This Ruined Castle Was Restored to Its Former Glory

When this castle was discovered, it was in ruins. Then, a preservation charity called Landmark Trust took care of it. Today, it looks awesome! Originally built in the 12th century, the Astley Castle in England has changed a lot through the years.

On top of that, it was home to a number of England’s most famous people. The most famous resident was Lady Jane Grey, known as the Nine-Day Queen. During World War II instead, it was used as a hotel. At the end of it, the castle was damaged and abandoned. In the last years, the castle was vandalized many times over. Luckily, the members of the preservation charity wanted to fix it.

By 2005, they decided to hold an architectural competition to restore the castle to its glory. The winner was chosen and from now on the castle will look amazing!

It’s not the only impressive home up for renovation, though.

The Captain William Tyson House

The Captain William Tyson House is a two-and-one-half-story home constructed around 1863 and is located in Bergen County, New Jersey. Its original owner, Captain Tyson, was a sailing ship’s captain. The house still has many of its 19th-century Italianate style period features. The historic home still looks solid even though everything is faded and now seems like the perfect image of a haunted house. Even though the home is in decent shape and retains many of its original features, a historic conservation faux pas was committed on the Captain William Tyson House when the exterior of the home was fixed with artificial shingles in the 1950s.

Township Saves the Day

Because of its deteriorating (though still impressive) appearance, the eight-bedroom, three-bathroom Captain William Tyson House was put on the latest list of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Properties by Preservation New Jersey. In 2015, the Township of Rochelle Park bought the abandoned mansion in hopes of restoring it, and indeed did fix the roof (which had previously been leaky and had thus had caused damage to the ceilings in many of the home’s rooms), swap out the heating system, and paint all around the home and the separated garage.

However, instead of breathing life into the deserted home and restoring the interior, the Township of Rochelle Park put the house back up for auction in August of 2019. This was due to membership changes and shifts in the Rochelle Park Township committee.

Or Do They?

Even though their original plan was to restore and preserve the home, the Township of Rochelle Park ended up removing the restrictions that would ensure the new homeowner would have to preserve the Captain William Tyson House upon putting it up for auction with a starting bid of $400,000.

The local historical society was not too pleased with this and the Township began considering putting an easement on the property so it could not get torn down. All of this was for nothing, however, as no one bought the house at auction. The Captain William Tyson house will continue to go up for auction until someone buys it. Hopefully whoever becomes its owner will appreciate its beauty.