The billionaire owner of Britain’s “biggest slum” has broken his silence on why his infamous rundown mansion has not yet been finished.
Construction started on Hamilton Palace, located near Uckfield, East Sussex, in the 1980s but works stalled just as they were nearing completion.
The £40 million ($A84 million) property, owned by notorious property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten, was due to be larger than Buckingham Palace once completed, but it has fallen into a state of disrepair since construction was halted, The Sun reports.
Mr Van Hoogstraten had not made any media appearances for decades, leaving multiple theories over why work on the building had suddenly stopped, and not been continued for years.
Finally, however, he has told the Express the reason behind why his luxury mansion, nicknamed Britain’s “biggest slum” for it’s awful condition, is still unfinished.
Mr Van Hoogstraten and his son Max explained that “major” obstacles in construction had led him to tell builders to put down their tools.
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Notorious slum landlord Nicholas Van Hoogstraten
Max said: “There were major issues, not just in terms of aesthetics but also in terms of [what it would take to] rectify [them].”
Van Hoogstraten recalled being infuriated by the positioning of a column which ruined one of the building’s key features – an unobstructed view from one side of the property to the other.
He blamed the architect for this, although added that he had designed “every last bit” of the building, while the architect just “did the paperwork”.
On top of the badly placed pillar, Mr van Hoogstraten also recalled being irritated at how staircases – built for servants – were constructed too tight and winding.
He pointed out that this would make it difficult for staff carrying heavy trays.
But while these mistakes could have been changed, they came at a time when Mr van Hoogstraten’s life changed dramatically.
He was charged with murder, and eventually found guilty of manslaughter, over the death of his business rival Mohammed Raja.
On top of this, instability in Zimbabwe, where Mr van Hoogstraten had vast land holdings, focused his mind away from the property’s construction.
Max recalled: “A number of things came together, and it was a project you needed to be on-site every day for. My dad’s attention was on investments in Zim.”
Mr Van Hoogstraten was trialled at the Old Bailey in 2002 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the manslaughter of Raja.
However, this conviction was subsequently quashed by the Court of Appeal in July 2003.
Hamilton Palace has not been completed since construction started in the 1980s.
While it is hard to estimate Mr van Hoogstraten’s net worth today, his vast property empire and art collection have been valued at sums that would comfortably make him a billionaire.
Mr Van Hoogstraten was once dubbed Britain’s youngest millionaire but it is still not known when his mansion will be completed.
The huge shell was even dubbed the “Ghost House of Sussex”, after work halted in 2001, leaving the mansion mostly unfinished and abandoned.
Signs plastered outside the property warn of “shooting in progress”, “dogs running free” and CCTV being in operation.
Hamilton Palace has been dubbed the ‘Ghost House of Sussex’
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The only recent photographs of the property have been taken by drones and older photographs taken on site apparently when work was still ongoing.
Those photos show an eerie building, shrouded in scaffolding and overgrowing foliage, with discarded containers, construction equipment and other items littered throughout the grounds.
Few have been inside, but one reporter who did, in 2000, when it was said to be two years off completion, described a grand central staircase and reception hall, with lift shafts already installed and expensive stone balustrades and pillars.
Low-level lighting had been installed on the roof, where there was to be a garden, and there was space for a fountain below.
One entire floor was due to house Mr van Hoogstraten’s art collection.
It is not known when, if ever, construction will be completed. Picture: Getty
Today, the domed roof of the main building still rises over the top of the tree line and remains visible from a distance from the nearest set of houses in the hamlet of Palehouse Common.
Locals have previously vented about the large area being left unused and there was a row over a public footpath that ran through it that Mr van Hoogstraten did not want to be used.
In answer to those complaints, he was quoted as saying “even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see … that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the palace so as to prepare for scheduled works”.
And he has also denied that the house is falling apart.
He added: “Hamilton Palace is far from ‘crumbling’ and was built to last for at least 2,000 years.
“The scaffolding only remains as a part of ongoing routine maintenance such a property would require until completion.”
Parts of this story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
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