In the small city of Pearland, Texas lies two huge abandoned mansions on adjoining lots. The larger of these properties (which this post will focus on) is 60,175 square feet in size, features 46 bedrooms, 55 bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool, and a 9 car garage. To the locals, it’s known as the Manvel Mansion.
Unfortunately, over the years this abandoned Manvel mansion in Pearland has started to fall into decay. Vandals have damaged much of the property, breaking windows, spraying graffiti, and ripping out wiring and AC ductwork.
The two adjoining lots, with the larger of the mansions on the right. Both were uncompleted, with no landscaping; the larger one never even had a drive or front gates.
THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSE
Both these properties were built in 2001; however, neither was fully completed, and neither has ever been lived in. Much like Lapalice Castle in Poland, another sprawling property that was never lived in.
It is believed that the properties were built by a local doctor, who wanted to use the smaller mansion as his home, and the larger mansion as a live-in property for his patients. This would explain the clinical feel of the larger, 60,175 square foot, mansion.
The property boasts 46 bedrooms, 55 bathrooms, an elevator, a swimming pool, a sauna, and a 9-car garage.
TheThe 9 car garage down the right-side of the property.
The view of the larger mansion from the smaller mansion shows just how extensive the property is.
RECENT HISTORY
Manvel Mansion 2017 – 2019
In 2017, the property which had been up for sale for $3.6 million and failed to find a buyer, almost became a veterans facility. Christa Mode, an eight-year Navy veteran, wanted to use the property, with the help of the current owners, to support at-risk veterans, saying “I want to reach them before they ever consider suicide as an option.”
Christa Mode
While veterans made up 8.5 percent of all U.S. adults, they accounted for 18 percent of adult suicides. Mode, who had recently moved to Texas laid plans for “The Bailey House”, named after the WWII veteran in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which Mode encourages people to watch from a suicide-prevention perspective.
Unfortunately, the ambitious plans never paid off, when the dream hit a snag. Mode and the current owner (Jim Youngblood) hoped to change the tract of land from Open Single Family Residential (OSFR) to Light Commercial. However, those plans fell apart when the city of Manval declined to grant the necessary zoning permits, meaning the dream was dead in the water.
Jim said, “There were probably 60 people in the room and 58 of them were opposed to The Bailey House”. Youngblood and Mode say the Manvel citizens voiced concerns about having homeless veterans in the neighborhood.
However, in 2019 a new proposal was put forward by the Heritage Christian Academy in Pearland. They wish to change the mansion into a school, Kara Marsh, Head of School for HCA said: “we have already made it past all of the hurdles that others have struggled with.”
“The house was built within the county limits so there was a lot of hurdles getting it switched from a home to a business design,” Marsh said. “We have moved past those hurdles and so now it is just a matter of your normal building process. There is nothing now that could really halt our progress.”
According to Marsh, HCA has been eyeing the Manvel mansion since 2003. By 2018, the school decided it needed more room for its growing student population and started filing for the necessary permits.
The school will share the property with the current owner Jim Youngblood and another tenant, Fresh Impact Church, which will rent the back portion of the mansion. Marsh said students will have access to the church’s gym but will not be able to reach other areas of the church.
So, after 18-years empty, this abandoned Manvel mansion may finally get some use.
THE MANVEL MANSION TODAY
Before the house gets transformed into a school, this is what the inside of the property looks like. Eighteen years of abandonment and neglect have taken its toll on much of the house.
Many of the windows have been smashed by vandals over the years.
The entrance hall doesn’t look in bad condition.
One of the halls that looks close to completion, many haven’t been plastered.
All ready for a new fireplace, one of the rooms that looked close to completion before building work stopped.
However, another view of the same room shows that the ceiling isn’t in great condition today.
The elevator, the home only had one despite its large size.
An unfinished hallway, one of the many unfinished rooms.
The swimming pool, which has yet to see water.
The uncompleted sauna.
Inside the 9 car garage.
