A 25,000-square-foot mansion isn’t something you necessarily expect to find rotting away in the middle of an Iowa field. And a mansion built for Roseanne Barr no less! Yet that’s exactly what’s happening to Roseanne Barr’s half-built home outside of Eldon, Iowa.
Roseanne Barr is best-known as the star of the popular 1990s sitcom “The Roseanne Show” that portrayed a working-class, Midwest American family. The show was a hit, running for over a decade. And at the peak of the show’s success, Roseanne decided to put down some roots in Iowa.
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She opened a restaurant in Eldon. She parked a trailer on a farm she purchased on the outskirts of this small town. And she began to build herself a palace.
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Originally intended as a getaway home for Barr and her husband Tom Arnold (an Iowa native), construction on this mansion was halted in 1994 when the two ended their relationship. Halted, and never resumed.
Roger Riley / Youtube
The mansion was going to be a $16 million, 28,000-square-foot Victorian-style dream home – making it the largest, most expensive home in all of Iowa.
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It was set on a 1,700-acre farm with a serene pond view.
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And it was going to feature an Olympic-sized indoor pool, a four-lane bowling alley, and a screening room just in the basement. (You know, like all mansions have.)
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Instead, too expensive to demolish, it has disintegrated with time to just a pile of rubble.
Roger Riley / Youtube
In 1995, the land and half-built mansion was donated to Indian Hills Community College. The college then sold the land to a private party in 2012.
Roger Riley / Youtube Youtube user Roger Riley posted a tour of this mansion in 2012; his video is a great way to explore this abandoned Iowa building that is now off limits to the public.
Did you know about this abandoned Iowa mansion moldering away in a field outside Eldon, Iowa? What other abandoned gems do you know about that were built and left to disintegrate? Here’s some road trip inspiration featuring a few others around the state.
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Roger Riley / Youtube
Youtube user Roger Riley posted a tour of this mansion in 2012; his video is a great way to explore this abandoned Iowa building that is now off limits to the public.
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Address: 40°55'21.4"N 92°10'52.1"W Washington Township, IA
