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When we dig down in the history of the fashion industry, we find many names that have brought huge revolutions in the fashion world, among which one of the names is Coco Chanel. She was a French fashion designer and a successful businesswoman who had strong connections with Nazis and the people from the high society. Chanel rose to fame for her perpetual designs, black dresses, jewellery, handbags and most importantly her signature perfume Chanel No. 5, which was launched back in 1921 and is still loved by people today.
During her lifetime she lived in her Paris apartment that she designed and decorated herself, but later it was discovered that she owned another property that she used to host her long term lover Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster. The Rosehall estate is situated in Scotland and consists of 22 bedrooms. It was originally built in 1873, but it was destroyed by fire and then rebuilt. It was Chanel’s love nest in the 1920s. The house has been abandoned for over 52 years and now it has been sold to an anonymous family who will be turning this mention into a luxury boutique hotel. An urban explorer Matt Nadin had the opportunity to sneak into the mansion to take a peak. Scroll down to check out the photos of this crumbling estate.
Source: DM
Source: DM
The mansion comprises of 22 bedrooms and has a total area of 700 acres. As seen in the photos Matt captured, the house still has some of the pieces of vintage furniture from the time Chanel resided there. Although the house has been abandoned since 1967, it still has great significance from the historic point of view. This house is believed to the only building that was designed by Chanel in the United Kingdom, and it was the first house in Scotland to have a bidet installed in the bathroom.
Source: DM
Source: DM
Source: DM
The property was listed as for sale for the past four years, and it was sold earlier this year to a family from overseas for an undisclosed sum. Since it was prohibited to enter the premises of this building, Matt snuck in through a broken window to take a sneak peek inside Chanel’s massive mansion. It was used to host big fancy parties and meetings with high society people including Winston Churchill and of course, her long-term lover the 2nd Duke of Westminster.
Source: DM
It was surely a difficult task but Matt Nadin bravely did it. He waited for the right moment, while he was in the area for vacations with his family. Matt said:
” This is somewhere I have really wanted to get into for a while. I went when it was raining because I thought there was less chance of people being outside and less chance of being caught. I would have been devastated if I had been caught after being in just one room. I was also so aware of my own voice and how much it echoed in there. One room had bottles of beer and sherry as well as barrels of wine inside. It was just really fascinating to think about who might have been the last person to drink out of one of those bottles. The entire place was amazing and to have the opportunity to actually get in there was crazy. Some of the rooms were absolutely massive. Some of the windows must have been 15 feet tall but it was riddled with damp and the walls were full of cracks. It was what I expected in a lot of the rooms, with everything stripped back but some of the period features like the cast iron fireplace were just beautiful.”
Source: DM
Source: DM
“Coco Chanel came here before the war and spent a lot of time living here. These were her glory days and it’s crazy to think who might have walked into that building before me. It’s just a real shame that it’s in the state it is now. It was fascinating wondering which room Coco Chanel would have slept in and the wild parties that would have gone on. The history of the place is just crazy.I know I will get people saying why have you come here, why did you show people, but the answer is if I didn’t, no one would get to see it because it would be destroyed and gone forever.I know there isn’t loads left today but there is enough to paint a picture in your mind of what it was once like and that’s what I am passionate about. It’s a wonderful place and I really hope someone comes along to save it. Some work has obviously been done in there but as I understand it the sale has fallen through. It’s a real shame and it would be lovely to see it brought back to life at some point.”
Source: AndyB
Source: AndyB
Chanel used to meet up with a lot of people at this residence and spent a lot of her time engaging in activities like fishing and hunting. During one of Winston Churchill’s visits in May 1927, he wrote a letter to his wife. Telling her about Chanel’s Rosehall estate.
During another visit to Chanel’s Scotland residence in October 1927, Churchill wrote another letter to his wife. He told her that the fashion designer “fishes from morning till night, and in two months has killed 50 salmon.”
Source: AndyB
Source: AndyB
Source: DM
Source: AndyB
Source: AndyB
Source: AndyB
Source: AndyB
Although the 22-bed mansion is in an extremely poor condition and looks pretty spooky, it still has all the little details and reminiscents of Chanel herself. It is a very wise decision to turn this place into a hotel based on her Paris apartment’s theme. This way all the Chanel fans would have a chance to see the glimpse of her lifestyle. What do you guys think of this mansion? Let us know in the comments below.
