility running cost would be in the 10s of thousands each month not counting the property taxes costs. Considering he was going to use it partly for business, it was smart to put the house in the company's name.
Its not even the utility. All that water damage , broken windows and completion of the house will cost you millions. People really underestimating how expensive that is. Replacing all the windows on that building alone is at least 1 million. 150k sounds like a steal until you realize that you need to invest millions to live in it.
@@omgwasistdasden Another option could be to just tear it down to bare concrete/steel and go for that industrial look, open it up a bit more to get some airflow to get rid of the mold and only make a parts of it actually habitable. I don't know what you could do with it, host some kind of festival in the summer when the sun is upt 24/7, fix the pool at it could probably be nice in the summer. Ofc the location is crap and property taxes are still a thing so its probably a terrible idea. Just saying that you don't need to finish it like he wanted to finish it.
@@Lappmogel it is not even close to being far enough north to have 24/7 sunlight. Also it would cost a lot of money to gut it and renovate it. Sadly this place is just going to rot away and I don't think anyone would be willing to buy it.
WOW this is so insane and the fact that NO ONE ever enjoyed it at all ever because it was never completed. What a unbelievable waste of money. Wow. Great find and thank you for showing it to us.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. I know a couple real estate investors that where worth millions before 2008 and now they live in a small 3 bedroom home trying to build up their wealth again.
I used to be a long haul truck owner operator from the prairies and passed through that town when running Northern Ontario. A few of our trucks were based out of that town and knew of the Grant family. My co worker said that was going to be the biggest house in Canada before things went sideways. Second or third generation burned up a lot of cash from a successful business. I think a few of the lumber mills had to be sold and trucking company closed.
Oh wow! That's quite the profession but not easy by any stretch. You must have seen some very interesting places along the way. Thank you for being an essential service!🍁🚚💜
I wonder if Mr. Grant ever saw this video and I wonder how he must feel . Such a beautiful amazing structure and such a amazing documentary!!! Thank You Btw I have to give Mr. Grant kudos for building such a amazing estate regardless of funding and also his ingenious marvelous taste in architecture design !! It’s absolutely stunning ❤❤❤🌅🌄
This place has great potential to be made into a retreat hotel. Remote, quiet area, beautiful surroundings, outstanding views, make a little walking garden on the land, boat trips on the lake. Just need some structural engineers and see if it is salvageable
This house is totaled. As much as anyone wants to save it, it’s completely totaled. I didn’t see a single wall or surface that wasn’t touched by mold, vandalism, decay.
@@zakp.2759 yep a few other explorers put up videos of this place a few years ago or so, and it wasn't nearly as bad the degredation since then as seen here is boggling
Be fair he wasn't the one who drove the 2007 economy off the cliff. He was providing products and jobs not just playing around with derivatives and encouraging people to take on more mortgage thsn they could afford.
That’s just sad to me as an engineer. I think no one wanted to bid on it, because it would take 5mil for repairs and 5.5mil to complete. The demo alone would be 3.5 mil after savage materials. The up keeps 40k per month. It’s just not economical.
Hey just curious why the upkeep is 40k a month? I don't know anything about stuff like that but I'm interested in buying a mansion soon and trying to learn all the costs please share anything u can 🥺
@@NotForNowNo lol, OK, I'll play pretend with you , taxes and utilities, as well as lawn care, driveway maintenance, snow removal, water softener salt, pool chemicals, insurances, ect ect ect ect ect ect plus 30 more ect times 50 more ect ads up to WAY more than 40k per month upkeep, on a house of that scale ( should you ever move out on your own some day, get a job and earn enough to own a mansion rather than just day dream about it between video games) would likely be in the 50k to 60k per month range, .The Biltmore estate ( largest private residents in the USA) eats a whopping 75k in maintainance fees alone, the grandchildren that inherented it had to open the house for tourism just to be able to afford to keep it
@@montinyek6554 I agree…. Wat if that guy really is looking to buy a mansion…. Anyone can have a TH-cam account just like any other social media…. It could be a rich mf behind that account
@@montinyek6554 lol, why are people so dam gullible anymore, if you earned enough money to purchase a mansion, then you have been out in the world long enough to know what upkeep on a house is, so stop pretending , sometimes people just need a reality check.
Surely, there's a good amount of salvageable wood, stone, and glass that could be used for retail customers to buy and use for their home renovations. But the cost to buy the property and remove large enough pieces intact and then sell them is probably more than one could get in sales. Other than recovering recyclable materials, there is not much value left. It would cost less to demolish and develop a new neighborhood than to fix up the existing structure. Essentially, everything would have to be removed and the interior gutted and cleaned before starting over.
Actually I was surprised by the LACK of vandalism. Put this in the middle of Detroit or Chicago, and it would be turned upside down and completely unrecognizable in just a couple years.
Seriously, this place is nigh intact. How has it not been looted!? There's 10's of thousands of dollars worth of *easily* steal-able stuff just sitting there! Something tells me after this video though that's not gonna last...
Design was alright. But it would have cost a fortune to finish and furnish before the neglect. Now to get it back to the point where it was when construction ended would be around 1 million. Then probably another 2 to get it back. So 3 to get it back to 70 % finished and I estimate about 5 million depending on finishes, (moderate) to finish the project. And maintaining costs would be probably 150,000 a year. To furnish and get this move in ready I bet it's close to 10 million with modest finishes and furniture! Insane! How many people in the world could afford this house? And if they could they wouldn't do it in podunk Canada!
@@christopherweise438 it's very sad. Yeah, I figured 1 million to demo vandalization, rotted and molded wood and walls, and I am sure many other things that you can't see in the video. Then 2 million to replace all the glass, wood work, and walls that are needing demo. If this was on a beautiful coast I bet it would have been bought early and not saw all the vandalism and rotting! The boat dock is a fortune to bring back around!
@@larrypilgrim12 - Yep. Only reason it's located where it's at was because Grant was from the area. Location, location, location. Nobody that COULD spend that much WOULD spend that much to be in the middle of nowhere. Cheers man.
This place looks like a ‘dream build’ for the owner. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been to just walk away from this place? This close to completion? Heartbreaking.
I'd gladly purchase an abandoned mansion for $5. That's the best offer since no one else bought them. My utilities would be sky high but I'm living in a mansion...BUTT NAKED
That, and the sheer cost of fixing everything isn't something the local population could ever dream of handling. And there's no WAY the government would want to cover the bill, given that the small town this place sits in has about 3000 people who hate everything about this building, especially the vandals it attracts. It's such a shame the building is being left to rot, though. Lord knows the housing crisis needs some help
Its huge, but damn it would've been gorgeous! Lovely natural finishes... Also, I very much appreciate you asking/reminder folks to NOT vandalize properties. That's very respectful.
Yes, I worked in the trades at that time. Property traded hands do fast and every new owner said “ rip it out” even though it was just 2 years if that, old. What a lot of ease and all that free money that none seemed to worry about. What a shame.
I’d love to know about the architect that designed this amazing building. It’s sad his/her vision was never brought to complete fruition. An amazing place left to rot. What a shame.
This is a great reminder of the 2008 recession. I was just entering college and worked at my school so the whole recession blew by me when it ended. I keep forgetting how intense it was for others.
I was part of the construction of one of the OSB plants that Grant built in South Carolina just before going bust. It is quite the place. A huge, high-tech facility in the middle of a quiet, swampy, rural area so they have easy access to the otherwise-unusable trees that go into OSB. Given the cost of lumber this year, I bet the new owners are running it at top speed. As for the house, it looks like it would have been really nice had it been completed. A shame.
I've watched a couple others explore this place but your's is the best because you found the blueprints and were explaining where and what things were. Other people were just guessing or had no clue. This was nice to get a scale of how big some areas were in terms of walking through and what not..etc. Awesome job! It's crazy that this was going to be his house. Just insane. Can't even imagine that type of lifestyle...
Jake! Within the first five minutes you have raised your own bar even higher than I ever thought you would! This video is a masterpiece in its own right! From execution, to music, to funny unplanned moments to your excellent delivery. You are the real deal. Don' forget about us in the coming months.
That is incredibly tragic! This video is exceptional! From the very first shot to the last I was completely drawn in to both the video and the narration. I'm so glad I found this, although it's very sad to see such beauty go to waste.
The saddest part of this whole story is the vandalism. I have to imagine, for someone to purchase this property, even if it was for less than $1 million, it would cost tens of millions to clean out the debris and finish this house. What a shame. The water features around this property look like they would be amazing. I imagine all of those boilers were to heat the swimming pools and water features.
It wouldnt cost more than 1 million to clean-out that house, including tearing-out moldy wood, etc. Repairs and finishing the home would cost $5-10 million, easy.
@@dezznutz3743 The mold remediation alone, could cost $1 million. There is well over $1 million in glass replacement. There's no way you could finish a 65,000 square-foot house for $10 million. After watching that video and looking at the finishes in that house, I would bet, on the low end, that's at least a $45 million house. It's likely much higher. The vast majority of the cost is in the interior of a house. To deconstruct it and reconstruct it would be astronomical. That's why no one has bought it.
@@EnabledShooter 100% agree. If you were going to try to rebuild the house, you would literally have to rebuild the house. Everything is water damaged rotted out and destroyed. It's basically gutted itself over time. Better off buying the space and building new :(
I've seen people do renovations on abandoned buildings, and I'd love to see someone try and take on this place. Replace the parts that are no longer good, and add in the missing stuff. It would probably cost a lot just to redo the parts that are broken or damaged.
Couple things here I’ll correct you on, awesome video. The house was actually built by Grants son. He had taken over the family businesses and the mills and started to make that high end press board. I’m doing so he had so much money tied up in the other businesses that he didn’t actually have the money to finish the house. None of the contractors were paid and they all walked off the job, which is why the house was left in that way. The last business he owned he sold to Georgia Pacific to try and pay back some of the money owed to creditors. A company in Toronto bought the property and supposedly had plans for the property but nothing has came about. They keep paying the taxes every year. Some locals around the area would know a lot more with regards to the situation. Also, 11:45 those aren’t pool pumps. That’s the boiler system for the entire heating loop for the house. Those fed air handlers for the air conditioning and the boilers fed various air handlers around the house as well as in floor heat.
Kind of a shame they ran the business into the ground long ago, if they'd survived until the pandemic they could be making big $ with the building materials shortages.
I felt the same way until I heard the circumstances, that's what makes this series so good. As soon as I heard "Lumber Company Headquarters" and the year "2005" I knew where this was going. It's the same way with a lot of abandoned places, like all these beautiful mansions in Detroit, when the money ran out, no one who was left had the money to maintain them. You would think it would be worth it to salvage some of the materials and equipment, but this one is so remote you would need more resources than it might be worth. My childhood home was actually foreclosed on and abandoned at one point during the financial crisis, 26 years after my family moved out. My parents had a hard time selling it because it was a really unique house in a really small town and after we moved, but before we sold it, a little girl crawled through a hole in the fence and drowned, so the property value was ruined from then on, but the current owners saved it and restored it. They won the tax auction by only $500 from the grocery store which was going to turn it into a parking lot. The lady who lives there now was so nice to me when I walked up to the door unannounced and told me the whole story; vandals and squatters had really trashed it. It's super weird to know this happened to what was once my home.
Taxes, it’s difficult to own high value property even if it is given for free because the community government perpetually taxes it. Unfortunately, this causes great things to rot if they cannot be monetized. Tax is unnatural, unsustainable, theft.
I think about this all the time when I see abandoned homes or businesses or even when buildings get demolished. I think about how at one point someone likely put their best work into that project thinking it would last forever, or at least a very long time and it’s so sad to think about being wasted.
@@ESkog all iam saying is, there is no difference between a human who owns land and an animal who owns land. there is no difference between marking property with urine or claiming it with the help of religion. humans share land and animals own land. so if you own land, you are an animal by definition. and the more land you own, the less honorable you are.
It could be dangerous going into those abandoned buildings. Where I live they could be full of homeless people. You might want to carry something to protect yourself. I suppose being in Canada that would be limited to a pocket knife. :(
The water damage in there is further proof of why flat roofs in wet, cold climates are idiotic. If this property had standard raked roofs at this level of completion, I guarantee you it would look a lot better today- and may have actually sold to a different owner.
It’s sad how much vandalism and disrespect was given to this abandoned mansion. So much heart went into the planning to just be treated like that even if it’s been abandoned and unfinished
It wasn't "heart" that went into it. It was a jackass trying to show the world that he has it in the palm of his hand and the world saying not so fast. That is one of the ugliest most charmless buildings I've ever laid eyes on. It can't be destroyed soon enough.
Honestly I find it more infuriating that all of those salvalgable supplies haven't been offered to the nearby city for improvements and repairs. The rich throw away what the rest of us need to survive like it's worthless. there is so much stonework and tile and reusable materials in that building and *literally sitting in pallets* on the property.
@@juleswright8437 Yeah I'm with you on that. Literal millions sitting there because someone could afford to just let it go to waste, especially with the economic crisis we're in now it feels incredibly disrespectful.
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Im sorry but this is the posterboard for everything thats wrong with this country . That house has become a useless black hole of cash that couldve housed thousands of people who dont actually have a proverbial toilet or pot ...to piss in.
It takes hoarding to a whole other dimension
@@imannonymous7707 Wrong with Canada?
You on Gettr?
So sad to see this place like this. One wonders... you mentioned that the local Canadian gov't tried to auction it last for ~C$150k, but nobody bid... how is that handled? Is it still up for sale?
Disclaimer: I'm a very silly fellow and I'm in the USA. Don't take me too seriously.
As an artist, a writer, an electronics hobbyist, and a computer tinkerer... I know EXACTLY what I'd do with it if I won the lottery.
I'm a MYST fanatic. I'd find a way to live there, get some buddies together, and make it my life's mission and legacy to put together a sort of IRL Myst Island inspired thing. I live right now on Disability here in the USA, so I know how to live on a shoestring in difficult circumstances. My last place had pretty bad water damage, I swear we must've found about every fly-by-night roof guy in the whole dang county before I got out of there. (Now I live 3mi down the road in a rent-subsidized apartment and it's plenty better but it has issues of its own.)
But I can take a box of copper nails, some old pillbottle lids, and a bit of badly stained wood, some telephone relays... you ever play Myst III Exile? You know that thing at the end of the Amateria age where you turn the lil circle things in the box to make a complete pathway...? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. It'll even look the part when I'm done with it, just use some fancy stationary and grab some nail polish from Dollar Tree to use as paints... works a treat. You can do the same thing with rotary encoders and an Arduino if you want but you'll be there a flippin _week_ swearing your tongue off in languages that don't exist unless you're an absolute expert, and I can be done in a real good afternoon -- three, countin full decorations -- and for a lot cheaper, too. It's just switchgear to make it all work, that's all you need, switchgear and a bit of ratcheting.
I'd make it my life's work, the rest of what I have, take my time to do what I could, put the place back together, but as a MYST thing. I could do it, too, if I won the lotto. Fat chance of it tho. I don't hardly even play any more, it's not worth the odds, even the scratch-off cards.
I guess it's fun to imagine tho.
The camera alone didn't give a good impression of the racquetball court, but when someone went down there to demonstrate the size, my jaw actually dropped.
Right? I was thinking they were freaking out over nothing until he actually walked down there for scale
Same!
The makeshift shelving was huge, making the room look a lot smaller. Then we got the perspective of someone standing there. Wow.
That was some optical illusion
Timestamp?
Unlike other bloggers, I love how you actually give in-depth information about the houses and other abandoned buildings. All the questions I was asking myself about this house was answered.
yea but a lot of bullshitting in between
You like the sound of your own voice too much.
As an architect it's sad to see a project abandoned like this due to unfortunate circumstances. Clearly lot of detail and care was put to plan this mega mansion. Poor engineer and architects never enjoyed the finished product.
Yeah , I don't know if they've been paid already ? even if it's not finished..
Poor owner never go to, either! I built my own house and not getting to move in would have been so disappointing.
It was starting to look to cute but ultimately didn't make it. Aye.
So true and so sad
Hi Tom: I’m not an architect, I’m actually an engineer, but I designed my own house and built it all myself.
One of the things that I find very interesting about the human condition is that people think that rich people are super smart, but in fact they are generally pretty ordinary intelligence, and they are just pushy bastards.
In my career and in my life I have been around a lot of rich people, very few of them do I consider in any major exceptionally intelligent, but they know how to push people around and how to get money that they don’t necessarily deserve. Some of them do deserve the wealth they get, most of them don’t. Most of them are just takers.
This building is rather interesting and unique. I do not consider it good architecture by any measure. I tend to follow the Christopher Alexander school of thought, and that is that building should be Right sized for human comfort and delight. This is just a big pig house. Big rooms does not make them good rooms, just makes them big and dark and fucked up in every way
I can only imagine how beautiful this place would have been had it been finished
big and ugly
"What an enormous waste", that sums it up perfectly.
Such hubris, it's like Oxymandias
I feel like this is the only channel I’ve watched that provides an in-depth look at the structure but also includes a background on past ownership and financial information. Thank you for being so thorough.
Yes I agree!!! I love how clear, crisp his videos are but the explanation of why and what, is most appreciated
Jake - "What an enormous waste."
That was my first thought upon seeing the remains of a structure that could have been a stunningly beautiful home. How very sad.
Problem is, its in canada
@@alexander1485 what’s wrong with that? Giant house and free healthcare? Sign me up.
@@TransitAndTeslas if you can afford that you won’t need the free healthcare
@@alexander1485 NORTHERN Canada at that! Does Amazon deliver?
@@brindlekintales it's in Northern ONTARIO, not Northern Canada. Northern Ontario is like Minnesota weather.
I love that you explained the story behind the mansion-owner, what happened, etc. A lot of people just go in and say," I don't know who owned or why it's abandoned"...appreicate that you look into that and tell what you know. Very interesting. Very sad as well. Thanks!
This place is bigger than the hospital in my home town.
I had to laugh when he corrected his friend by saying this is mr. grants office, while the whole time his camera was pointed at bitch written on the wall. What a waste this place ended up. God bless.
Mine too!
My town has no hospital
@@crookedangle2062 my home town also had no hospital. Nearest was 40 miles away in any direction🤣
I can say, this is one of the most depressing modern abandoned homes I have ever seen. It sickens me how even the city did nothing with it, when it was still developable.
Unfortunately "the city" really doesn't have interest in rescuing personal failed financial problems,,, especially when it comes to private property, which it has no immediate control over because the property the mansion was located on was seized by a bank upon the tycoons' company financial fallout. The city surely did not have the $125k plus the additional amount of funds it would take to rehabilitate the dilapidated state of the structure at the time it was finally available at auction.
capitalism (private property) says "Hell No."
you are talking communism, and that is "bad" according to money-worshipers.
@@donHooligan tell me of a communist state that hasn't resulted in poverty and death of millions? Don't worry ill wait..
@@Profanity1
1st century christians and indigenous people are the only commies i know of.
trick question, as communism is basically a stateless society...like Christ wanted.
Exactly .. but this shows how try to live large but can come crashing down ..
I really don't understand the thinking of people who just trash abandoned buildings
I know it gets me so upset
It’s a waste of money in the first place so why not destroy it?
Probably kids from that neighborhood nearby.
I know right. Kid's with nothing to do. They never fail to leave drawings of the male anatomy for some reason. I would not do that,brought a repoed house where the people lived for two year's and paid nothing. They took the electrical box, the aluminum screen's, the well pump and tank, drew all over the wall's, and had animal's that pissed all over. I had to rip the floors out of most of the house and replace it, along with everything else they destroyed. I did feel good when the father of the girl who was evicted waited to long to buy the house, and he had the nerve to be mad when he stole all the stuff I mentioned. The house is nice now , and it's paid for. People who destroy property like this just aren't right. I forgive them, and hope they repent. Jesus does have a book. God bless.
@@areyoujelton That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It wasn't a waste of money to the person who built it when he was worth 400 million.
I have been binge watch Abandoned for the last few hours. This one had me speechless!!! You are so great at your research and delivery. I cannot get enough. Thank you and keep up the great work!!!!
Binge brothers🤞
Me too! 😅😅😅
Jake, your production quality has become spectacular. That drone shot of the lake and mansion at the start is Hollywood level stuff …except this is more interesting.
As for the property, just insane. Too expensive to rehab, too expensive to demolish.
Very much appreciate that!
I think it’s cheaper to rehab than recreate so someone should get on it
I love the respect you show the building and the owner. It saddens me that it's been left to decay, it kinda hurts my heart for some reason.
me to
I think it hurts because of the tremendous loss. Many of us could never even dream of affording a place like this, just to let it rot. And Mr. Grant still has a waterfront home, like this never happened
@@kimberlyphifer2391 I know it's a big waist of money, when 8 people can live in that house, why spend that much amount on a big house like that , than throw it away like come on people.
Sometimes i watch intro's to shows from the seventies and they make me sad. Then i realized that what was making me sad was all the actors/actresses who got their parts, hoping it would be the big break, only to end up on some quickly forgotten TVshow, never to be heard from again. This house is like that for me.
Respect would be protecting its location instead of posting it AND saying how much $$ is sitting there. He is contributing to the sad fate of this place!
The opening drone shot combined with that music felt like the final act of many Bond films. Or even more so recently - the beginning of a Hitman level. Very well done video. Fun to see Brennen & Jake together again too!
That’s what I was going for! Haha
@@BrightSunFilms your footage is amazing
I was feeling a Star Trek movie vibe lol
@@sicooper4230 yes! definitely had some Star Trek movie riffs in there.
@@sicooper4230 That's what I though too. Very James Horner-ish.
It would have been nice to have some pictures of what it WOULD have looked like if it were not in ruins. Thank you for this walkthrough!!
Why do people feel the need to destroy things that don’t belong to them! That’s pitiful! Thanks for the tour.
The building is definitely no longer structurally sound due to water damage. The slight damage done by people is negligible. Blame the bank that owned it
The drive to destroy is through envy and inadequacy. People are simple.
Yes those spray things is very bad
Agreed - VERY disrespectful.
Why do you place so much value in man made veils of reality? A destroyed Lambo hurts me no more
than spilled milk.
I hate scumbags who smash stuff up for no reason it’s so destructive.
I think the people that built this ridiculously large and grotesque mansion no one can afford in an otherwise pristine natural location are even bigger scumbags. That house is an eyesore to begin with
@@yoKentucky seething like you plan on being poor for life lol
@@yoKentucky sure but it could have been put to good use!
@@raymondmarsland4328 The idiots who built this aint gonna see it bro
Lol a furry defending senseless destruction
Imagine trying to maintain those huge water features in the winter. In Canada.
The glass had to be two layer argon filled because the whole place would freeze otherwise.
That guy was nuts.
He would have been better with 3 panes of glass - warmer & less sound. An inert gas could be used between the panes, to avoid mould & other bio-intrusions.
@@davidarundel6187 you got to take in account when it was built though
@@AwkwardYet it wasn't that long ago, that triple glazing, wouldn't have been available, as double glazeings been around since before metal framed windows, came along early-mid the 1900's. Insulation was also around in those days - the guides did remark how cold it was in parts of the place - and I know from experience, how cold Canada, can get.
@@davidarundel6187 all double paned glass windows are filled with inert gas. Nothing revolutionary. Been like that for decades.
@@littlejackalo5326 not sealed well enough in some cases with the amount of growth in some.
I knew the double glazeing has inert gas between the layers in modern windows - some that were upgraded, as wooden frame windows, are still clean & clear without inert gasses & those were done well before alunimimunm frames came in - the older iron framed windows, were never double glazed, where I live, which is most likely elsewhere to you.
For anyone interested in an update, the property was purchased in late 2023 by a Texas entrepreneur named Chris Fischer who intends to renovate the building for a new TV show called "Mansion Impossible".
Thank you! I was hoping someone would have an update.
That does seem pretty impossible 😅
Dude will figure out how much it's actually going to cost him to own renovate and own that place. It'll be up for sale again. People don't hold onto 65,00p sq ft homes because they arw enormous financial drains
@@jiceBERG Only way I can see it happening if it's stripped down to its bare minimum functions, nothing fancy while still using the existing walls and spaces, and that's still a stretch
@@jiceBERGu think he dont know what its gonna cost to own and redo the place 😂 i can tell u this he know what its gonna cost
Part of all the "business" portion of this property was so that Mr Grant wouldn't have to pay for his mansion out of his own pocket and could get the company to pay for it. When the Company when bankrupt, he lost the house like he lost the company. Therefore he could never go back and finish the last 30% of it because he never owned it. Grand Forest Products owned it.
You nailed it!
Very interesting
We should get a movie producer or company to rent it for a film and fix it up then rent to own it into apartments
They can use it for horror movies or kidnapping/ torture scenes.
It was a family run business, so all the same
Thank you to hum ever posted this video i worked on this project in 2007 building all of the wood panels for 8 months at the company that is was working for. I did not know hum they were for at the time nor did i see them installed. I only knew that the home was big and located up north. I was working in the Toronto area as a cabinetmaker. I still have some off cuts of the panels, they were custom laid up African Makore veneer on Grants special osb sheet material. It is nice to see them again and to know were they went unfortunately they are going to waste. I was glad to hear the fellow that did this video appreciated them and it would be great to hear from him. Regards Paul Newman.
Helllooooo Newwwwwmannnn!
Been a fan of abandoned exploration videos...but it is incredible to finally find one made by a man that actually understands architecture, design, construction and costs along with the unbelievable WASTE these properties tend to be. I've never understood why they aren't SALVAGED? How do banks just write off this level of loss? Curious.
Subscribed.
It's pretty simple, really. When banks put up loans, most of the money they lend is made up out of thin air. They never had that money. So, the losses aren't as big as you'd think. This is called fractional reserve banking and it is how our monetary system functions. It doesn't take much thinking to realize what an incredible scam fractional bank lending is. They make up money out of thin air to borrow to people and then those people have to go get actual, real money to give to the bank, or the bank will get to own the real property and sell it. Incredible, legal, scam.
It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
Henry Ford
@@choosetolivefree you're confused about how loans work. The bank has the actual cash to loan, how else would the house seller get their money, or the contractors building a new home get thier money? The financial institution gives the home buyer actual cash, which they can't make up out of thin air.
The interest on loans is how the financial institutions earn money on the money they loan out.
If you don't get a loan you get to use your own cash to buy or build. ?
How is this a scam?
Spa is
@@agirlisnoone5953 what you wrote is completely false. Fractional banking requires presently that the bank hold 7% of the value of the loan.
If you borrow $100,000 to buy a home the bank needs to have $7,000 in "real" money(reserves in an account), the other $93,000 is literally made up out of nothing, electronically invented and put into an account for payout.
Why do you think banks are so profitable
Banks create money, literally create it, the interest they charge is even more profit, think about the profit margins available when you create debt, that is paid back with real dollars.
Actually the entire $100,000 is created from thin air, they are only required to hold the $7,000 in an account.
This is amazing! I simply can’t understand though why people think they have to destroy everything they find like this. I commend you for your respect for the property. But I can’t get over the disrespect others have shown it. Keep up the good work, I loved this video!👍🏻👍🏻
The whole mansion is rotting from the inside out
@Adam Cinq-Mars Yeah because hostels and charities can afford the upkeep on a place like this. They can't even afford the tax bill. Like what lol
@Adam Cinq-Mars I just can't stand inconsistency. So we give tax breaks to entities you see fit, but not to businesses or individuals who also can't afford the bill? News, someone has to pay the bill, and "tax break" and "subsidized" is just another way of saying the regular taxpayer foots the bill. It's illogical and inconsistent. No charity would be able to afford any of this even if they had to pay zero tax. They make no money!
@Adam Cinq-Mars It would cost tens of thousands per month to keep that place running. Let alone rehab. In what is apparently not even a large city as far as tax dollars are concerned.
You can't expect taxpayers to fund such an endeavor when cheaper options exist for those who depend on the system. It exists as it is for a reason. If there was value here, an investor would have found it by now.
@@BlackHatAndy "It exists as it is for a reason"
Logic, efficiency, and effectiveness are usually not anywhere in there.
Whenever I see these abandoned videos, especially this one, I always wonder if the original owners ever go back to see them in this state, or ever see these videos. I can imagine it would be very difficult to see a project you started get to this state of disrepair.
I wonder the same thing.
I doubt it, they're probably so loaded that they see it as just a deal that didn't work out!.
@@Asad-zeetwo5241 or they are dead already.
@Drew Taylor All the new glass would be 2-300K. All because of lame weak ass wannabe taggers.
That’s a valid thing. I imagine anything like this is a painful memory of lots of money and time invested that never played out.
they should just get the whole town to clean that mansion then turn it into a public center that can be used by everyone, its to beautiful to waste
The engineering and insurance issues would be extreme. This was clearly unfinished. That much water damage would need large sections to be rebuilt.
M O L D.
Nope, I wouldn't want to go in that building, even if they gut it.
These film makers should've been wearing masks.
Yep, pretty much all of the wood (and glass) would need to be replaced. Which might require removing a lot of the stone panels. For some of the rooms that would be more expensive than building from scratch probably.
Ask any town that gets burdened with a mansion how much upkeep costs. It's incredibly expensive, and especially in a little, isolated town like that, there's gonna be next to zero in tourism revenue.
Yes as a mold contractor I can tell you the clean up/demolition phase of such a project would be more than the town could afford let alone a rebuild.
This home could cost much more that the entire town is worth, all 75 homes combined.
No one can afford to rebuild this home short of a billionaire.
What a beautiful structure I bet when it was near completion.
Finally! An Abandoned Mansion TH-camr actually finding out the back story of the how/why/and whens, of the property and owner and sharing the reasons for its abandonment!
You've just got yourself another viewer 👍
So totally agree! Guy does a really good job researching for his videos! 👍🏻
@@anneandrews7053 - that's all we ask for when watching these kind of videos. Kudos to the man 👍
@@Its_A_London_Thing What were the reasons? I don't wanna watch the whole video
@@enermaxstephens1051 - Drug
@@RedfoxQc He abandoned because of drugs?
Wow, what a shame! It is so interesting to hear the history of the owners, instead of just seeing a property abandoned and left wondering why, so thank you for that 🙏.
Nothing exceeds like excess. What a shame. It would have been a true work of art.
What a waste. What a shame. Could have been one of the most amazing mansions of the world. Now it is nothing but a disrespected abandoned grand dames of Canada. Excellent video though. Thanks for sharing.
When the "hometown boy made good" flex turns disastrous. It's a shame it couldn't of become a community center or some kind of public building. It'd probably be too expensive for a town like that to maintain.
Oh, most definitely. The population of that area is teeny tiny. Hell, Haileybury alone, which this place is situated in, only holds about 3000 people. Unfortunately, there's just no way for the community to keep it running, even if it got retrofitted while the building was still in impeccable condition
They literally built a city hall down the road from it, so yeah would’ve been a great investment especially for curious travellers
@@brittany_bee Is this thing in an area that gets lots of travelers?
Yes and no. Temiskaming is amazing. If you love fishing it’s one of the best destinations. Canadian highways are pretty simple... you either stay on Hwy 17 going W or East (to or from Ottawa) which brings you toward Sudbury (The Big Nickle) or you take the scenic route on Hwy 11. Haileybury runs off Hwy 11b which takes you through Cobalt (seriously amazing destination for anyone who loves history especially Mining history... I’m a huge fan of Cerro Gordo after living outside Cobalt. And Cobalts mining is what built Toronto, infact during the Haileybury fire TO sent rail cars to house the locals - there’s a memorial down the road from the Peter Grants boat house).
Even if you chose to travel Hwy 17 Haileybury is only about 90mins North of North Bay
When I lived in Coleman twp I had 3 lynx in my backyard. There’s a place called Devils Rock as well which Mind Fix Chill on TH-cam covered (check it out!! Breath taking footage).
The area is extremely under marketed but I’m quite positive that will change in time. The boat house would’ve made an amazing hotel or city centre, the whole area is so easy to fall in love with I wish more people knew about it. And I wish the biker reunion would happen again - those were experiences you can never forget.. It was a huge fundraiser I’m honestly not sure what happened
Edit:
Temagami has a gorgeous view from the lookout.
Grey Owl lived in Temagami.
The Highland trail head starts in Latchford.
Lady Evelyn is a great camping spot and that alone attracts a lot of people.
There are so many reasons to explore the area lol but not many people don’t know about it, yet
@@brittany_bee it's weird because just this morning I was on Google maps tracking north through Canada to see where civilization truly ends... seems like Quebec City is one of the more northern large urban areas but anyway now I'm recommend this video... Google is always collecting information on us
One of the upmost, well done abandoned exploration videos I've seen yet. I never ever can watch more than 15 minutes because of the talking, super extended intros, loud noise, or the lack of creative outlook on where they are exploring, etc. As you said wow to the bowing in the roof, I did too. And as you said what a waste, I did too. Very well done, watched finish to end, and now subscribed, moving onto another video by this channel. Thank you!
Truly a victim of the location it was built in. If the population was any greater I’d imagine the local government would’ve been able to keep the property for use as a community centre or something of the sort. Imagine re-purposing the building as a recreation centre/community centre/library/preschool. Honestly the possible uses of the site are nearly endless just looking at the sheer size of the property… if only it was in better shape as I’m sure the property would be a white elephant for anyone who takes it on.
The problem is that a lot of these abandoned buildings actually *are* located in such area's but their local governments don't want to spend the time or the money to actually do just that: repurpose said buildings into something that is BENEFICIAL to the community. Instead they'd rather just let them fall into ruin.
Now, admittedly, I know in some places this is intentional so as to leave a place for scientists to examine (there's a large island, I forgot where, whose community abandoned it after the 2nd World War, rich people and construction companies have been wanting to buy it but local governments have it listed as a historical site)
As long as all the contractors got paid
@@Rodger_Phillips at this level of decay, you would need to strip away all the wall covering materials in and out to ensure that the house is structural sound... to reconstruct and finish this , could take easy a fortune...
They should have used it as a police station. Damn idiots.
@@timsteinkamp2245 Yeah and near the water also for Police water operations.
this reminds me so much of my grandfather's unfinished house. obviously it wasn't so enormous, but it was actually pretty similar in style, and it had some ostentatious touches like his own shooting range in the basement. he mistrusted contractors so he designed and built it all himself. it was almost entirely concrete because he was paranoid about fire. he sank an unimaginable amount of money into it, not to mention my mother and uncle's entire childhoods for their labor, but he couldn't figure out how to fit the roof tiles he had chosen over the dormers. so he left it roofless and exposed for almost forty years, to the point that there were small trees growing on the second story, and the concrete walls had started to split. all the while he lived and raised his children in an increasingly decaying trailer parked in front of the unusable house. at the end he and my nana had a tarp draped over their bed because the roof leaked so badly, and the floor had collapsed in multiple places. when he died nana got rid of the property as quickly as possible and the new owner had to raze the whole thing. my mother won't even drive by it anymore.
Oh my god! That is such a depressing story! Oh man.
That deserves a film
Do not blame your Mom for avoiding the spot. I would too.
Awww😢😭
I kinda am curious how it looked
This made me heartsick. As I watch you walk through I could see the work that went into this place and what potential it would have had. The opulence was unbelievable and design, unimaginable! This was an excellent and well-executed video! Thank you for a job well done!
This would have been scooped up quickly in any other popular area, so much potential! So fun to imagine it finished, furnished, and full of family and friends enjoying themselves.
I had just sold my real estate brokerage about a year before the ‘08 collapse occurred. Every single person and entity from real estate brokers, to mortgage companies, to construction companies saw it coming long before it all came crashing down. It pisses me off to no end that this Mr. Grant was exonerated of his financial responsibility with the flick of a judge’s wrist and he’s now living in another fancy home in a fancy community while this home continues to rot and the nearby community suffers the consequences of his actions.
Y'know I think just blaming this shit on the 2008 crash is too simple and overlooks the gross hubris and wasteful opulence of this property and others like it. (I'm sensing a theme in a lot of these videos.) The crash was a catalyst, not the cause. What the hell was even the point if this?! To have a little remote cult?
The only atonement left for this person is to submit his body to the trees. Whatever is salvageable should be given freely to anyone who needs it and the next of kin is responsible for demolishing the property.
WE should have burned our system down a long time ago. only gonna get worse unless we do something about it.
@@Laurell_Silentshadewow saying he should kill himself is extreme.
This is one the most heartbreaking films I've ever seen
The waisted work and creativity is just so incredibly sad.
I felt the same way but it slowly dawned on me that the cost to operate this place would drive anyone bankrupt.
@Krista Awesome it is also the same case with me. This building looks like my current life state.
@@marthajacobs4910 Hi Martha, you need JESUS! There is hope for all born again Christians, listen to Dr. Ron Rhodes on end times chronolgy.
Bob Hope made a bigger mistake in Palm Springs check it out.
One of the most heartbreaking films you've ever seen is a video about an unfinished mega mansion?? 😕
Ummm ok WOW... Let me help you expand your perspective. Enter some searches on topics like:
poorest people in the world, people living in landfills, fentanyl in the US, plastic islands in the ocean, land mines in Vietnam today, child labor in African cobalt mines, etc.
No need to thank me, but you're welcome anyway
Imagine the cost to heat a place like this. The building is a perfect example of overreach. The guy built himself a palace as if the company would always be growing.
His gas bills would have been insane. If his company was around today with the price of wood and building materials, dude would have been making stacks of money. Cruel irony...
What makes you think they would heat it during winter? A dude like this goes to Florida in the winter to his other house.
Silly me. It's got a boat dock, so this must be the *summer* cottage.
@@roberson644 If it had in floor heating it would had been very efficient. It just cost alot to install.
@@roberson644 you have to heat the house or turn off all the water in the house or the pipes will freeze and then explode in the winter time.
Just the fact that all that copper hasn't been stripped out by thieves yet is amazing.
up country degens haven't found it, yet
Yea its Canada, not the good old US of A, that's why
Too hard to get the shopping cart down the driveway.
They'd rather draw peens on the walls.
@@Dbraddy15 Believe it or not, the hand drawn pee-pee pics are a global graffiti symbol. It was all over East Germany and the Ukraine after the USSR fell
This looks like Tony Stark just left his house one day.
That’s what I thought!!!
and imagining a pristine home....it would be fit for Tony...
I was literally thinking the same thing. If I were a billionaire I would buy the crap out of that place.
Yessss!!🤣
Hey, Pep...
Am I the only one who thinks who needs a house this INSANELY big?!?! Like really? I get you have money, but this is just ridiculous!
Nobody. But when you have a LOT of money you are forced to spend it or be taxed grossly. So people by, collect and sell homes, land, properties etc…
Honestly this is the exact reason the locals resent the place so much. Well, and the fact that it got abandoned so quickly, it's legacy, and all the vandals and looters the building attracts. The locals just want it gone. The tourism it attracts isn't the kind you want to encourage
Bro do you know how much space any cool collection takes?
If you have 50 wives and over 100 kids
@Jeff J right it's not accurate to think of this as a house. This is a corporate headquarters that would basically also function as a hotel to corporate employees and business partners and likely their families.
It's almost more like a corporate resort or getaway retreat. Come see the boss, do some business, have a little vacation.
The house basically has to offer all the amenities because the town couldn't.
This makes me sad. It may or may not have been my preferred architectural style, but it could have become a stunning place. Now this structure is beyond saving. All the materials, the vision, the groundwork, the progress: all gone. All what's left is an eyesore for nearby residents. And this dedicated video. Well done!
Idk if an abandoned mega mansion qualifies as an eye sore.
I don’t see why it couldn’t be fixed up? There is a lot of structure that’s available
i dont think its beyond saving
@@HendersonHinchfinch dude that thing is ugly as posterior f*ck didnt your mommy teach you to clean up your messes
I watched this video almost a year ago and still think about this mansion occasionally. Thank you for the awesome video, the mansion and the story had a lasting impact.
That means a lot, thanks!
@@BrightSunFilms of course! 🌻 🌞
Now the boilers are going to be gone for sure...
Before retirement I used to be a mechanical contractor and worked in homes like these, many on West Coast islands. The mechanical boiler room you seen is what our specialty was. It really is truly amazing the money spent on structures like these. We would spend upwards of three years on projects like this. The owner explains why OSB ply was being used in this caliber of a home. Construction appears to have stopped about a year or so from completion sad. I bet many a contractor were never paid and declared bankruptcy as well. The opulence is staggering to view by your astonishments.
Abandoned building videos always make me upset for the reasons you talked about, so many perfectly usable components left to decay. It's so wasteful.
Breaks my heart ...so many abandoned properties and so many homeless people in the world.
Homes need to be upkept and have utilities. How are the homeless going to pay for that?
It's so sad to see this going to waste. The stones and steel girders alone are worth a small fortune, too bad all the windows are smashed.
And also vandelized inside and out... it's a waste..
This property fails in all three of the most important rules of real estate:
1. Location
2. Location
3. Location
Odd how it's so close to that small town and up north in BFE Canada.....I'd want it either further away from the town in a more secluded, out of sight out of mind area or closer to a nice city.
Cheap land and on the water
@@dougrogan379 Good Point
@@michaelbrinks8089 if he had have money coming in he would have been fine. So it seemed right for him but no one else was interested in this back water obviously. And by the sounds of it would have cost a cool ~30ish million to complete
Yes. Now if this was on the coast of Malibu California, it would be the hottest thing.
Been spending most our lives living in a squatter’s paradise.
Nice💯💯🙌🏼🙌🏼
This place looks like a huge version of Grants tomb, rotting, and decaying like it is.
Nice Weird Al reference. 😃
@@loganiushere You mean a Gangster’s Paradise by Coolio, or Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise reference. The Weird Al version is pretty good too.
@@Rock_star1620 Sorry, I thought he was referring to Penguin Paradise. My bad lol😅
Such an incredibly beautiful, spectacular building. It's practically a crime to see it go to waste like this. It would be interesting to see someone put together a computer simulation of what this might have looked like if it had been finished instead of abandoned.
Roflmao.
Was it designed by one of the Flintstone family .
Lol are you kidding me? This thing is a hedonistic eyesore built out of cardboard and plastic. It needs to be demolished.
@@SUBARCTICPSYCHO Even if the construction is shit, the design is beautiful -- that's what I was getting at.
@@OreadNYC An abomination. A child with a box of crayons could create something with more charm. The architect should be shot.
@@SUBARCTICPSYCHO Yesterday would be too soon. One of the ugliest buildings I've ever laid eyes on.
Clicked for the house. Stayed for the incredible story behind it. Great video!
Thanks Greg!
This hurts my heart to see such a beautiful piece abandoned & falling apart. Such a lot of love & hard work went into this place! Loved the video, thanks for the back story!
Is it just me or does the drone footage almost looks like a computer rendering? Like its an unbelievably amazing shot!
It does! I think it's because we look at the house and not realize it's scale
I was thinking the same thing. It looks so surreal. I could of sworn it was CGI or it’s equivalent.
@@tygerbyrn agreed.
The music effect and the production of this video is just top notch
My thought is had he envisioned a structure 1/3 this scale , it would have been completed before the unforeseen financial crash . Such a waste of not only materials , but talented labor .
So true.
Very cool that you found the plans left there. "it's The Grant Gallery" 😃 The boat dock alone looks 3x bigger than my place.
$150K, I was go for that, but it would expect utility running cost would be in the 10s of thousands each month not counting the property taxes costs.
Considering he was going to use it partly for business, it was smart to put the house in the company's name.
Its not even the utility. All that water damage , broken windows and completion of the house will cost you millions. People really underestimating how expensive that is. Replacing all the windows on that building alone is at least 1 million. 150k sounds like a steal until you realize that you need to invest millions to live in it.
@@omgwasistdasden Another option could be to just tear it down to bare concrete/steel and go for that industrial look, open it up a bit more to get some airflow to get rid of the mold and only make a parts of it actually habitable. I don't know what you could do with it, host some kind of festival in the summer when the sun is upt 24/7, fix the pool at it could probably be nice in the summer. Ofc the location is crap and property taxes are still a thing so its probably a terrible idea. Just saying that you don't need to finish it like he wanted to finish it.
@@Lappmogel it is not even close to being far enough north to have 24/7 sunlight. Also it would cost a lot of money to gut it and renovate it.
Sadly this place is just going to rot away and I don't think anyone would be willing to buy it.
@@Old_Ladies are you literate? I said dont renovate it, tear it down to bare concrete. Look at the place, everything is cast or prefab concrete
WOW this is so insane and the fact that NO ONE ever enjoyed it at all ever because it was never completed. What a unbelievable waste of money. Wow. Great find and thank you for showing it to us.
waist of money, would you have bought it for only $100k
Imagine how many people gave their skills, time, and materials to this project, and were never paid!?
That melted security glass looked like an expensive sculpture...
The amount of wasted wealth is just mind-blowing here
the more money one has, the less brains
seems like the general rule of thumb
All alot of money does is...not make you not worry about money.
@@walterbrunswick The money is not the problem. It's the overconfidence. The presumption that grows overtime..
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. I know a couple real estate investors that where worth millions before 2008 and now they live in a small 3 bedroom home trying to build up their wealth again.
Right so disgusting
I used to be a long haul truck owner operator from the prairies and passed through that town when running Northern Ontario. A few of our trucks were based out of that town and knew of the Grant family. My co worker said that was going to be the biggest house in Canada before things went sideways. Second or third generation burned up a lot of cash from a successful business. I think a few of the lumber mills had to be sold and trucking company closed.
So sad.
Oh wow! That's quite the profession but not easy by any stretch. You must have seen some very interesting places along the way. Thank you for being an essential service!🍁🚚💜
I wonder if Mr. Grant ever saw this video and I wonder how he must feel . Such a beautiful amazing structure and such a amazing documentary!!! Thank You
Btw I have to give Mr. Grant kudos for building such a amazing estate regardless of funding and also his ingenious marvelous taste in architecture design !! It’s absolutely stunning ❤❤❤🌅🌄
This place has great potential to be made into a retreat hotel. Remote, quiet area, beautiful surroundings, outstanding views, make a little walking garden on the land, boat trips on the lake. Just need some structural engineers and see if it is salvageable
That was my thought exactly. If they were to raise deer or some other type of animal on the property it could even be a hunting resort.
This house is totaled. As much as anyone wants to save it, it’s completely totaled. I didn’t see a single wall or surface that wasn’t touched by mold, vandalism, decay.
@@zakp.2759 yep
a few other explorers put up videos of this place a few years ago or so, and it wasn't nearly as bad
the degredation since then as seen here is boggling
So tragic, he had to downgrade to his smaller waterfront home with only a golf course to cry on.
I don’t think he downgraded… I think it was his original home and he wanted to upgrade… and who knows, maybe build a larger golf course over here…
Be fair he wasn't the one who drove the 2007 economy off the cliff. He was providing products and jobs not just playing around with derivatives and encouraging people to take on more mortgage thsn they could afford.
That’s just sad to me as an engineer. I think no one wanted to bid on it, because it would take 5mil for repairs and 5.5mil to complete. The demo alone would be 3.5 mil after savage materials. The up keeps 40k per month. It’s just not economical.
Hey just curious why the upkeep is 40k a month? I don't know anything about stuff like that but I'm interested in buying a mansion soon and trying to learn all the costs please share anything u can 🥺
@@NotForNowNo lol, OK, I'll play pretend with you , taxes and utilities, as well as lawn care, driveway maintenance, snow removal, water softener salt, pool chemicals, insurances, ect ect ect ect ect ect plus 30 more ect times 50 more ect ads up to WAY more than 40k per month upkeep, on a house of that scale ( should you ever move out on your own some day, get a job and earn enough to own a mansion rather than just day dream about it between video games) would likely be in the 50k to 60k per month range, .The Biltmore estate ( largest private residents in the USA) eats a whopping 75k in maintainance fees alone, the grandchildren that inherented it had to open the house for tourism just to be able to afford to keep it
@@PsychobabbleRapp why the hell are you being a dick to the guy, he just asked a question
@@montinyek6554 I agree…. Wat if that guy really is looking to buy a mansion…. Anyone can have a TH-cam account just like any other social media…. It could be a rich mf behind that account
@@montinyek6554 lol, why are people so dam gullible anymore, if you earned enough money to purchase a mansion, then you have been out in the world long enough to know what upkeep on a house is, so stop pretending , sometimes people just need a reality check.
All i can say is, "WOW" Thank you for your videos...they're AMAZING.
Surely, there's a good amount of salvageable wood, stone, and glass that could be used for retail customers to buy and use for their home renovations. But the cost to buy the property and remove large enough pieces intact and then sell them is probably more than one could get in sales.
Other than recovering recyclable materials, there is not much value left. It would cost less to demolish and develop a new neighborhood than to fix up the existing structure. Essentially, everything would have to be removed and the interior gutted and cleaned before starting over.
I still can see all of the beauty and splendor in it...
I absolutely love this channel. Please never stop lol.
I won’t!
my aunt was a lead in building this house and can say that all of this information is spot on👍
You summed it up perfectly.... "What an enormous waste".....
I thought it, then heard him say it!?
I'm most surprised at the vandalism... And the fact that so many of those materials could be salvaged and repurposed.
Actually I was surprised by the LACK of vandalism. Put this in the middle of Detroit or Chicago, and it would be turned upside down and completely unrecognizable in just a couple years.
Seriously, this place is nigh intact.
How has it not been looted!? There's 10's of thousands of dollars worth of *easily* steal-able stuff just sitting there!
Something tells me after this video though that's not gonna last...
@@sorcerykid
They would burn it. It's what they do now. No one to murder and nothing to loot. Leaves them no choice.
@@vandiverb so I'm guessing you're white & also racist based on your comment
@@LoyaltyIsAll1600 what’s racist about it?
I can imagine no one wants it because it is such an impractical design and would cost a fortune both to complete and then run and maintain.
Design was alright. But it would have cost a fortune to finish and furnish before the neglect. Now to get it back to the point where it was when construction ended would be around 1 million. Then probably another 2 to get it back. So 3 to get it back to 70 % finished and I estimate about 5 million depending on finishes, (moderate) to finish the project. And maintaining costs would be probably 150,000 a year. To furnish and get this move in ready I bet it's close to 10 million with modest finishes and furniture! Insane! How many people in the world could afford this house? And if they could they wouldn't do it in podunk Canada!
@@larrypilgrim12 - As insane as those figures are, i'd say you're correct. Too much money to renovate.....too much money to demolish.
@@christopherweise438 it's very sad. Yeah, I figured 1 million to demo vandalization, rotted and molded wood and walls, and I am sure many other things that you can't see in the video. Then 2 million to replace all the glass, wood work, and walls that are needing demo. If this was on a beautiful coast I bet it would have been bought early and not saw all the vandalism and rotting! The boat dock is a fortune to bring back around!
@@larrypilgrim12 - Yep. Only reason it's located where it's at was because Grant was from the area. Location, location, location. Nobody that COULD spend that much WOULD spend that much to be in the middle of nowhere. Cheers man.
You design the closing of sections, and you live in a section that you decide.
This place looks like a ‘dream build’ for the owner. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been to just walk away from this place? This close to completion? Heartbreaking.
I'd gladly purchase an abandoned mansion for $5. That's the best offer since no one else bought them.
My utilities would be sky high but I'm living in a mansion...BUTT NAKED
Love it !!
You would never really "own" it, even if you paid only $5. Just miss your property taxes and see how much you really "own"....
Fuck yeah lol!
Omg such a great response - love it
Fantastic video as always buddy! Was fun exploring with ya!
thank you
I love when people comment 1 minute after a 27 minute video was posted. Jk live ur life
Was just going to say I saw this in uncharted travels video recently.
If you guys are still out this way check out old burwash prison
@@mikitereszko2222 they made the video together? Chill out
The thing that prevents this ever being more than a - demolish and start over job - is the water damage.
Being water front, it seems like moisture should have been a day 1 concern and maybe it was, till non payment and such
@@JK-gm6kk it would have, but not in an uncompleted building. Dewatering in that area usually needs dehumidifiers and pumps.
@@JK-gm6kk They said in the video the dehumidifiers were shut off due to non-payment.
That, and the sheer cost of fixing everything isn't something the local population could ever dream of handling. And there's no WAY the government would want to cover the bill, given that the small town this place sits in has about 3000 people who hate everything about this building, especially the vandals it attracts. It's such a shame the building is being left to rot, though. Lord knows the housing crisis needs some help
Its huge, but damn it would've been gorgeous! Lovely natural finishes... Also, I very much appreciate you asking/reminder folks to NOT vandalize properties. That's very respectful.
People often forget that the 2008 recession was the side effect of the real estate bubble from which that guy profited greatly.
Yep. and of course he was able to walk away from it, since it was likely company money being wasted and not his personal money.
these criminals must be held to account
@@ksavage681 no
@@Jacksirrom What crime?
Yes, I worked in the trades at that time. Property traded hands do fast and every new owner said “ rip it out” even though it was just 2 years if that, old. What a lot of ease and all that free money that none seemed to worry about. What a shame.
Omg YES. YES YES YES. Please carry on doing these long videos, they’re literally getting me through my uni degree 🙌🏼😂
I’d love to know about the architect that designed this amazing building. It’s sad his/her vision was never brought to complete fruition. An amazing place left to rot. What a shame.
The name of the architect should be on the blue prints they found.
A flat roof in Northern Canada? That wasn’t smart.
Come on now .... you Know it was a "Him" >_
@@JohnDahleAL there are lots of them
@@brainhakker7133 unnecessary
This is a great reminder of the 2008 recession. I was just entering college and worked at my school so the whole recession blew by me when it ended. I keep forgetting how intense it was for others.
I was part of the construction of one of the OSB plants that Grant built in South Carolina just before going bust. It is quite the place. A huge, high-tech facility in the middle of a quiet, swampy, rural area so they have easy access to the otherwise-unusable trees that go into OSB. Given the cost of lumber this year, I bet the new owners are running it at top speed.
As for the house, it looks like it would have been really nice had it been completed. A shame.
There’s really no such thing as unusable trees except a few species and osb is generally made from planted stands
I've watched a couple others explore this place but your's is the best because you found the blueprints and were explaining where and what things were. Other people were just guessing or had no clue. This was nice to get a scale of how big some areas were in terms of walking through and what not..etc. Awesome job! It's crazy that this was going to be his house. Just insane. Can't even imagine that type of lifestyle...
Jake! Within the first five minutes you have raised your own bar even higher than I ever thought you would! This video is a masterpiece in its own right! From execution, to music, to funny unplanned moments to your excellent delivery. You are the real deal. Don' forget about us in the coming months.
Thank you so much Brett!!
That is incredibly tragic!
This video is exceptional! From the very first shot to the last I was completely drawn in to both the video and the narration. I'm so glad I found this, although it's very sad to see such beauty go to waste.
The saddest part of this whole story is the vandalism. I have to imagine, for someone to purchase this property, even if it was for less than $1 million, it would cost tens of millions to clean out the debris and finish this house. What a shame. The water features around this property look like they would be amazing. I imagine all of those boilers were to heat the swimming pools and water features.
It wouldnt cost more than 1 million to clean-out that house, including tearing-out moldy wood, etc. Repairs and finishing the home would cost $5-10 million, easy.
@@dezznutz3743 The mold remediation alone, could cost $1 million. There is well over $1 million in glass replacement. There's no way you could finish a 65,000 square-foot house for $10 million. After watching that video and looking at the finishes in that house, I would bet, on the low end, that's at least a $45 million house. It's likely much higher. The vast majority of the cost is in the interior of a house. To deconstruct it and reconstruct it would be astronomical. That's why no one has bought it.
@@EnabledShooter 100% agree. If you were going to try to rebuild the house, you would literally have to rebuild the house. Everything is water damaged rotted out and destroyed. It's basically gutted itself over time. Better off buying the space and building new :(
Very true. There is no reason to be that destructive. Some people are just terrible.
The saddest part for me is just the level of excess. What kind of pig do you have to be to exhibit that level of ostentation?
I think that this owner lost his mind. The cost to just keep this place running would drive anyone bankrupt, which is why it never sold.
It’s really sad that this building never got finished much less used.
I've seen people do renovations on abandoned buildings, and I'd love to see someone try and take on this place. Replace the parts that are no longer good, and add in the missing stuff. It would probably cost a lot just to redo the parts that are broken or damaged.
eat the rich.
@@danthegypsy5871 Don't be jealous
It's good you gave a brief history of what happened
This house feels like it comes out of a movie.
And that's one of the only ways it could have been saved: restructured with studio investor's cash as a film or ongoing television series set
Couple things here I’ll correct you on, awesome video.
The house was actually built by Grants son. He had taken over the family businesses and the mills and started to make that high end press board. I’m doing so he had so much money tied up in the other businesses that he didn’t actually have the money to finish the house. None of the contractors were paid and they all walked off the job, which is why the house was left in that way. The last business he owned he sold to Georgia Pacific to try and pay back some of the money owed to creditors. A company in Toronto bought the property and supposedly had plans for the property but nothing has came about. They keep paying the taxes every year. Some locals around the area would know a lot more with regards to the situation.
Also, 11:45 those aren’t pool pumps. That’s the boiler system for the entire heating loop for the house. Those fed air handlers for the air conditioning and the boilers fed various air handlers around the house as well as in floor heat.
Thanks, I was actually looking at them and thought "looks like commercial boilers to me" (used to work for a manufacturer) ;-). Glad I was right!
Kind of a shame they ran the business into the ground long ago, if they'd survived until the pandemic they could be making big $ with the building materials shortages.
I can't wrap my head around why or how these amazing houses are just left.
Imagine the attitudes of the vandals, refined to the tune of millions of dollars.
Money?
I felt the same way until I heard the circumstances, that's what makes this series so good. As soon as I heard "Lumber Company Headquarters" and the year "2005" I knew where this was going. It's the same way with a lot of abandoned places, like all these beautiful mansions in Detroit, when the money ran out, no one who was left had the money to maintain them. You would think it would be worth it to salvage some of the materials and equipment, but this one is so remote you would need more resources than it might be worth. My childhood home was actually foreclosed on and abandoned at one point during the financial crisis, 26 years after my family moved out. My parents had a hard time selling it because it was a really unique house in a really small town and after we moved, but before we sold it, a little girl crawled through a hole in the fence and drowned, so the property value was ruined from then on, but the current owners saved it and restored it. They won the tax auction by only $500 from the grocery store which was going to turn it into a parking lot. The lady who lives there now was so nice to me when I walked up to the door unannounced and told me the whole story; vandals and squatters had really trashed it. It's super weird to know this happened to what was once my home.
@@JoelSmithR1 multi millionaire spending billionaire money.
Taxes, it’s difficult to own high value property even if it is given for free because the community government perpetually taxes it. Unfortunately, this causes great things to rot if they cannot be monetized. Tax is unnatural, unsustainable, theft.
Honestly what kills me as a trademen, is the effort and sweat that goes into these buildings just to be left to rot. its sad.
I think about this all the time when I see abandoned homes or businesses or even when buildings get demolished. I think about how at one point someone likely put their best work into that project thinking it would last forever, or at least a very long time and it’s so sad to think about being wasted.
So iot's actually only 16 years old, but looks like it was made in the 70s.
Trends repeat.
The influence is what I call 4th generation Frank Lloyd Wright, and its attempt to fit into nature never goes oit of style.
I've been watching this channel for Years... You've got some Nerve to go into these places... Props Man!
those animals had some nerves to let them get build a castle like that
@@herbertfeuerste1n120 ‘animals’ ??
@@herbertfeuerste1n120 what are you talking about lmfao
@@ESkog all iam saying is, there is no difference between a human who owns land and an animal who owns land. there is no difference between marking property with urine or claiming it with the help of religion. humans share land and animals own land. so if you own land, you are an animal by definition. and the more land you own, the less honorable you are.
It could be dangerous going into those abandoned buildings. Where I live they could be full of homeless people. You might want to carry something to protect yourself. I suppose being in Canada that would be limited to a pocket knife. :(
The water damage in there is further proof of why flat roofs in wet, cold climates are idiotic.
If this property had standard raked roofs at this level of completion, I guarantee you it would look a lot better today- and may have actually sold to a different owner.
My thoughts exactly. Flat roofs in snow country? Why?
@@LoveWinterMaineWoods Built properly it doesn't matter, its not exactly a cottage built out of plywood and a few 2x4's
That's your take away? Flat roofs are bad?
@@horrido666Sorry for jumping in, but I think flat roofs they look good, but I often hear and read they are notoriously prone to leaking.
It’s sad how much vandalism and disrespect was given to this abandoned mansion. So much heart went into the planning to just be treated like that even if it’s been abandoned and unfinished
statement to the basic differences of humanity - the positive and the destructive mentalities
It wasn't "heart" that went into it. It was a jackass trying to show the world that he has it in the palm of his hand and the world saying not so fast. That is one of the ugliest most charmless buildings I've ever laid eyes on. It can't be destroyed soon enough.
Honestly I find it more infuriating that all of those salvalgable supplies haven't been offered to the nearby city for improvements and repairs. The rich throw away what the rest of us need to survive like it's worthless. there is so much stonework and tile and reusable materials in that building and *literally sitting in pallets* on the property.
@@juleswright8437 💯
@@juleswright8437 Yeah I'm with you on that. Literal millions sitting there because someone could afford to just let it go to waste, especially with the economic crisis we're in now it feels incredibly disrespectful.