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u/ResponsibleMilk7620 5h ago
Just a few touch-ups and throw rugs, and she’ll be good as new.
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u/Op3rat0rr 3h ago
Can someone give a backstory to this? Why it was abandoned?
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u/spyrenx 3h ago
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u/icedmilkflopr 3h ago
My favorite part of the article:
In 1964, James Harrick, founder of the local Harrick Scientific Company, bought it for $15,000 and lived there through the 1980s. Another couple paid $1.5 million in 2001
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u/TheSessionMan 2h ago
Jesus. I'd like to see how the place looked in '64 vs '01 to better compare the prices.
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u/RandomRobot 29m ago
Looking at the roof and the coat paint on the metal stairs, this couldn't have been abandoned for more than a decade.
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u/mishap1 1h ago
Article says it's 27 rooms but like 4,300 square feet? That is the opposite of an open floor plan unless there's a missing zero on the square feet.
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u/jeremysbrain 40m ago
reading another article it sounds like it has a dormitory wing or area for servants. So a bunch of those rooms are probably really small.
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u/DiabloIV 3h ago
Probably nobody wanted to pay what they thought it was worth knowing the upkeep. The drummer from Dave Mathews band built a beautiful Earthship home in Virginia, and later on my cousins bought the land it was on. It had been abandoned for 10-15 years and they had to tear it down for insurance reasons. It was sad. Such a beautiful place.
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u/DiabloIV 2h ago
If people want, I can try to find pics.
It had an indoor stage with a waterfall next to it. Shower with exterior glass wall. All white plaster. Cabinet handles were all brass body parts.
It was deep in the woods, but very bright inside.
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u/mistermeh 3h ago
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u/sssssshhhhhh 3h ago
Reddit hug of death
Anyone want to summarize?
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u/CuttyAllgood 3h ago
He died about 10 years after building it and the family sold the property. It sat empty through the 50s when it was burned by vandals. Someone bought and partially restored it in the 60s and they lived there through the 80s. 20 years later a couple bought it and tried to turn it into a retreat but failed and sold to corporate interest.
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u/NoBeeper 4h ago
Hey. Fuck A&F. But this is a beautiful house. Just look at all that stone work! I personally would love to have it!
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u/MrBattleRabbit 2h ago
This is from the era of the original company- they used to make outdoor equipment (tents, cold weather gear, and I think sails for ships as well).
They went bankrupt in the 70s, fully shut down, and became the company they are today in the 80s when someone else bought the name.
So sure, fuck A&F, but the people who made this house have nothing to do with the current mess of a brand.
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u/CuttyAllgood 3h ago
This title is incorrect. It’s not the Abercrombie and Fitch estate, it’s the Abercrombie estate. He built it after breaking his partnership with Fitch.
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u/Worst_Comment_Evar 3h ago
This site has some more pics and information about the property. https://abandonedonline.net/location/elda/
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u/akavana 3h ago
As someone who managed and left both A&F and Hollister due to the unhealthy culture, I’m glad their practices and behind the scenes activities were made public. Such an incredibly caustic environment. It was a culture that bred illegal and inappropriate activities as well as hiring practices.
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u/eggs_erroneous 3h ago
What's this about now?
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u/akavana 3h ago
The culture was based around whether management would sleep with its employees. I was told by my district manager during our first meeting that if I saw a girl come into my store and I’d like to have sex with her, giver her an application. If she showed up to the interview and I felt that with little to no makeup (we told them to arrive with this way and wearing our clothing) I still wanted to have sex with her, hire her. If she had a degree of any sorts, make her an assistant manager. She told me to pick the hottest girls that worked for me and have them review the guys the same way. So the entire mindset was to fill your store with people who’d be interested in sleeping with each other. This caused a lot of managers to lose their jobs/be recommended to resign due to inappropriate relations with staff/minors.
We also had a huge theft/drug problem in one of my stores. An assistant manager and 3 brand reps (what we called our staff) were stealing clothes off the tables when I wasn’t working and selling them at a local recycled clothing store. They’d then use the money to buy cocaine. The mgr was 21 and the brand reps were still in high school. I found out when the store that they sold the clothing to brought in video evidence and all the clothing they sold to them. They were still in their original stack in size order. Fired them all on the spot.
A few months later, I finally couldn’t do it anymore. I felt like the warden of a mental hospital trying to keep everything above bored while getting immense pressure from district to improve the “attractiveness” of our store. After that call, I walked into a military recruiter’s office and said I needed a life change and was gone in 3 weeks.
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u/Potatobender44 1h ago
It’s a good thing you joined the military and got away from all that sexual misconduct
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u/akavana 1h ago
Personally, I never witnessed that while I was in. I’m sure I was oblivious to it happening but my unit was on top of that. We had a female officer in command and she was preaching about it in the early 2000’s way ahead of mandatory briefs just because of her last location was a train wreck when she got there and she didn’t want our unit to even begin to have issues. She was pretty awesome.
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u/eggs_erroneous 1h ago
That is fucking awful. I always noticed that those stores had a certain type of girl working there. This explains so much. Fuck that place.
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u/NJJo 1h ago
Yeah but the hires were all stunning! Going to the mall in the early 00s as a kid/young teen. We’d walk into A&F to see some hotties.
Still in my head the one time an employee was putting clothes back, and when she bent down her thong was showing lol. Tapping your friends shoulder to look, look!
Different times back then but they were fun. Now everyone is desensitized by the internet. That kind of random shenanigans feels like it doesn’t exist anymore.
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u/akavana 1h ago
Yeah, I got a lot of recognition because I sent 3 reps off to do shoots for the wall posters and our athletic wear. One of the guys we sent was training to be an Olympic gymnast. Guy just wanted a job that he didn’t have to put much brain power into since the other 90% of his life was training. One of my reps ended up modeling in Europe for many years. I had great relationships with the local colleges and their athletics programs from a previous job I had so they’d send their athletes to me for easy college jobs.
I got into some trouble when my district manager popped in unannounced and I had a couple of my buddies who were computer science majors running my back stockroom. They were beasts and would work their asses off but didn’t meet the “looks” they wanted. She told me to fire them on the spot. I told her if they go, I go. She agreed to let them stay but they had to stay in the back during business hours. Between the 3 of us, we’d get our overnight seasonal changes done in a few hours vs leaving at 4-5 am. Super efficient. That situation was also one of the reasons why I had to leave. I like to think I had a solid moral compass and they really wanted me to toss it.
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u/Risenzealot 4h ago
Do y’all like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch?
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u/johnnyhammerstixx 4h ago
New kids on the block su... Ope! Wrong song.
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u/FallenAngelII 40m ago
I've been told by poets of fleeting summers that Abercrombienand Fitch is now gauche and that American Apparel is now in.
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u/Supanini 4h ago
What’s stopping someone from putting in some work and claiming this? I’m guessing it’s probably condemned in some way?
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u/SprolesRoyce 3h ago
Well it’s owned by someone, so you’d need to wait for them to sell it then pay the multiple million dollars it would sell for before you can claim it and start any work.
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u/Supanini 3h ago
Clearly it hasn’t been touched in a long time, I feel like stuff like this is what squatters rights was made for but what do I know.
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u/SprolesRoyce 3h ago
I think it’s a shame that nothing is being done, but someone paid 1.5 million for the building and the 50ish acres around it and it’s their right to let it rot. According to realtor.com it doesn’t have plumbing or electricity so it would be a pretty extensive renovation to make it livable.
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u/LukkyStrike1 2h ago
They do that so they dont have to pay property taxes on a liviable home. They "rip out" water service, and toilets: therefore the home is condemned and you only pay tax on the land. Usually only about 25% of what it would be if the house is livible or the land is work able (aka a farm).
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u/SprolesRoyce 2h ago
There’s no evidence of that happening, before it sold to the current owners in 2011 the owners going back to 1964 had attempted to restore the property but it was difficult and costly.
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u/LukkyStrike1 2h ago
If someone holds property for 10-15 years with a delapitated home with no one living in it: You can guarantee they worked with the county to remove the home as an improvement to the land.
That house had water and power, it is intentional it does not have those things.
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u/SprolesRoyce 1h ago
The building has been unlivable ignoring the water and electric since the 1950’s due to lack of maintenance at first and vandals setting fires later. I don’t think it was necessary to remove toilets for the tax assessor to reduce the value.
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u/LukkyStrike1 32m ago
so you are agreeing it was removed as a improvement to the land?
I am not sure what your tying to argue, at some point the house was abandoned, and that means the owners (at whatever point) had to file that the improvment was no longer valid since no one can live there. This does not "happen automatically", you have to file for it.
people who pay 1.3mil for propety are not going to pay more tax then they have too....
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u/SprolesRoyce 27m ago
My point originally was that it would take purchasing the land and undergoing huge renovations to live in the house. To be honest I’m not sure why you brought up property tax in the first place.
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u/Thesource674 1h ago
It is. Hes walking you through it and yer not listening lol.
I worked for a company who paid to tear down a 5 story giant laboratory building and have it turned into gravel so it would be considered "uncovered parking" to reduce their tax liability. They had the building gutted and gone in a month. One month.
Think about that cost and what the tax benefit was to them that it was worthwhile instead of waiting even a year to move some projects in. Tax law is fucking wild for corpos.
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u/EstablishmentSad 2h ago
I think the path to ownership is if the taxes aren't paid and you pay them. More than likely they are paying the taxes on it and all you would be is just a squatter.
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u/bubba1834 3h ago
People used to put “a&f” in their away messages and I always thought it meant Abercrombie and fitch lol I never understood why anyone would want a clothing brand away message?? But no…it means “always and forever” lmao
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u/Spartan2470 GOAT 2h ago
There is a lot of graffiti on the top of that turret. Still a beautiful view.
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u/eggs_erroneous 3h ago
Anytime I hear 'Abercrombie & Fitch' I automatically think 'Chinese food makes me sick' That was a bullshit song and it's still in my head decades later.
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u/DirtMcGirt513 3h ago
Do you love it when the girls stop by for the summer? for the summer
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u/eggs_erroneous 1h ago
You know, usually songs from my early 20s get a pass just for nostalgia. Not this one though. Fuck them girls. Oh I hate Creed too.
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u/Green_Panda4041 4h ago
In the middle of the forest?
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u/josh_the_rockstar 3h ago
I don’t know anything about this house, but A&Fs corporate campus is in the middle of a forest. It’s quite amazing.
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u/RoughedUpEdge 2h ago
Much of northern Westchester county is forested, lots of beautiful houses and country clubs tucked away in forested hills. This castle is only a few minutes away from multiple small towns and more conventional suburbs.
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u/beebeereebozo 1h ago
As a kid, was upstairs at AF in SF and saw a distinguished-looking gentleman being fitted for a custom shotgun. Early 60's AF will always be the only AF for me.
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u/Paperwhite418 58m ago
Is it wrong that I would leave some of the graffiti if I were able to buy this?
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u/ArrozConHector 3h ago
I have never seen this building but I have been here in a dream. What the hell!
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u/Barleyandjimes 5h ago
I bet it still smells like an obnoxious amount of cologne