Monday, March 23, 2009

Maharaja Palace – Gwalior, India


According to history, the original fort of Gwalior was founded by the Bargujar Kings during the 34th /35th centuary of Kali yuga as per puranas available with them. His palace is the most interesting example of early Hindu work of its class in India. Another palace of even greater extent was added to this in 1516. The Mughal emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan added palaces to these two, the whole making a group of edifices unequalled for picturesqueness and interest by anything of their class in central India. Among the apartments in the palace was the celebrated chamber, named the Baradari, supported on 12 columns, and 45 ft (15 m) square, with a stone roof, forming one of the most beautiful palace-halls in the world. It was, besides, singularly interesting from the expedients to which the Hindu architect was forced to resort to imitate the vaults of the Muslims.

Laksmi Villas Palace

Maharaja Palace refers to a group of palaces in Vadodara, which was constructed since the time of Gaekwad started ruling the state of Vadodara. The first building which was constructed was Sarkar Wada, which was not actually a palace. The Nazarbaugh Palace was built in old classical style and was a magnificent building, which is now in ruins.

Maharaj Sayajirao Gaekwad III 1890 built the Lakshmi Villas Palace on the line of the Indo-Saracenic school. It has decorated Darbar Hall with Italian mosaic floor and walls. The palace has rich collection of antiques namely, armoury and sculptus in bronze, marble and terracotta. This palace has two important buildings on its compound, which are the Moti Baug Palace and the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum.

Jaganmohan Palace

Jaganmohan Palace is a palace in Mysore, in the state of Karnaka, India Its construction was completed in 1861 and was initially used by the Wodeyars, king of Mysore as their home. It was later converted into an art galler.

The Jaganmohan Palace was constructed in the year 1861 by the king, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III as an alternate retreat for the royal family. The Mysore Palace, which was the original home of the royal family was burnt down in a fire and the construction of a new palace in its place was started in the year 1897. Till the new palace was completed in 1912, the Jaganmohan Palace was used by the royals as their home. In 1902, the king Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was installed to the Mysore throne, in a ceremony that took place in a pavilion inside the Jaganmohan Palace. This ceremony was attended by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy and and Governor General of India. The palace was used for his daily durbar by the king and also the special Dasara durbar during the dasara period. In 1915, the palace was converted into an art gallery, which was later renamed in 1955 in the name of Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar.

Govindgarh Palace

The Govindgarh Palace of the Maharaja of Rewa. The palace which was built as a hunting lodge later became famous for the first white tigers that were found in the adjacent jungle and raised in the palace zoo.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Jinnah House in Mumbai, India

The residence of Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was built in 1936 is known as JINNAH HOUSE at a then exorbitant price of 200,000 rupees. Now worth around $60 million. It is located on Mount Pleasant Road in South Mumbai.

Designed by architect Claude Batley in the European-style architecture, the sea facing palatial bungalow was constructed using exquisite Italian marble and walnut woodwork. Specially imported Italian stone masons were employed for its construction with Jinnah personally supervising the construction "brick by brick". The property encompasses an area of 10,000 square metres (2.5 acres). The mansion, with its pointed arches and impressive columns, is currently in a dilapidated state, and much of the walnut panelling has rotted.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Home

The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site offers tours daily of Springwood. Admission includes the FDR Presidential Library & Museum. Start at the Henry Wallace Visitor Center on the grounds of the FDR site.

Abraham Lincoln’s Home

The Lincolns enlarged the house to a full two stories in 1856 to meet the needs of their growing family. You'll find the painted frame building in a shady residential neighborhood with wood plank sidewalks, ideal for a leisurely walk. The four-block area around it is being restored to the same time period by the National Park Service.

Three of the four Lincoln sons were born here, and one (Edward) died here in 1850 at nearly four years of age. When Lincoln won the 1860 Republican Presidential nomination, he received a delegation of party officials in his parlor.

Abandoned Army Hospital

Many soldiers died and their ghosts still haunt this hospital in Park Presidio. It is fenced off, but you can find ways either under the fence or over it. Many windows have been boarded up but a basement door towards the back of the building is open. Also, many windows are busted out and it is musty, graffiti-filled, and very spooky. You can hear footsteps, see reflections of light, and sometimes a cold draft. Even S.F.P.D. will not enter. - The police patrol the area and it is VERY possible you will get arrested or ticketed.

Magnolia Hall

Historic Magnolia Hall is located in the hills of Santee, Carolian in the United States. It was built by Isaac Barnes in 1821 and added onto in 1855 and 1860 by Dr. Swepson Saunders. He bought this property in 1853.

Magnolia Hall was threatened by Brigadier General. Edward E. Potter of Union troops in 1865. Dr. Saunder’s slave cook saved the actions who had taken refuge somewhere between Hagnolia Hall and Stateburg.

On 2nd September, 1999 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Now it is known as the Dr. Swepson Saunders House also.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Myrtles Plantation

The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 by General David Bradford. It is supposedly haunted by at least 12 ghosts. I did not see any, but it's pretty eerie with all that Spanish Moss everywhere. He lived alone for several years, until he was being pardoned for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1799. The Myrtles Plantation is antebllum plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana on Baton Rouge.

Naval Officer - Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh

This former sea captain took his own life after murdering a baby whilst drunk. His scruffy form was seen racing around the building.

Rumored Haunted House in Stockton

This house in North Pershing Avenue in Stockton, The house, which was built in 1925, has passed the hands of several owners since February 19, 2002 when it was sold for $210,00 and then in September 29, 2006 when it was sold at a profit for $360,000 and then in November, 2007 when it was sold for $257, 550. However, barely five months after it was bought, the new owners sold it for less than half of the purchase price.

The neighbors are saying that the house is haunted but a Stockton realtor denied the rumor saying she has shown the house many times and have spoken with the owners who said the house is fine and not at all haunted. Rumors that the house was haunted may have circulated because the house looks like a castle. It even has the look of a haunted house, the realtors said.

She said there has never been any death in the house as confirmed by the present owners. However, she admitted that there are real estate agents who will not show the house because of the rumors. The 1,964-square meter house with a 7,405 square feet lot area has 3 bedrooms and 1 and a half bath.

Zhouzhuang homes

Zhouzhuang is a popular tourist destination. It is one of the most famous water townships in China, noted for its profound cultural background, the well preserved ancient residential houses, the elegant watery views and the strong local colored traditions and customs. It has been called the "Venice of China".

Most of the buildings constructed in Zhouzhuang were made during Qing and Ming Dynasties and appear in their original splendor for tourists to view. While there are fourteen bridges that exist across Zhouzhuang, the Twin Bridges are the most notable and definitely worth seeing on your trip. These stunning bridges appeared on a UN postal stamp in 1985 and consist of the Shide and Yongan Bridges.

The Shen House is another historical structure that you'll want to check out while in Zhouzhuang.This home, built in 1742, belonged to a millionaire who lived during the Qing Dynasty. Then there's the Zhang House. This proud structure was first constructed in the 1400's and boasts over 70 opulent rooms.

Another stunning attraction of Zhouzhuang is the Chengxu Taoist Temple. This amazing temple was built during the Song Dynasty, which was all the way back in 1086 to 1093. The temple underwent various periods of expansion and has gone by the name of Sanctity Hall.

Hopy Home

The Hopi are American Indian people who live on 12, 635 kilometer.

According to Hopi lore, the Hopi are a gathering of many separate people representing tribes from distant areas, now identifying culturally as one people. With impact of the Athabascan migrations from Canada ending as late as the 15th century the Hopi moved from original village locations at the bottoms of to the tops where these villages could be defended. Popularly these are known as First, Second and Third Mesas because of their order of Spanish encounter. In contrast, the formerly nomadic Navajo typically live in small family groups now widely distributed across northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utha, southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Jerry Seinfeld Home

Jerry Seinfeld a renowned purchased this lavish and luscious East Hampton, New York for $32 million in 2000. This home has been described as a “magnificent Tudor-style waterfront manor … sited on over 14 acres of rolling lawns and naturalized landscaping. There are three buildings total with a sum of twenty-four rooms, including eight full baths and five half-baths. There are thirteen fireplaces, a gym, indoor and outdoor pools, a gourmet kitchen, a tennis court, a bowling alley, a guest cottage, a music room, a smoking bar and a wine cellar. Annual taxes are $208,463.

Horowitz



This home, conveniently located on the tax-free side of Lake Tahoe, contains a 20,000-square-foot main house that is modeled after a northern European mountain home. It contains an indoor swimming pool and an atrium as well as a 19-seat movie theater. It also boasts nine bedrooms, fourteen full and five half-baths, a private lake with docks and two par-three golf holes. While this home could be called a glamor evocative of Europe. The living room features a double-height ceiling adorned with carved beams, large windows at one apse-like end and hand-carved antique fireplaces. The dining room’s floor dates back to the 17th century, and was salvaged from a French chateau. Its ceilings are hand-painted, not with Old World themes, but images of animals indigenous to Lake Tahoe. Want to purchase the home? It’s on the market again for a cool $100 million.

Madonna's Home

The famous and one of the richest singer Madonna Located in Wiltshire, England, bought this home for pounds 12 million in a bid on Ashcombe, the former home of late photographer Cecil Beaton in 2001. It consists an area of 1,200 acre. The pop star learned how to fish, hunt and ride horses, so this home seemed to fit Madonna to a “T” in 2001.

Goldie and Kurt home

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell moved to Vancouver. This home a Tudor-style creation located in the Shaughnessy area. It contains five bedrooms and eleven fireplaces, a gym and a built-in theater room, and the house sports a grand oak paneled entrance hall with fireplace, two dens, new kitchen, private yard and a separate coach house. There is a formal living room and separate dining room, a conservatory, and the master suite contain a separate dressing area. The couple purchased the home in 2002 for $2,995,000, or $1,875,000 US dollars, and its charm and settings make the grade for this list.

Santa Barbara, California

Oprah’s Hearst Castle of Santa Barbara, California covers nearly 23,000 square feet area. It consists of 10 fireplaces, 6 bedrooms, a theater and six bed rooms. An artificial lake which is which has quarter mile long drive-way. To Oprah’s credit, this property contains the largest amount of green space.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Celebritry Houses



From mountainside mansions to beach-front bungalows, these are the houses of some of the biggest stars in Hollywood.To view the celebrity homes of famous actors, just click on the links below. With most of the pictures you can zoom in and out as well as change the pictures' orientations.Will SmithThe Fresh Prince of Bel Air may not live in Bel Air, but he's not doing too badly. Will Smith has houses in Florida, Los Angeles, Sweden and Philadelpia (Smith's home town).

Most Haunted Town in Kansas

Atchison is a city situated along the Missouri River in the eastern part of Atchison County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. The population was 10,232 at the 2000 census, and it was estimated to be 10,154 in the year 2006.[3] It is the county seat and most populous city of Atchison County. The city is named in honor of David Rice Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, and was the original eastern terminus of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.
Atchison was the birthplace of aviatrix Amelia Earhart: the Amelia Earhart Festival held each July annually attracts an estimated 30,000–50,000 people. Atchison is also the home of Benedictine College, a small Catholic liberal-arts college. Atchison is often called one of the most haunted places in America, due to the city's ghost-story heritage, featured in the 1997 book, "Haunted Kansas," written by Lisa Hefner Heitz, and published by University Press of Kansas.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Emlen Physick House


The Emlen Physick is a Victorian house museum in Cape May, New Jersey, located at 1048 Washington Street. The 18-room mansion, attributed to acclaimed American architect Frank Furness, was built for Dr. Emlen Physick Jr. (1855-1916), descendant of a well-known Philadelphia family, his widowed mother, Mrs. Ralston, and maiden Aunt Emilie. The 1879 mansion is closely related to Furness's Knowlton Mansion (1880-81) in Northeast Philadelphia.

Stiltsville House


Stiltsville is a group of wood stilt houses located one mile south of Cape Florida on Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The structures stand on wood or reinforced concrete pilings, generally ten feet above the shallow water which varies from one to three feet deep at low tide.

Playboy Mansion

The Playboy Mansion is the home of Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner. It is one of the most famous homes in the world. It is known for the wild parties that are thrown by Hugh Hefner.
The house sits on 5 acres of land and is valued at approximately $50 million. It has 22 rooms and includes the following amenities: private zoo and aviary, tennis courts, waterfall, game room, wine cellar and large pool area (including the famous grotto that can be seen).

Paris Hilton House

The home above (center) is the residence of pseudo-celebrity Paris Hilton. It is the home in which she is serving her sentence under house arrest after being released early from her 23-day jail sentence.

Winchester House

In 1884, a wealthy widow named Sarah L. Winchester began a construction project of such magnitude that it was to occupy the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death thirty-eight years later. The Victorian mansion, designed and built by the Winchester Rifle heiress, is filled with so many unexplained oddities, that it has come to be known as the Winchester Mystery House.
Sarah Winchester built a home that is an architectural marvel. Unlike most homes of its era, this 160-room Victorian mansion had modern heating and sewer systems, gas lights that operated by pressing a button, three working elevators, and 47 fireplaces. From rambling roofs and exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors to the gold and silver chandeliers and Tiffany art glass windows, you will be impressed by the staggering amount of creativity, energy, and expense poured into each and every detail.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Even a vampire slayer needs a place to rest her head. The exterior shots of the house where Buffy beds down are traced to this palm-studded property in suburban Torrance, California. Down the street is Torrance High School, also known as Buffy and friends' Sunnydale school.

Halloween



Advice: Don't knock on the door of this house for treats. Babysitters find themselves confronting the white-masked, evil Michael Myers in the Wallace family's house, and never again enjoy any candy corn. Myers likes to strangle people, and though he gets stabbed in the eye with a clothes hanger, he refuses to die.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

House on Haunted Hill

A weird old guy (Vincent Price in the original) pays guests to stay one night in a haunted house, a place where ceilings drip blood, body parts lurk, and an organ freakily plays by itself. (And please - acid vats in the basement?) The campy movie's exterior shots were at the Frank Lloyd Wright "Ennis House."

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil


The party never ends at this mansion where neighbors see ghostly revelers in the dead of night. Jim Williams murdered his partner here and the specter is still hanging around, possibly hoping for more hors d'oeuvres. And Jim? He died on the same spot as the man he murdered.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?



Talk about sibling rivalry. Blanche and Jane Hudson carry things to an extreme as Jane's sanity disintegrates in a decrepit L.A. mansion. Not only does she wear waaaay too much makeup, Jane's bad taste also leads her to serve her invalid sister a rat for dinner.

Nightmare on Elm Street


If this house could talk it would scream of bloody nightmares, courtesy of Freddy Krueger, stalker and killer of terrified teenagers. Freddy uses his razor glove to attack while the kids are dead to the world, so to speak. Sweet dreams.

Ojo Del Sol (Eye of the Sun


Known to Bay Area residents as "Fish House" (although its design was actually based on the hardy tardigrade), this 2,000-square-foot home in West Berkeley gets its official name from the massive eye-like window on its south side. Finished in 1995 for only $250,000, this house is built to last: Its walls are made of recycled Styrofoam and cement, which — coupled with its design — make it all but impervious to water, fire, termites, and even earthquakes.

Skinny House

At just over 10 feet wide, this house in Boston's North End really does live up to its name. In fact, it's so narrow that the front door had to be positioned in the side alley. The home, built in 1890, is said to have a similar background to the Spite House. According to Boston folklore, it was allegedly built to obscure a neighboring house's view — the result of a neighborhood spat. Note to the owner: Be sure to bring a tape measure when you go furniture shopping!

Flintstone House


Call it the Flintstones House, the marshmallow house, or the dome house — the Hillsborough, California, neighbors call it an eyesore and have even installed an architectural review board to prevent future "experiments" from happening in this affluent San Francisco Bay Area town. Curvaceous walls inside and out were achieved by spraying concrete over rebar and wire mesh, similar to a papier-mache arts project. Yabba, dabba, doo!

Atlanta White House

Double take! Georgia's DeKalb County boasts its own White House, which was inspired when an Atlanta home builder, who was born in Iran and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, wanted a home that paid tribute to America. His wife wanted columns — lots of columns. Built in 2001, this White House replica has 16,500 square feet, 36 rooms, and even an Oval Office. (Psst: Click photo or link to see the message in the front lawn's landscaping.)

The Simpsons Houses



Airplane House


"It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a house?" The retired Boeing 727-200 sitting on a wooded lot in rural Hillsboro, Oregon, won't be flying the friendly skies anytime soon, but it provides all the comforts of home to the electrical engineer who purchased it several years ago for $100,000 and has been remodeling it ever since. The aircraft provides 1,066 square feet of living space and near-total resistance to the elements.

Rotating Home
"It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a house?" The retired Boeing 727-200 sitting on a wooded lot in rural Hillsboro, Oregon, won't be flying the friendly skies anytime soon, but it provides all the comforts of home to the electrical engineer who purchased it several years ago for $100,000 and has been remodeling it ever since. The aircraft provides 1,066 square feet of living space and near-total resistance to the elements.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Shoe House


There was an old woman who lived in a shoe... Well, okay, in this case it was actually a man who owned this boot-shaped Pennsylvania house. Shoe store tycoon Mahlon Haines built this landmark home in 1948 as an advertising gimmick. The house features a front door with a stained-glass portrait of the owner himself, an observation platform, and even a shoe-shaped doghouse. Fittingly, Mahlon once used the home as a guest house, offering weekend stays to elderly couples.