LENNOX CASTLE [UK]

Exploration #293 Lennox castle. Lennox Castle, near Lennoxtown in Scotland, was built between 1837 and 1841 as a grand country house. Later transformed by war and institutional healthcare, it became part of a vast hospital complex before abandonment and a devastating fire.

Designed by Glasgow architect David Hamilton for John Lennox Kincaid-Lennox, the sandstone mansion adopted a dramatic Norman castle style, with battlements, corner pavilions and a commanding tower. During the First World War it was requisitioned as a military hospital. In 1927 the estate was sold to Glasgow Parish Council, which planned a major institution for people with learning disabilities.

Lennox Castle Hospital opened in 1936 with accommodation for about 1,200 patients. The castle itself became nurses’ quarters, while new wards and service buildings spread across the surrounding estate. During the Second World War the castle again served hospital purposes, and a maternity unit operated on the wider site until 1964. By 1987 the castle had been vacated, while the hospital gradually declined as care shifted away from large institutions.

The complex finally closed in 2002. Most of the hospital buildings were later demolished, but the Category A listed castle survived in ruins. In May 2008 a major fire caused severe damage, leaving the shell that stands today as a reminder of both Victorian ambition and a difficult chapter in Scottish social history.

IL CASTELLO CLONATO [IT]

Exploration #195 Il castello clonato (testo italiano a fondo pagina). A few hundred metres from the medieval castle, immersed in the silence of the Vercelli countryside, is the so-called “il castello clonato” (the cloned castle) of Rovasenda.

The castle was built between 1901 and 1904 by Count Luigi di Rovasenda, prefect of the Kingdom of Italy and descendant of the dynasty of the same name that had owned the original manor house for centuries. Not having been able to inherit the latter, the count decided to build one for himself, calling in the brilliant architect Carlo Nigra from Turin, a famous architect for having designed the Medieval Village for the 1884 Universal Exhibition in Turin. The castle was built in a short time, and although it is considered a ‘clone’ of the old one, in reality it is only similar, distinguished by its smaller size and architectural details. Unfortunately, after the deaths of the count and his wife in 1940 and 1944, the castle began to fall into a state of gradual neglect, as the heirs did not permanently reside there and became disinterested in it.

In 1984, it was sold to a private company that has since put it up for sale, but to no avail. In the meantime, weathering has led to the progressive ruin of the roof, while vandals and thieves have stripped it of all its furnishings, condemning it to a state of decay. Recently, the castle was finally sold to a company that is restoring it as a reception venue (source: fondoambiente.it).

SCHLOSS W. [DE]

Exploration #164. The Castle is a large four-winged Baroque complex from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Nordsachsen district of Saxony. It has been in disuse and in danger of deterioration since it was sold in 1998 at the moment. The photos only refer to the area of the stables as the main structure was not accessible.

VILLA LA ROMANTICA [IT]

Exploration #134 Villa La Romantica. The first building, which would later become Villa La Romantica, was built by the ancient Bolognese senatorial family Berò. They owned the villa in the 16th and 17th centuries, while in 1700 it was acquired by the Savini, owners of a large amount of land in the area.

At the beginning of the 19th century, much of their property was already acquired by the Cocchi family, who also owned the canapiculture business (before the Savini), which represented a fundamental source of income. The villa, on the other hand, passed to General Giuseppe Grabinski during the period of French domination. Luigi Cocchi bought the Berò estate between 1830 and 1832 from General Grabinski (1771-1843). The house on the Berò estate was not altered for forty years, until Alfonso (Luigi’s son) decided in 1872, a few months after his marriage to Marietta Garino, widow of Valperga, to start restoration and rebuilding work on the villa. The Cocchi family went to Budrio in the summer and his wife Marietta in particular benefited considerably from her poor health. Alfonso named the building on the Berò estate Villa Mary, in honour of his beloved wife, and intensified his efforts, which during the 1870s led him to design the building (consisting of eight flats and a silk dryer), a greenhouse and an ice house, which were built a few years later.

Around 1885 the restoration work was complete and Villa Mary took on its splendid appearance, characterised by marvellous stucco work, rooms furnished with remarkable artistic imagination and witty architectural solutions. Unfortunately, in 1888 Marietta Garino died and Alfonso Cocchi (born in 1850), although saddened by his wife’s sudden death, tried to maintain the business in Rome. During the summers in Budrio, Alfonso became closer to Anna Pagani (born in 1869) and in 1890 their first child was born. In a short time the number of children increased (up to seven) and Cocchi realised that it was necessary to rework the structure of the house, which was partly redesigned to accommodate a large family.

In 1892, the villa – equipped with electric light, powered by huge batteries placed in the basement, and radiators – took on its definitive appearance, marked by the addition of some appendages, forming terraces and a portico. In 1894 Alfonso married Anna Pagani and two years later the patriarch donated all his property to his wife and children, continuing to live with them until his death in 1921. On 31 October 1928, Bianca Zucchelli bought the Cocchi properties, including the famous Villa Mary. The people of Budrio were immediately impressed by the habits of the new inhabitant, who wore long dresses, often made of silk and adorned with very elegant lace. Zucchelli’s strong link with the past led her to give the villa the name “Villa La Romantica”, precisely because it defended the aesthetic canons of the 19th century. The inhabitants of Budrio extended the name to Bianca, who organised parties and refined receptions.
Bianca stayed in her villa until the day she died: 25 December 1943. The owner donated the house to the “Casa per artisti ed operatori dello spettacolo” (House for artists and operators in the performing arts) in Bologna, but unfortunately the bombings that took place between 1944 and 1945 jeopardised the viability of the villa, which was later acquired by the Fondazione Zucchelli.
Unfortunately, from that moment on, the villa was left to its fate. The well-kept vegetation, which at first characterised the beautiful surrounding gardens, began to creep in everywhere, enveloping the building and it was gradually stripped of its furnishings and decorations. Today, all that remains is what time, thieves and vandals have failed to destroy or take away.

(source:  budrionext.it).

CASTELLO DI MARENE [IT]

Exploration #130 Castello di Marene. The “Castello di Marene”, also known as Villa Grosso di Grana, is a neo-Gothic castle built between 1850 and 1854 by Count Carlo Amedeo Grosso to a project by the well-known Turinese architect Luigi Formento. In 1904 it came into the possession of Count Vittorio Solaro di Monasterolo, who sold it in 1920 to Giuseppe Davico, owner of an important chain of luxury hotels in Italy and France.

The neo-Gothic style of the building presents hybrid architectural features, as it mixes medieval and Gothic elements. Distinctive elements are the red bricks that make up the structure, the crenellated circular turrets, the windows with keystone arches, the rose window and the striking white pincer staircase. It was once surrounded by a large park that included, to the north, a vast wood and, on the façade, a splendid Italian garden and a wide driveway. Today the Castello di Marene is in a state of neglect and at auction for a sum of almost one million euros.

CHÂTEAU DE VADENCOURT [FR]

Exploration #100. The Château de Vadencourt is located on the territory of the municipality of Vadencourt, in the department of the Somme, north-east of Amiens, France. The castle was built in the 17th century. Henri Pingré de Vraignes acquired the domain of Vadencourt around 1680 and passed it on to his son-in-law, Jean-François de Chassepot de Beaumont, chief captain of the Grande Fauconnerie de France who had the castle rebuilt almost entirely at the beginning of the 18th century. He sold the castle in 1738 to François de Quellerie de Chanteraine who completed its reconstruction in the 1740s. Charles Hourdequin bought the castle in 1921. His granddaughter, Christiane Vandenheede, who died in 2005 bequeathed the castle to the Orphelins apprentices d’Auteuil, who abandoned it.

The Château consists of a central main building framed by outbuildings to the north and a farmhouse to the south. All the buildings are in chalk, except the south elevation of brick and stone. The main building is on the ground floor with a height of floor covered by a roof in the Mansard. The two wings in return of square, sheltering the stables (to the north) and the kitchen with the farmer’s accommodation (to the south), are covered by a roof with long sides, exposed gables. They are supported by two round towers topped with a pepperbox roof. A forged iron gate, executed by Jean-Baptiste Veyren, known as Le Vivarais, marks the entrance to the castle between the two towers. Also the handrail of the staircase is also attributed to Vivarais, in the north-west corner of the body of home.

The south wing has retained its seventeenth-century south wall with alternating beds of brick and stone and projecting quadrangular corner pavilions. The facades, the roof and the main gate are protected as historical monuments (source: wikipedia).

I visited this castle in 2016. After, it was devastated by fire on July 10, 2018, and the left wing was totally devastated. The building was finally sold by auction on June 7, 2019 and restoration works started.

CHATEAU LUMIERE [FR]

Exploration #94 Chateau Lumiere. Chateau Lumiere (literally “castle of light”) is a beautiful 20th Century French Chateau built in Reinaissance style. Probably the castle has this name due to the window in the roof where the light is falling inward.

This grand mansion has been owned by a wealthy family of industrialists. The Strasbourg architects Gottfried Julius Berninger and Gustave Henri Krafft designed this chateau for the tobacco factory owners Jules Burrus and his wife Hermance Hélabert. The building was set with a large gate at its entrance and fenced in equally beautiful metalwork manufactured by the locksmith Leo Feist in Strasbourg. The smelter Val d’Osne created decorative urns to be placed on columns that supported the gate and fencing. Internal decoration by many skilled craftsmen and artists would see stained glass by Camissar, sculpture by Riegger, ironwork by L. Feist and dining furniture by Erhard-Friese. The most iconic feature is a stunning skylight which floods the three-storey entrance hall. Consequently, the foyer is bright and light even on the cloudiest of days.

The Burrus residence was at that time to be known as Chateau Burrus. In 1911 Maurice Burrus inherited the Chateau, when his father died, and settled there. The nationalitation of the tobacco industry and the closure of the Tobacco factory in 1947 led Maurice Burrus to leave the town and retire to Geneva. Subsequently, he sold Chateau Lumiere. Ownership of the chateau then changed hands over the years. It is hard to pinpoint when the house was abandoned. Most people agree that is was likely some time in the 1980’s.

Nowadays the castle has been renovated.

CASTELLERO CASTLE [IT]

Exploration #48. Castellero is an ancient village, built at the foot of a signal tower. The history of the town appears to be closely linked to the events of the castle and its ownership changes. In the fourteenth century the castle was razed to the ground during the conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Later Castellero was a fief of the Pietrini and the Ponte, who rebuilt the castle. The Solaro family in 1312, supported by the Provenzali of Ugo del Balzo, a seneschal of Roberto d’Angiò, occupied the castle of Agliano and defeated the De Castello at Castellero, where they destroyed the fortress, held by the Pulsavino Ghibellines.

On the ruins of the small castle involved in the bloody events of 1312 a fortress was rebuilt. The fortress took the name of Castellero from the previous demolished building.
The reconstruction was very accurate and the castle was full of charm and of historical, artistic and architectural interests. Over time the ancient manor was completely renovated and increased with complexes built in various successive periods: interventions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, largely attributed to the Ponte family, have created an elegant country house that, like the only memory of a warlike past, it preserves the tower, characterized by a dovetail battlement, which stands on the current municipal square.

After years of complete state of abandon the castle is currently being restructured and converted into a luxury spa hotel.