Really tasteful friends: Troy House, have at it -

It looks like beautiful countryside

Beautiful place with lots of potential. Hope someone who has mountains of cash buys it and does something wonderful with it.

The Welsh 'government' is involved so you can expect this place to crumble into ruins before anyone is allowed to do anything with it.

You would need 30 mil plus burning a hole in your pocket and then if it was at all feasible, permitted, zoned and actually a sound venture (highly unlikely) - rip everything (and I do mean everything) out saving only the shell and reconstruct this rotten nightmare into a chic hotel of some sort. The best option however is just to run - don't walk.

{quote] chic hotel

That's an idea. They did it with Cliveden. Not sure it would work in Wales. Perhaps move the whole pile to AZ and start again.

^[quote] chic hotel

It’s Wales, so most of the time the weather is dark, rainy and gloomy. If I had to live there by myself I’d become depressed.

It rains a lot in Wales, that's why it is so green. R7 if you lived in this place on your own you would become depressed because of its size, not because of its location.

[quote]The huntin', shootin' and fishin' rights.

Is the house in Texas?

No TexHunty at R9. But the question is, will you buy it and move it to your locale in TX?

We wouldn’t change a thing. Really.

Sad that it's fallen into such disrepair because you can tell how grand it was at one time. Unfortunately, its beyond repair & probably only useful as an exterior shot for an indie horror movie.

One probably has to renovate everything except for the outer walls. It will take millions and millions. R8 agree

Brick by brick, move it to Texas where we know how to do big.

I have to wonder why anyone, no matter how exalted, would have needed 20 bedrooms. Even in the years of this house's prime, who were they FOR? I know that extended house parties were all the rage, but did the gentry really invite that many people? Were some of them servants bedrooms?

Welcome to the new Datalounge World Headquarters Building!

No thanks, I’m living through my own renovation of a historical property. NEVER AGAIN!

R17 there’s no end to the work is there?

R18 yes!!! It never fucking ends. And it’s not a huge mansion either.

This is a great example of a beautiful old house with incredible architecture that is just impractical to save. Makes a McMansion in Texas seem like the true palace for all its luxury and perfect condition. I’ve always been attracted to a Beautiful old house in need of restoration - but as I get older, I’ve actually started looking at newer build homes. I just don’t have the ability to do as much work myself - and can’t waste the money that I need to save for retirement.

Gays are meant to save old houses.

[quote] I have to wonder why anyone, no matter how exalted, would have needed 20 bedrooms.

Servants.

There’s nothing to restore inside. It’s beyond repair!

R19 I owned a house built in the early 70s so not that old and not that big(5 bedrooms) but it was neglected. We lived there for almost ten years but whenever we fixed or upgraded anything it was a matter of weeks until something else needed to be renovated. Tbh it drove me crazy at some point.

R23 ours is from 1792! What could possibly go wrong? It’s a nothing but a white elephant.

R24 I do very much understand the appeal of a historic or neglected house, when you buy it you envision what it can become(and it can.....) but the truth is you need shitloads of money to have everything done or oceans of time and the skills to do it all yourself.

R25 ain’t that the truth. As I said, never again lol!

Amen R25 but I hope your house is comfy and homy to you all. Despite all the renovations it regularly needs. Troy House is not for me for sure 😂

That’s a damn shame. It hurts my frugal heart to see anything go to waste, but I think this one’s a goner.

Too big to be practical as a single home, and the hotel trade is fucked what with COVID.

Gutting it and dividing it up into apartments is probably the best option, the inside doesnt really to seem to have much in the way of original features or period details left to save bar the staircase and maybe a couple of the plaster ceilings. Do the apartment interiors with modern copies of period details that would be consistent with the age of the place, could be nice, but would cost a fortune. Needs someone with deep pockets

I never liked stairs up to a front door. So for me, that's a no. Esp as this is in Wales where is rains and rains and rains. You need a covered entrance you can drive into, and get out of your car under cover and get into the house without wet stairs.

It's beautiful

Looks like a boarding school where a string of unexplained deaths occurred. Some of you just equate something being OLD as being inherently good. The exterior is drab and foreboding. The ghost of the governess still walks the halls...

Hint: The young architect couple that restores this mansion is slowly driven insane by the demonic mosaic hidden underneath the foundation of the house at the end of the movie

Indigo

Lol the place needs to be energetically cleansed but nothing out of the ordinary

Would it make a good bathhouse?

OP, thanks for starting this thread; while Troy House is beyond repair, I spent the morning shopping for old castles & country homes in the Scottish Highland also on the Country Life website. The most enjoyable Sunday morning I've had in a long time!

^ Yes!!!

It's an interesting and even beautiful house, but not a very desirable project, except maybe for some auto dealership owner bored with a big semi-detached with an itch for a big project.

Pevsner is right about the stair, and the exterior has an elegant stance and proportions despite the scale and unrelenting boxiness. The caretaker's quarters holds out some promise but there's a lot of institutional blandness and sadness to be removed.

Without more evidence of restorable state rooms with original features intact, it's too daunting a project with too many unexciting spaces.

Split vertically into three units it has some possibilities, maybe, but the cost if each would exceed the local market.

A wise person would spend far more for much less, but with original details intact or reasonably restorable. That would shortcut years of headaches and hurdles to achieve an end that would be a chain of compromises with a handsome stair and elevations left of the old.

It’s hard to know what’s there. It looks like there’s some false walls and ceilings in the classroom areas. They could be covering expensive wallpaper or murals. The question is, what shape is the real ceiling in? There’s got to be water damage and mold. The grounds are beautiful though.

It would probably be cheaper to take a lot of pictures, gut everything but the outer walls and staircases, and start over. The roof, electricity and plumbing have got to be really bad too. Just open the walls and put in all new. You can still get master plasterers to reproduce the plaster walls, and for that matter to reproduce a lot of the woodwork. Or just slap some drywall up in there and make a modern inside with fancy crystal chandeliers and fixtures.

If you are deliberately trying to build a big custom mansion and don’t mind gutting it, you’re getting beautiful grounds and outer walls for next to nothing. And you can build it out from scratch other than the walls. Some rich people buy houses and knock down half the inner walls anyway. Here’s their chance to put in a modern large kitchen and big bedrooms. Those old servants’ quarters’ rooms were like jail cells, bathrooms were down the hall, kitchens were for servants to work in and as plain as possible, and the back stairs were narrow and winding for the servants’ use. This is an opportunity to blow all that out and make it all usable space.

That’s the other way to look at it. As a custom build job site consisting of outer walls.

It's a complete tear down. It could be replaced with something like he mini-castle in Texas.

Hey, you guys, was this house named after me?

Yes Troy honey at R42

These two Brits purchased a 19th century chateau in France and had to restore and renovate everything. The man is an engineer and his wife is a decorator. They did a massive amount of work and all was captured on camera. If anyone's interested in a new series during this pandemic, I would highly recommend Escape to the Chateau.

And by "new series" I mean, new to you. There are actually six seasons and it appears to be on hiatus atm.

Vita Sackville-West wouldn't like the OP's house; it looks like an army barrack in the first unflattering photo.

Vita might like the one in R44 though I'm sure she'd find the current owners rather tedious and/or girlishly twee.

[quote] concerns about the site’s potential propensity to flooding...

No one is going to restore this disaster if it has a propensity to flood.

So this shit is what the Brits spent their money on instead of their rotten teeth. Nice.

This Scottish castle which I saw at the bottom of OP's link seems more interest. I love the chair to the dinning table that I will post next.

Check out these chairs.

Tacky, R50

R37 I did the same thing and also browsed the country houses under 400k loads of nice stuff to buy. Most houses are in good shape.

After two months of mandated social isolation, I'm tempted to buy the place and NOT fix it up!

No, just put a space heater in a couple of the habitable rooms, wrap skirts around my balding head, and wander the rooms babbling about seas of trees and dancing to Sousa marches.

Thanks, R44. Hoping this isn't the daft woman who injected spray foam into to gaps along the lengths of beams in a ceiling to discourage bats?

I used to love series of this sort but the plague of "gut reno" (a few examples of which can be seen in this thread) has reached herd immunity to reasonable thinking. Fifteen or more years ago, "careful restoration" was the byword of a quality job. That has been replaced by hysterical owners with more money than sense and by cunning developers who buy an historic property then find a list of "hidden horrors" that any reasonable person would have expected to find: the plaster had hairline cracks in almost every room (of course; these can be fixed in half an afternoon); the floors had settled slightly near the fireplaces (they always do); the 300-year-old house wasn't built with chases to accommodate the addition of 9 en suite bathrooms (no surprise); the house lacks an open-plan kitchen! (yes, but with 11,000 square feet, you can find a good solution without ripping out walls and installing a sea of kitchen islands in the once grand drawing room); the front step iron railings are not to modern code (solution: don't substantially alter them and you don't have to replace them); etc. There are solutions for all things that lead hysterical dimwits and developers to scream "Gut reno." The result is always a tragedy, a ship of Theseus, with every atom of the building stripped out and replaced until it is no longer the same structure but a Property Brothers recreation of a something that once had some beauty and integrity to it.

If it ever gets restored it will have to be by someone or some concern with an unending source of money for upkeep. Old places like this, even if fully restored, are money pits that are homages to dry rot and advanced age. You never know what's going on behind some wall or above some ceiling. Frankly I would think that ripping the insides down to the bare brick and just starting over would be the best thing to do.

Here's my favorite; it's definitely seen better days and I'm guessing at one point it was used as a B&B, but it's not beyond repair & just needs some renovations to liven it up. It's not a grand house with all the wood work, vaulted ceilings, etc., but as R53, you could live in this house in shabby gentility, albeit with a space heater, lots of blankets and bottled water.

Oh dear, R56, someone devoted a LOT of time and money to making that beautiful old place look like a McMansion on the inside!

Straight people shouldn't be allowed to buy historic houses, that's something these historical preservation bureaus ought to be seeing to.

[quote] You never know what's going on behind some wall or above some ceiling.

If it's anything like my place I'm guessing lots of asbestos. My place was built in 1902 but it's the renovations carried out in the 1950s to the 1970s that have caused the biggest headaches.

Good God that wonderful old place at R56 was ruined, RUINED I TELL YOU! All the money they put into the place and they couldn't put in a decent kitchen or have covers made for all those hideous radiators. And some of the paint colors they chose should be against the law.

R56 here, yes, there are some *unfortunate* decorating choices here (and that's putting it kindly about the green bathroom) and from the looks of it, I'm guessing it was an inn/B&B rather than an actual home as it looks about as cozy as the lobby of a Best Western (and about as dated too). But the house itself looks sound, the grounds are beautiful & if you engaged someone who knew something about historical preservation, you could restore this place without completely breaking the bank. Or as someone else noted, you could live here as some sort of mad hermit, but at least have hot water and (mostly) functioning plumbing

The green bathroom 😂

Kinlochlaich at r56 is a listed building with beautiful grounds. It did have some stunning features once but like many of these old Scottish estate houses it’s had a chequered history (schools, nursing homes, council offices were the alternative use norm). Until recently it was run as Airbnb type self catering accommodation. As a kid growing up in the West of Scotland in the 1970s I remember many of these houses lying abandoned. We used them as adventure playgrounds and several in the area were badly vandalised then burned down. At least this old girl’s still standing and water tight. Just needs a bit of a ‘lift’.

R62 I’d give anything to move to Scotland, it’s the place where I most feel at home

R53 upvoted for what is by far the most realistic, cost effective and sensible plan so far! All it needs is a couple of powerful Bluetooth speakers to broadcast the Sousa marches around the complex

R56 that house is a good size, has three independent apartments for an income stream and looks structurally sound. It isnt that far off beautiful and making it so wont break the bank, and can be done progressively in stages

It’s in Wales and it’s beyond interior repair. The only people with enough money to do that kind of work and think nothing of it, are of cultures who have zero appreciation for a country home in Wales, and equestrian pursuits, such as hunting on horse back. Pretty unlikely that some Chinese billionaires, Russian oligarchs or Saudis, are going to look at something like that and see any value.

And unfortunately, the crumbling interior/infrastructure, makes it a poor investment for anyone.

It’s not hotel material unless there are recreational purposes for people to stay there.

I love you, R54.

I'd be more than happy with this much humbler place. It's got views of the sea, and I love Aberdeenshire.

Troy House is what happens after the MIDSOMER MURDERS film crew vacates the location when 3-days of filming is complete.

Shoulda slammed the door on the location scout and their measly £1000. Too late now!

The writeup mentions something about difficulty getting access permission if the building is converted to apartments or a hotel but that's really the best option.

That's a terrific house in Aberdeenshire house , R67. It's a big handsome thing that feels spacious and filled with good Northern light and the views are glorious. The rooms are comfortable, have some variety, and are simple but for good cornicing in plaster.

It's one a handful of houses where I don't have to overlook everything inside it; it's actually nicely painted and finished and furnished for the most part; not entirely to my taste but if the place came furnished I wouldn't be looking for a removals firm with great urgency. The kitchen is handsome and well done, another rarity. As with almost every house, I would replace most of the ceiling light fixtures with more substantial old fixtures, but that would probably be it for immediate changes.

The annexe works rather nicely, too, either as part of the house or apart from it depending on how (and or whom) you used it. There's nothing lamentable at all about the plan. Great place.

[quote] It's one a handful of houses where I don't have to overlook everything inside it

I know! I window shop for Scottish homes constantly. This is one of the first I've ever seen that didn't have a single stitch of anything rose/magenta-colored. I'm not sure what the correct name for the shade even IS, but it is endemic in Scottish houses of every size and age. See R56's house for examples.

The Aberdeenshire place is miraculous.

I watch this series sometimes, it features houses in a condition similar to Troy House.

Right, R71. The Scottish have a taste for alarmingly primary colors and shades of magenta and puce (and, of course, the fear of extending color the full height of a walls of a room, stopping always at the picture rail and then blind white expanding across the ceiling.) I had an ancient Irish relative (of Scottish origin) who must have kept a skein of yarn in magenta that, like a sourdough mother yeast, she managed to work in some small way into everything she knitted, a jolting, sometimes revolting relief from endless shades of green.

I keep up with properties in Edinburgh (in case a prime spot on Moray Place goes begging for a buyer) and Glasgow sometimes, and the big spreads that make their way to Country Life. The smaller houses of this type are often really wonderful, though, but looking at lots of houses you learn to overlook things. What you see inside a house, the decoration and the furnishings and the personal effects, it's rare when they are not terrible or just disappointing, but are actually rather nice.

I don’t understand why someone who’d choose to live in the cold gray wet north of Scotland rather than California. Nice buildings - but wholly impractical and the thril,would wear off after about a year,

Agreed, R67 for the win! That really is a lovely house - aside from being ready to move in now, it's this wind swept property overlooking the sea - just what a property in Scotland should be. Even though the overall price isn't bad, I suppose the taxes are a killer on that thing

Council tax band G in that area is just over £2500 ($3000) per annum, r75.

OP here, checking in. I am shocked, SHOCKED I say, to find that the conversation has moved to Scotland. Troy House is in Wales. If you queens must digress, at least have the decency to stay in the same country.

r77, I love that one! The interior is nice, too!

A Welsh farmhouse

Those low ceilings would bother me. Especially for over a million pounds.

R79's is on offer for £2m!

[Alt + 0163 = £]

This one dates back to the 16th century

The older it is, the more $$$ you better have!

R82 house is being offered on a 50-year lease so not for me, thanks.

[quote]....with ensuite

Oh, dear.

The house at R82 is lovely.

R84, how old are you? The length of the remaining leasehold affects the price of the property. I think if a mortgage is involved banks used to require a leasehold of 25 years beyond the mortgage term, but leaseholds can be renewed/extended at any point at the seller's discretion. Making substantial improvements works in a buyer's favor, unless of course the leaseholder wants to keep his selling options open. In any case, it's easy to settle or realize that there's no satisfactory agreement on the lease term before buying.

Here's the former "set" or apartment of Christopher Gibbs at The ALbany in London for sale, with notes on the leasehold workings and the effect on price.

Oh deary me R85, whatever's the matter?

Oh dear what can the matter be? Three old ladies locked in the lavatory. [Ensuite?]

The house at R79 is what I image "Wuthering Heights" to look like

After watching Hinterland with it’s bleak weather and chronic drip, drip, drip, I’d have second thoughts on Wales. The stone homes are charming though.

R37 by chance did you visit a ruined castle in the Glasgow area by the name of Buchanan castle?

R91 here I meant is it on the website?

Didn’t Buchanan Castle hold Nazi prisoners?

Yes R93 Rudolf Hess was held there.

A gut job. Salvage all reusable architectural elements (windows doors parquet stained glass cabinetry tiles stair railing spindles mantels etc. Use them to rebuild another grand small house then bulldoze whats left. Its time has come and gone. Sadly. Only an obsessed Anglophile Saudi Prince could pull off a total period accurate renovation.