Explore a 120-year-old abandoned mansion filled with treasures

Step inside this splendid southern beauty

This magnificent grand dame of a mansion is bound to leave you enchanted. Although the eerie Alabama beauty has been neglected for years, that doesn’t seem to have taken too much of a toll on its charms.

A beguiling time-warp of yesteryear dating back to the early 1900s, the house is seemingly frozen in time, with a wedding dress still hanging in the bedroom.

Read on to discover its secrets, courtesy of photographer Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast…

Welcome to the Deep South

Located in the heart of the Deep South, the abandoned home which was photographed here by Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast was designed in a majestically imposing neo-classical revival style meant to echo the shape of a Roman temple.

This is reflected in the grand scale of the home, with a huge portico of four towering, elaborate Corinthian columns and a steeply-pitched decorative roof. An added touch of drama comes via the immense Doric columns rising up behind the house, and a romantic second-floor balcony.

Making a grand entrance

Dating back to the early 20th century, the awe-inspiring neo-classical design continues into an extremely grand entrance hallway.

A large staircase, framed by exquisitely moulded columns, leads your eye through the pleasing symmetry of the interior. Pristine white paint and marble-effect walls maintain a clean, classic feel. Only the piles of dust on a red carpet-runner betray the fact the house is abandoned.

Signs of decay

Take a closer look and you can see the rot setting in, with lots of paint peeling off the side of the staircase and even a chunk of wood ripped off.

But notice, too, the beautifully carved wooden spindles on the stairs, and the light fixture attached to the columns, designed to look like a mini candelabra.

Historic location

Here’s a view from the hallway into one of the living rooms. The vast proportions of the double doors are a further nod to neo-classical design. Built in 1904, the house is located in the attractive, historic town of Union Springs in Bullock County, Alabama.

The town is said to get its name from the 27 freshwater springs that once met at its centre, which made the area fertile and attractive to settlers.

Unclear origins

In this stunning reception room, floor-to-ceiling arched windows provide dazzling light and an airy sense of space.

While reports are conflicting, the 12-room mansion is thought to have been built by Sterling Price Rainer Jr or possibly his uncle, William Rainer, with construction beginning in 1902 and completed two years later. This dates the property to the end of the Gilded Age.

Classically beautiful interior

Look how this show-stopping fireplace echoes the grand portico exterior, with ceiling-high columns and beautiful symmetry. A polished dark wood floor adds contrast to the light décor, while retaining a classic style.

Lightweight Queen Anne-style furniture completes the look. The room is in remarkably good condition considering it’s reportedly been abandoned since around 2015.

Prominent businessman

The only signs in this room that the house is uninhabited are the sparse furnishings and empty picture nails hammered into the wall. You can glimpse another regal living space through the wide wooden pocket doors.

Thought to have occupied the house sometime in the early 20th century, Sterling Price Rainer Jr was born in 1885 and attended the University of Alabama. He followed in the family trade, becoming a prominent businessman in Union Springs.

Perfect proportions

Although stripped bare, the structural bones of this living room are very beautiful. Entering the room, you’re treated to gorgeous period features, including impressive floor-to-ceiling Corinthian columns and entablature framing the fireplace.

Check out the finely carved wood-coffered ceiling, plus the curving bay window, which adds space and architectural interest to the room.

Centre of industry

Imagine sitting on that window seat, admiring the view over the sprawling grounds, that are just waiting to be transformed. Historically, Union Springs was home to the Muscogee Native Americans, who were shamefully removed from their ancestral lands as part of the Federal Government’s Indian Removal Act of 1830.

European colonisers moved in and profited from the area's fertile land, making it a flourishing centre of industry – one where Sterling Jr's father, Sterling Price Rainer Sr, thrived as a successful businessman.

Ornate detailing

This adjoining sitting room has a slightly different look. It’s still very much classical in style, but there are no columns. However, look closely and you'll find foliage-like flourishes, usually seen on Corinthian columns, painted in gold and nestled into the top of the fireplace.

The elegant patio doors framed by an arched stained-glass window are the star feature of this room. The doors lead out to a paved outdoor seating area overlooking the garden.

Cracked and crumbling walls

Compact and cosy, this small room was perhaps a library or study in recent years. It may have originally been a servant’s room or food preparation area. The modern heater looks jarringly ugly on the far wall, but the Tiffany-style ceiling light with blue and green stained glass is beautiful.

Cracks in the walls and ceiling, as well as peeling paint on the floor, tell of the sad years of neglect this lovely historic home has suffered.

Monumental staircase

This close-up side view of the staircase makes clear just how monumental this interior feature is. The wood-coffered walls have stood up well to the ravages of time, except under the stairs, where you can see the disintegrating wood, which is probably due to damp.

It’s remarkable that the delicate stair spindles have been untouched by decay. Five years after the home's construction, Sterling Jr married Jean Lacoste Evans in 1909, and by 1918 they had three children.

Art Nouveau elements

A wonderful, artisanal stained-glass window stands at the top of the staircase. It appears to be Art Nouveau in style, with an ethereal woman set amid a bucolic outdoor backdrop.

The strong border of curling, sinuous foliage and flowers also fits the Art Nouveau theme. However, a bad case of rising damp on the wall underneath the stained glass and a missing chunk of wallpaper torn off on the left speak to the neglect the dilapidated dream home has suffered.

Legacy of the slave trade

Peeled paint and ripped wallpaper are visible halfway up the staircase, further evidence of long-term neglect. Although slavery was outlawed in 1865 in the USA – long before this house was built – businesses in the area certainly used slave labour prior to this date.

In fact, in 1861, Alabama's 435,080 enslaved people are said to have made up 45% of the total population of the state. It’s unclear whether the ancestors of the Sterlings and Rainers had slaves, although it’s highly likely they did.

Space stripped bare

On the upper level of the house, there's evidence of serious water damage on the ceiling of this upper-floor landing, leaving the beautiful stained-glass window underneath at risk of being destroyed.

An elegant light fitting looks forlorn amid the emptiness of this stripped-bare landing.

Comfortable bedroom

Intriguingly shaped, this time-warp bedroom has alcoves and a wonderful, huge bay window. It’s a sizable space with a wide fireplace and a grand four-poster bed that would've once been the height of fashion.

Sterling Jr went on to become a civil court judge and later the mayor of Union Springs, just like his father. According to Leland Kent, he was also a deacon at his local First Presbyterian Church for more than 40 years.

Frozen in time

Here you can see detritus scattered across the dirt-stained carpet, from peeling paint and objects stuffed under the bed to an electrical appliance wire still in a socket.

A pair of shoes sit abandoned in the middle of the floor, all seemingly frozen in time.

The runaway bride?

Strangely, there’s what looks like a wedding gown and tuxedo left behind in the bedroom, as if the couple just upped and ran away before their big day!

Sterling’s parents, Sterling Price Rainer Sr and Minnie Lee Feagin, lived just around the corner from the Rainer-Lewis House in a home with the confusingly similar name of the Sterling-Price-Rainer house. Their beautiful Victorian or Queen Anne-style property still stands at 202 Chunnenuggee Avenue and was on the market in recent years.

Leaving a legacy

Here’s the other end of the bedroom, with empty shelves and vacant picture nails sticking out of the wall. The carpet is stained and littered with debris. Sterling Jr lived in Union Springs his whole life until his death in 1967 at the age of 82, when he was buried in the family plot at the town’s Oak Hill Cemetery.

Although Sterling Price Rainer Jr’s name is memorialised in the Rainer-Lewis House, mystery still surrounds the identity of 'Lewis'.

A hidden door

The vibrantly painted walls in this bedroom certainly make a statement. Again, the fire surround echoes the neo-classical theme of the building. Notice the attractive metal fire cover.

Strangely, there appears to be a hidden door concealed behind a modern wardrobe on the left.

Blue bedroom

Closely resembling the previous bedroom in layout, this blue room has a still life painting on the wall and what could be a very old-fashioned radio or music player in the corner.

Damp and cracks mark the ceiling, while splinters of paint dot the floor. It'll certainly take a serious overhaul to get the house into a habitable condition.

Pink bedroom

This pink bedroom is very badly damaged, with a crumbling ceiling and traces of water on the floor. The neo-classical-style fire surround stands out, as does the beautiful metal fireguard.

An electric cable dangerously grazes the damp floor, and there appears to be a strand of Christmas tinsel adorning one of the windows.

Steeped in nostalgia

In this greying ensuite bathroom, even the fuzzy toilet seat cover has weathered the years remarkably well, a nostalgic reminder leftover from the 1970s.

This clawfoot bathtub would've once been a grand focal point of the room, but it's since been tarnished by the sands of time.

Beauty and decay

Here is another upstairs room featuring a unique fireplace and a damaged ceiling. Signs of damp are evident, but it's clear that this handsome space has plenty of potential to be a luxurious bedroom once more.

Through the window next to it, you can see the ornate railing of the second-floor balcony.

Exquisite fireplace

The star of this space is, without doubt, the stunning hearth. Framed by an intricately carved wooden surround with a mirrored mantel, it's evident that the owners of this house had money.

The detailed shell relief across the metal is particularly lovely too, offset by white brickwork.

Encroaching ruin

At first glance, this vintage kitchen looks ready for cooking dinner, with wooden cupboards galore, an island unit and a mammoth fridge.

But a closer look reveals a crumbling ceiling and fallen wedges of plaster on the floor and across the worktops, with electrical wires dangling down dangerously over the cooker.

Changing of hands

This dank, dilapidated space looks like it could be an extension to the original historic house, perhaps leading to a basement or workroom.

From the 1930s, the home passed between various owners until 2012, when it was sold to Dr Hikes-McDonald. Purchasing the house to enjoy in her retirement, she reportedly carried out restoration works on the home in 2013.

Swallowed by vines

The porch looks like it was once a cosy family gathering spot, with a big swing seat, a rocker and a chair.

But you can see how Mother Nature is reclaiming the space, with untamed vines growing up the walls, across the ceiling, along the floor and even creeping inside through an open door – it's as if the vines might swallow the building whole.

Better times

Pictured here in 2017, look at how lovely she looks. While this image may have been enhanced slightly, here we can imagine the property in happier times with a fresh coat of paint and the lawn and flowerpots well cared for.

Quite a difference to what it looks like in more recent times...

Biggest house on the block

You can see the abandoned house in all its splendour in this shot from the front lawn. It's situated on a residential street surrounded by other properties, some of which are also historic homes, but this one must surely be the grandest. Dr Hikes-McDonald initially lived in the property with her brother and their pet poodle.

However, just a few years later they moved away to be closer to family. The house is thought to have stood empty for more than six years when these photos were taken.

Struggling to survive

The damage to the exterior is sad to see up close. The roof is splintering and the big structural support column attached to the side of the house is disintegrating.

How long before the whole house falls down? Look carefully and you can just make out the house number ‘202’ with the zero missing.

In need of rescue

As you can see, the smart yellow and white paintwork of this southern beauty is slowly crumbling. With so much history imbued in its walls, it would be a sore shame to see this magnificent residence crumble.

What lies ahead?

This Google Maps photo taken in April 2023 shows the once-lavish mansion still looking rather neglected. But with a construction vehicle in the yard could it mean times are changing for this storied property? Let's hope so. In 2022 there were rumours that the house had been purchased by a contractor who planned to restore and live in the home.

A splendid slice of Union Springs' past, hopefully this landmark mansion can be rescued before it’s too late.

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