10 amazing homes that sat untouched for decades 10. chicago, illinois, usa – untouched since1956 in 2010, nathan chandler, a furniture collectorin chicago, bought the home featured above. for reasons unknown, the house had been sealedoff in 1956. amazingly, the kitchen in the house was neverused and was left in pristine condition. the very pink kitchen has an electric stoveand oven, complete with the original operator’s manual. the fridge is tiny and is hung like a cabinetamong the cupboards.
finally, in order to load the dishwasher,you need to pull it out like a drawer and the inside of it looks more like a laundrymachine than a dishwasher. the dishwasher also had a vintage box of finishinside of it. chandler sold the house in 2015 for an undisclosedprice. 9. palm springs, california, usa – untouchedsince 1969 if you’re looking for a home that wouldmake liberace sick with envy, this one in palm springs, california, may be just whatyou’re after. built in 1969, it’s had two owners, andthe only thing that one owner changed was
the kitchen. otherwise, it looks like it’s ready fora wild swinger party. everything in the house was custom built,including a magenta and rose-colored canopy bed in the master bedroom, and symmetricalsemi-circle couches that surround an over-sized coffee table in the living room. there is wood paneling in the den (of course),which also has a wet bar with a mirror backsplash. it also has a beautiful pool, which can beseen from multiple rooms. the only major downfall, besides the questionablecolor scheme, is the carpeted bathroom. come on, that’s both tacky and troublesomefor mold.
the house went on the market in march 2016,for the asking price of $885,000. 8. palm springs, california, usa – untouchedsince 1962 we’re not sure what it is about palm springs,but apparently the residents hate changing their houses. this home was built based on designs by architectjohn launder and commissioned by famed interior designer arthur elrod. elrod designed and decorated the house, whichhas four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, a pool, and sits on .37 acres.
elrod didn’t live in the house for verylong. he commissioned the construction of anotherhouse around the same time and chose to live there. so the house was purchased in 1962 by a friendof elrod, who kept the design intact throughout the years. as a result, the house, which is built intoa mountainside, looks like something out of a movie from the 1960s or early ’70s. in fact, the home was featured in the jamesbond classic diamonds are forever. in 2013, the house went up for sale with anasking price of $2.195 million.
7. toronto, ontario, canada – untouched sincethe 1960s if the easter bunny was real, and lived ina house, we’re guessing it would look very much like this one. located in toronto, this place has pastelcolors everywhere. this includes the mint green living room andpink kitchen, which still has a rotary phone (also a pastel pink color). the basement is wood paneled, because whatelse would it be? to top it all off, the yard is actually astroturf.
mike brady would definitely approve. in 2014, the 96-year-old woman who lived therefor 72 years put the house up for sale for $699,999. that isn’t all that bad considering howpricey the toronto housing market is. we should also point out the price did notinclude the pastel furniture. darn, right? 6. los angeles, california, usa – untouchedsince 1954 in the early 1950s, albert p. martin, a commercialarchitect, and his wife, gloria, an artist,
moved to los angeles. they not only designed a home that would eventuallybecome a time capsule, they also helped build it. according to family stories, the couple installedthe beams in the house themselves. they also designed the dã©cor themselves,and never changed it. after the house was finished in 1954, themartins raised three children there. albert died at the age of 88 in 2012. gloria passed away a year later. she was 85.
their house went up for sale in 2014 witha list price of $1.6 million. 5. ryton-on-dunsmore, warwickshire, uk – untouchedsince the 1940s in the 1940s, jack and audrey newton movedinto their nine-bedroom, queen anne-style farmhouse in ryton-on-dunsmore, warwickshire,with their parents. the brother and sister never left the house,nor did they marry. neither had children. in 2011, audrey, who was in her late 80s,passed away. jack died at age 90 in march 2015.
with both owners deceased and no heirs, thenewton’s items were to be auctioned off. that’s when the auction house discoveredthat grange farm had, for the most part, been left untouched for 75 years. inside the house there were over 500 antiques. this included the original cupboards, beds,sinks, kitchen utensils, an old style television set, jewelry, an organ with sheet music fromthe 1920s, and plenty of board games. after auctioning off all the items, the housewent up for sale with the asking price of â£600,000 ($795,000 usd). 4.
worksop, nottinghamshire, uk – untouchedsince 1932 the semi-detached home pictured above wasbuilt in 1905. william straw, a successful grocery storeowner, and his family lived in the house until 1932, when william suddenly died. in their grief, the family decided to leavethe house as it was. this included leaving william’s tobaccoand pipe where he last hung it. even the calendar still says 1932. the family held on to the house until 1990. after that, william’s last surviving sondied and left the house to the national trust
for places of historic interest or naturalbeauty. they opened the home to the public in 1993,61 years after it was last used. 3. paddington, new south wales, australia – untouchedsince 1915 this two-bedroom workers cottage in paddington,australia has been owned by one family, who held on to it for over 100 years. the only upgrade is that, at some point (probablyin the 1970s) a fridge was placed in the cottage. however, besides the fridge, nothing in thehouse has been changed since 1915. it doesn’t have a washroom, but the goodnews is that the house is furnished with antique
bedpans. in march 2015, the house sold for $1.2 million. that’s really good, considering the originalowners only spent â£400 and clearly didn’t shell out much on renovations. 2. los angeles, california, usa – untouchedsince 1909 the arts and crafts movement was an aestheticmovement that emerged out of england at the end of the 19th century. the spirit behind the movement was a new appreciationof decorative art.
built in 1909, this home in the victoria parkneighborhood of los angeles is an amazing example of the arts and crafts style. while there are other arts and crafts stylehomes in the neighborhood, very few remain intact in their original form like this one. notably, it has all of its original lightfixtures, trim, a leaded glass china cabinet, and stained glass windows. there are even the original murals, and ithas a turret. for this time capsule, which the listing describedas a “fixer-up,†the owners were looking for $720,000.
1. paris, france – untouched since 1942 in 1942, das nazis were invading france. as they advanced, a 23-year-old woman, onlyknown in the media as madame de florian, grabbed some personal items in her persian apartment. she locked the door, and fled to the southof france. she lived out the rest of her life there anddied in 2010 at the age of 91. that was when her family started going throughher possessions and found out that, much like people and their gym membership, madame deflorian never stopped paying for her apartment.
she also never set foot in it again aftershe fled. so her family went to the apartment and unlockedit for the first time in 70 years. while everything was covered in dust, it appearedto be exactly the way madame left it. amazingly, the surprises didn’t end there. inside the apartment, they found a never-before-seenpainting by giovanni boldini, a famed 19th-century italian artist. the painting was sold at an auction in 2014 for $3.4 million.