In one area, Romanesque pillars litter the grounds like dead soldiers of previous pomp and stature. The marble columns remind one of the renowned designer Elgin’s work, and of the decline of his former client.
In the 1970s, Vincente Minnelli’s prominence as a Hollywood director waned. During that same period, coincidentally, Liza’s fame was hitting its heights. It’s rumored that she assisted her father financially during those times.
The Los Angeles Times’ profile took place a year before Lee’s drama with Liza imploded. One can only imagine how humiliated the former socialite felt. But, at the time, it was to be the last peek inside before deterioration to utter decay set in.
Today’s images depict a disheveled property that looks like it ought to be condemned. The landscape is so overgrown it has been reclaimed by nature. No one has tended the grounds in years.
The state-of-the-art swimming pool, previously a vision of A-lister splendor, is now an eyesore.
It’s been left empty, except for a mossy accumulation of old rain for so long that taggers have had time to fill the pool with graffiti. The signs of former splendor are imperceptible. It’s all gone.
The inside of the house is even more disheveled. Pictured here is what’s left of an area of the kitchen.
Random stuff covers the counters, cupboard doors and shelves are in ruins, it looks like a junkyard.
Indoors, it’s easy to see how the entire house is crumbling down from the inside, out.
The carpeting is a disaster - a filthy, rotting mess. Left to the elements, even the padding under the carpet has deteriorated to rusty orange dust.