The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Demolished Mansions

Medfield Manor (Medfield, MA)
Born: 1898
Died: 1961

 

The Mark Hopkins Mansion (Nob Hill, San Francisco)
Born: ?
Died: 1906

 

Unknown (16 St Georges Rd, Melbourne)
Born: ?
Died: 2016

 

Clandon Park (Surrey)
Born: ?
Died: 2015

 

Schwab Mansion (NYC)
Born: 1901
Died: 1938

 

Woolworth Mansion (Glen Cove)
Born: 1916
Died: 2015

 

Seaman Mansion (215th Street – 217th Street, NYC)
Born: 1903
Died: 1938

 

Barney Mansion (Kansas City)
Born: 1995
Died: 2014

 

Ferguson Castle (Huntington Bay)
Born: ?
Died: 1970

 

Stewart’s Castle (Dupont Circle, Washington, DC)
Born: 1873
Died: 1901

 

Wyandanch Mansion (?)
Born: 2001
Died: 2015

 

Clarence MacKay Mansion (Roslyn)
Born: ?
Died: ?

 

Tiger Woods Mansion (Palm Beach)
Born: 1932
Died: 2012

 

Chorley Park Mansion (Toronto)
Born: 1915
Died: 1959

 

Potter-Palmer Mansion (Chicago)
Born: 1885
Died: 1950

 

Pablo Escobar Mansion (Miami)
Born: ?
Died: 2016

 

Jeff Decker Mansion (Cincinnati)
Born: 2006
Died: 2014

 

McGraw-Fiske Mansion (Fall Creek Gorge)
Born: 1896
Died: 1906

 

Deepdene (Surrey)
Born: 1483
Died: 1967

 

Trask Mansion (Bayonee, NJ)
Born: 1875
Died: 2015

 

Cornelius Vanderbilt II House (1 West 57th Street, NYC)
Born: 1183
Died: 1926

 

Lathom (Lancashire)
Born: ?
Died: 1925

 

Stremmel Mansion (?)
Born: 1932
Died: 2012

 

Louis Marx Mansion (Scarsdale)
Born: 1903
Died: 2002

 

Bill List Todville Mansion (Seabrook, Texas)
Born: ?
Died: 1984

 

C.M. Forbes Mansion (Portland)
Born: 1887
Died: 1930

 

Willows Mansion (Melbourne)
Born: ?
Died: 1976

 

Billows Mansion (Texas)
Born: ?
Died: 2010

 

St. Ignatius Retreat House (Long Island)
Born: ?
Died: 2013

 

J J Hagerty Mansion (?)
Born: ?
Died: ?

 

Dean Gardens (Atlanta)
Born: 1991
Died: 2014

 

“Taj Mahal” Mansion (Perth)
Born: 2008
Died: 2016

 

Whitehall House (Chirnside, Berwickshire)
Born: 1771
Died: 2015

 

Shadow Brook Castle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts)
Born: 1893
Died: 1956

 

Mudhouse Mansion (Fairfield County, Ohio)
Born: 1874
Died: 2015

 

Glanusk Mansion (Crickhowell Powys)
Born: 1826
Died: 1952

 

Whitemarsh Hall (Montgomery, Pennsylvania)
Born: 1921
Died: 1980

 

Daniel Murphy Mansion (Los Angeles)
Born: 1913
Died: 2006

 

Walter DeGarmo Mansion (Miami Beach)
Born: 1925
Died: 2014

 

Melrose Mansion (Los Angeles)
Born: ?
Died: 1956

 

Carden Hall (Cheshire)
Born: ?
Died: 1912

 

David H. Dougherty Mansion (?)
Born: 1881
Died: 1931

 

Costessey Hall (Norfolk)
Born: 1793
Died: 1918

 

Tappan House (?)
Born: 1901
Died: 2011

 

The Bouwerie (Southampton)
Born: 1930
Died: 2015

 

Brynhyfryd (Ipswich)
Born: 1891
Died: 1930

 

Woolden Manor (Southampton)
Born: 1932
Died: 2016

 

Penny Pond (Old Brookville, NY)
Born: ?
Died: 2005

 

Isaac Michael Dyckman Mansion (NYC)
Born: 1861
Died: 1950

 

Unknown (Aurora, Illinois)
Born: 1898
Died: 2015

 

Hotchin Mansion (?)
Born: 2005
Died: 2016

 

Witley Mansion (?)
Born: ?
Died: 1952

 

Gar Wood Mansion (Detroit)
Born: 1928
Died: 1974

 

Doris Duke Mansion (Hillsborough)
Born: 1893
Died: 2005

 

Kenure House (Rush, Ireland)
Born: 1543
Died: 1978

 

Redpath Mansion (Montreal)
Born: 1909
Died: 2014

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Misanthrope, It does seem like just being 78 brings more than its fair share of shit to deal with. Which doesn’t make that shit any less of a problem, obviously. Best wishes, fingers crossed, et. al. Onward and upward are the universal bywords du jour. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, T. Amy’s new book is amazing, even her best ever, I think. ** Steve Erickson, I’m very sorry hear that about your landlord problems, and I think your plan to talk to a lawyer before you re-engage with him is wise. Any progress? I’ll try Iceboy Violet, thanks. No, extremely unfortunately, there is no way to automate the deleting. I have to go through all the image uploads starting in 2017. They’re organised into files for each month, and, as you well know, I upload a lot of images on this blog — I mean 154 gifs just on last Monday. I have to find each image, identify the copies (which range from 1 to 6), then select and delete them. It’s brain-frying and it takes hours and hours. So far I’ve only managed two month’s worth of files a day, so I have at least two weeks ahead of spending my days doing this. If I wasn’t so dedicated to doing the blog, this would be the point where I’d decide fuck it and just stop. But, alas. New song! Everyone, Here’s Steve Erickson. Please read and poke. Steve:’I wrote this song, “Ice Ice Maybe,” yesterday. There’s a sample of ice being stirred in a cup running through it, hence the title. I was inspired by the mix of breakbeats, tuned percussion and Arabic influences on Laika’s SILVER APPLES OF THE MOON, and I think it came out quite well.’ ** Dominik, Howdy, D!!! It’s a lovely book. Thanks about the deleting, but, yeah, there is literally no positive aspect to doing it at all. Urgh. Glad you decided to dive into the book. Fuck work. Or, well, temporarily. Oh, right, it was your birthday last weekend! You sprung for the tattoo! I guess I figured you would. Did you have fun? Did you do anything self-rewarding (in addition to the tattoo)? Dude, right now, as of this moment, the love you sent is the greatest love of all (but not sung by Whitney Houston). Huh, I wonder if being around myself would bug me. It would definitely freak me the fuck out. I don’t even like looking in mirrors. Even when I brush my teeth and stuff, I just kind of give my mirror image a vague side-eye kind of look. Love like a genie in a bottle who grants you three wishes (and, yes, one of them can be for infinite wishes), G. ** Jack Skelley, Skellestador! Yep, yep, re: Amy’s book. Whoa city. I did see that the BB Haunt finally opens on the 17th!!!! Now I have to ‘pray’ that I can get over there and see it before the show ends or another lockdown takes it away. ** john christopher, Hi, john christopher. Good to see you. It is class. She’s incredible. I’m so happy her stuff sings to you. I have read ‘ … Young Werther’, it’s great. And the more proper title translation is utterly sensible, yeah. I’m also so happy that all those butts did their job or your job. You deserved them, buddy. I hear you on the rough writing patch. I mean, you know, that happens. But don’t preordain their crappiness is my suggestion. The powers of revising and editing are godlike. I feel confident that you’ll find shining nuggets in there at the very least. Congrats on the paragraph finishing. Man, some of the best stuff ever is no more than a paragraph in length. No, I’ve never done a post on Heavy Metal Parking Lot. If you feel like doing one, my blog’s arms are wide open. You gotta love an orangey smell. I’ll try to find my day’s niceness, and you too, right? ** Brian, Hi, Brian! I think it is 100% fantastic. Moving is always so stressful. I’ve had to move a few times here, and let’s just say I never want to again. But when you have a new place, and you’re unpacking and stuff, that’s one of those rare pleasures, so, yeah, fix on that part, I guess, should you end up needing to vamoose. That’s awesome news about biweekly column on horror movies! That’s really exciting both because it’s horror movies and because it’s you in charge. Be sure to let us/me know when it launches.Do you get to pick the films yourself? Is it about new horrors or any period horrors? My week won’t be one for the books, or not for good books anyway, but hey. Saturday awaits us. ** Right. Do you want to see a whole bunch of mansions that have been demolished? Why wouldn’t you, is my guess. Hence, your post today. See you tomorrow.

14 Comments

  1. Ferdinand

    Hey Dennis, Idols and Discontents came with the mail man today and altho i think u said u hated that Mapplethorp like cover, the two items look great together. Somebody suggested The swimmingpool library so thats the third in the triad delivery.

  2. Dominik

    Hi!!

    My birthday was lovely. Quiet and bookish, and I spent almost an entire day videochatting/free-styling with Anita. As no tattoo parlors are open now, I’m still just planning the design, but I have a few pretty solid ideas. And yeah… I guess it’s not too surprising that I went with this choice, haha. Before I got my first tattoo, a friend told me that once you get one, you won’t ever be able to stop. So far, it seems to be true.

    Yeah, I can really understand that. I don’t know how I’d feel about my clone. I mean, assuming that they’d like the same things I do, we’d probably get along, but I would definitely have these “fuck, THIS is what my body looks like?!” moments, haha.

    Thank you for your love and the infinite wishes (because, obviously, that’d be my first one; I’m greedy). Love starting a self-help group for homeless ghosts who used to haunt mansions that got demolished, Od.

  3. Misanthrope

    Dennis, I love mansions. Really, any sort of huge structure. When I see mansions, I think of the great parties I could have in them. Or I think to the haunted summer with Byron and the Shelleys. I don’t know, just feel like they could be really fun in small doses.

    Yeah, I’m 49 and compared to how I felt/was physically, say, 20 years ago…man, it seems like it’s one thing after another. I can only imagine being 78,

    That blog cleanup sounds like a right fucking hell. Ugh. You have my sympathies.

  4. David Ehrenstein

    Love Among The Ruins, today.
    Here’s an interview with the beautiful and talented Colamn Domingo of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” fame His husband’s gorgeous too.

    I cannot emphasize how s I cannot emphasie how much I love “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” which among other things is the best black movi I’ve seen since The Landlord RequiredViewing.

  5. john christopher

    ‘The powers of revising and editing are godlike’ Yup! can’t really argue with that. It’s weird cos you would think the first draft would be the most immediate, or something, but at the same time you can return to it and furnish it/chasten it to whatever degree you want. So yeah, p godlike. That’s cool to know re: the blog’s open arms. I dunno if there’s enough to post about HMPL, but I’ll have a think, cos there might be something brewing in back of my mind, about music docs…. I’m listening to Fugazi, might eat some chocolate in a minute. bye dennis!:)
    ps. absolutlely stoked for your new book.
    also ps. i was watching lots of raf simons videos recently and did you know he sampled your reading of Dear Todd for a show? you probably knew that. It was cool to hear anyway. bye again!

  6. Steve Erickson

    I was able to consult my lawyer yesterday and get a firm plan for someone to re-install my air conditioner in my bedroom Friday before I got back to my landlord’s office today. They were much less threatening on the phone than in their letter and seem satisfied that I’m cleaning up the apartment, although i need to send them photos afterwards and then have the exterminator who works for them inspect it. (I am dubious about the last part and will run it by my lawyer.)

    I started reading Mark Fisher’s GHOSTS OF MY LIFE today and wish he was still around to write about NFTs, a phenomenon I technically understand and think makes sense in cultural terms but whose blow-up to an immensely profitable business very quickly baffles me.

    There’s a cultural phenomenon I’d like to write about somewhere. At this point, albums are basically advertisements for tours, merch and bait for TV/movies/ads to license the music, apart from a niche audience that’s much smaller than the one that used to pay for music. (The years’ best-“selling” albums typically have a 9:1 ratio of streaming to any form of actual paid sales.) YouTube videos are frequently just ads for a Patreon subscription that then offers access to a Discord server where you can chat personally with the creator and see videos that don’t go public. Celebrity pop stars’ output seems to be consist of curating music, a visual component (both music videos and, increasingly, documentaries about themselves), a social media feed and merch. There does not seem to be any center to all this. It’s promoting “product” more than any individual item, but what exactly is the product? These observations probably aren’t new, but being stuck at home for an entire year and watching hours of YouTube and Netflix every day has brought it home to me. Surveying the Internet for photos of butts and demolished mansions is a much healthier pursuit!

    Sorry to hear how difficult the deletion process is. I wish there were a short cut.

  7. Damien Ark

    Hi Dennis,

    I really appreciate the furry yiff inclusion in your 154 butts post. That’s all. Hope you’re doing good. 😛

  8. Brian

    Hey, Dennis,

    These are so spooky. Destroyed or abandoned places always have a weird ambience for me. There’s a whole genre of online content out there just exploring old buildings that have been abandoned or partially demolished, and it’s so unsettling to me. Today’s crushed mansions evoked similarly pleasantly creepy vibes. Cheers to that. The only time I’ve ever moved was when I was too young to remember, from the city to my current home. So it’s a scary prospect for me. But I will hold fast to your advice and eagerly anticipate the serenity of unpacking. Yes, I’ll maybe pass on word when the column gets started, although my writing embarrasses me. We’re still working out the details, but I think I mostly get to pick the films myself, though naturally if the editor has a specific assignment I’ll do it. It might be better for publicity if I hew toward newer films (specifically of the more “art”-y variety—I won’t say “elevated” because that’s condescending, but you know the type—because the publisher’s brand is “literary weird”), but I am allowed to cover older films as well, and I’ll be doing just that for my first one, on “Kuroneko”. I also might want to write about some seventies trash, but we’ll see what he makes of that idea, lol. It’s the sort of thing that will work itself out and find a structure along the way, I think. Anyway I’ll figure a way into it. That’s my spiel. Today was uneventful, except I got an A on a film paper I was pretty uncertain about, and I got to lead a discussion and debate on pornography in my ethics class, which was pretty fun and less awkward than it might seem. So it could have been worse. Your Wednesday? Let us know. Saturday approaches fast apace.

  9. Kevin Kelly

    Really interesting item on Demolished Mansions. One small point, it was Deepdene House, Surrey rather than Deepene.

  10. CAUTIVOS

    Hi Dennis. Great. Do you speak spanish. These is my first book. I would like sold. Price 20 euros. If you would like Dennis Cooper this book is similar and inpided is Dennis Cooper style. Thanks

    https://www.edicionesatlantis.com/libro/para-no-molestar-a-la-marsopa/

  11. CAUTIVOS

    Hi Den i hope you like this book

  12. alex rose

    hey dennis, i left a few comments but the net goblins gobbled them out

    just to let you know our show is up online

    https://empiricalnonsense.today/end/on-the-death-of-biden

    thank you again for helping me out with this

    your humble irish foot solider

  13. Lennart Elgaard

    The Woolworth mansion is still standing. In fact, it’s currently being renovated by someone with extremely deep pockets. Even the gardens are all being renovated back to their former glory

  14. Lennart Elgaard

    BTW-the photo of Whitemarsh Hall ‘demolition’ is actually a construction photo. The construction of that house was documented with hundred of photos, and better documented than any of house construction.

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