Over the years, Mentmore Towers has been utilized as a film setting for a number of big Hollywood film projects. The Rueben Brothers purchased Mentmore Towers in 2009, with plans to rehabilitate the original structure.
Mentmore Towers in the Buckinghamshire village of Mentmore is shown nearly abandoned and with a falling roof in a series of images captured by urban explorers. Over the years, Mentmore Towers has been utilized as a film setting for a number of big Hollywood film projects.
Sir Joseph Paxton planned the massive 19th century home for the Rothschild family and completed it in 1854, but it required a major repair after years of neglect and significant water damage.
The name “Mentmore Towers” has remained with the house throughout its history, sharing it with the community in which it resides. Although though it was never officially sanctioned, it is now largely acknowledged as such. Mentmore Towers is the biggest of the English Rothschild mansions, standing four-square on a modest elevation with towers at each corner.
Historical Photos
Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George Henry Stokes, were responsible for the grandiose design of the structure. Inspired by Robert Smythson’s Wollaton Hall construction, Paxton and Stokes sought for something distinct and different, combining Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture, two styles popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
During WWII, Mentmore Towers was utilized as a storage facility for numerous important British art items, including the Royal Family’s Gold State Carriage. After the war, the majority of the estate’s park, which is now Grade II listed, was sold.
Mentmore Towers was sold to the Rueben Brothers in 2009, with intentions to rehabilitate the original structure rather than create the new expansion with guest-room suites, conference facilities, and a big spa.
Mentmore Towers has appeared in a number of films, including Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985), Slipstream (1989), Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Philip Kaufman’s Marquis de Sade biographical film Quills (2000), The Mummy Returns (2001), Ali G Indahouse (2002) as the Prime Minister’s residence Chequers,[32] Johnny English (2003), and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005).
The Rosebery family owned the Mentmore Towers until 1977, when it was sold. The auction of the contents that same year was one of the most significant transactions of the century. The Maharishi Foundation in the United Kingdom bought Mentmore Towers for $240,000 in 1978 to operate as a headquarters and college. It served as the Natural Law Party’s headquarters and the campus of Maharishi University of Natural Law.
Gatehouses to Mentmore Towers
