This 19th-century Eastlake-style villa in Palatka, Florida, was formerly the favorite summer home of Pennsylvania banking mogul James Ross Mellon. It was abandoned years ago and has since been let to rot, concealing valuable antiquities inside its crumbling walls.
The mansion, which was formerly the Mellon family’s winter resort and was recently photographed by urban explorer Leland Kent for Abandoned Southeast, has gone through several owners since the family sold it in the late 1930s. The entry hall, despite its crumbling painting and wet signage, must have been a center of activity in its prime.
With crumbling plasterwork and detritus lying on the floor, the once-grand living room has been abandoned to wrack and decay. Mattresses litter the floor as well, possibly indicating that squatters have been living in the home. The Mellons used to welcome people like Billy Sunday, a former National League baseball star who later became an evangelist, in this parlor.
The bedrooms upstairs still bear traces of the home’s previous past. Numerous ancient radios, as well as a little child’s piano, surround the well-used hardwood fireplace. Even though the wallpaper is peeling and dirt litters the floor, the room has a certain beauty.
The ensuite bathroom was most likely once a large area, but it now needs a thorough makeover. The term “stunning” is used to describe how a person’s appearance changes through time. It’s difficult to believe that this once-grand mansion has fallen into such disrepair. Wouldn’t you like to remodel it?
The forgotten Italian palace
The inside may have been vandalized and left to rot, but the exterior is still standing tall, with a steel frame and a façade of granite and fieldstone, the majority of which was gathered from within the grounds. It was last listed for sale in 2020 for $3.2 million (£2.4 million); only time will tell if it rises again!
This palace, photographed by urban explorer Steve Ronin, goes back to the 1900s and belonged to a rich Italian family who gained their money via farming. When the parents died, the children inherited the large house but failed to maintain it. They eventually withdrew, leaving the palace to decay, and today major portions of it are crumbling. For example, this drawing room is littered with bricks that have fallen from the ceiling.
Visiting the mansion’s perilous subterranean floor reveals a bounty of unexpected riches. Everything appears to have been left in its place, including these early photographs of what we assume is the family on the living room wall, indicating that the family just up and departed.
The family left behind all of their personal items, and the kitchen appeared to be in use. Plates and cutlery are on the kitchen table, and the shelves are packed with crockery. Just the dust and filth indicate that it has been abandoned.
The first floor is dim and dirty, with five spacious bedrooms. What may have been the master suite has been almost completely ignored. The bed still has white linens on it, and the chest of drawers is crammed with framed old family photographs and mementos. On the opposite side is an empty double closet with a full-length mirror, and the bedroom offers views out to what was previously manicured grass
One of the bedrooms even has its own small village! We can only imagine that one of the kids would have lingered in here and had hours of fun with their usual toys, which are now littered with garbage and dust.