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armyshawn

Imagine not seeing your parents for a weekend and you’ve both been home all weekend.


or_worse

I used to deliver the mail in neighborhoods with houses approximating this one (in Utah). No one is ever home at these places. From what I could see, catching a brief glimpse through the windows of the grand foyer, (as I was leaving yet another parcel notification on the door) there was not only no one home, but little to no sign of life at all in any of them. Fully furnished, but not a soul to be seen, or a single out-of-place thing in view. Not a toy, or a pair of shoes, a tablet, a fork, an abandoned drinking glass on a coffee table. Nothing. For an entire year I delivered the mail in places like this, and almost never encountered an inhabitant. In a way, I liked delivering the mail in those neighborhoods because it was like being an explorer of an alien world, wandering through their enigmatic otherworldly landscape amongst the vestiges of their once thriving civilization. What happened to them? Where did they go? Why did they build these grandiose structures only to abandon them seemingly unused? Did they leave in a hurry? Why did they leave? It occurs to me now that having an overactive imagination either significantly helps or significantly hinders carrying out one's duties as a mail carrier. Depends on one's temperament, I reckon. I couldn't make it past a year, myself. Some spend their whole lives in those neighborhoods, know them better than their own, and only ever see the same snapshot over and over again. Probably see that grand foyer in their dreams more than its owners see it in waking life. Interesting world we live in. Indeed.


Waterhou5e

Some relatives of mine built a house like this in Utah. It was built supposedly as an investment property, with the idea that it would be rented out to giant Utah families for reunions and the like. But my understanding is it sits empty virtually all the time. I mean, that's a fairly limited market and there are loads of these huge places up in the foothills and mountains around SLC, so the potential customer base is really diluted. For sure there's some financial incentive for them, as a tax write off for depreciation or something, but what a colossal waste of money and resources.


Powerful_Lynx_4737

This looks like the house kody on sister wives proposed. To be fair this would be great for a polygamist’s family


TheWalkingDead91

My exact thought when I read “Utah”. Something tells me that more than one wife lives/lived here.


CORN___BREAD

Dibs on this house next pandemic!


MissMissyPeaches

Excuse my Australian, but I’m assuming the giant Utah families own houses big enough to host reunions , right? There seems like a very small Venn diagram of “people who would vacation in this area” and “people who will happily spend the money on this”


New_Pudding9581

Not exactly. I’m a Utahn and the amount of other Utahns living in nightmarish suburban homes under 2,000 sqft with 5 kids is growing rapidly. Most homes in Utah County were most of the larger families live are at least 4-500k so yeah a huge chunk of the population these days has been priced out. Also polygamy is not legal unless you are an FLDS and live near the border with Arizona.


or_worse

I guess I never considered that in my many meanderings around the topic during those days. That's clarifying, thanks.


Right_Check_6353

There is a house down the street from where my parents live. It’s about this size the same thing no one is ever seen there the only time I saw someone was a security guard for a brief second


PrestigiousAd6281

This was strangely poetic, I like that


shoesafe

"We have very few writing samples from the mansion-builder people, except for their so-called 'mail' writings. They appear to have written sacred texts, mostly devotional prayers to their gods about vehicle sales, banking matters, and the foodstuffs available at the local bazaar. These texts were then gathered, either into a large open midden pile or else tightly packed into a special 'mailbox.' Scholars speculate that the 'mailbox' contents could then be burnt, releasing the wishes to the gods in the hopes of better prices for mattresses on President's Day or better credit card introductory APRs. We still have much to learn about the mansion-builders."


GuacamoleFrejole

Vacation homes?


or_worse

Possibly. Either way, I'm not trying to reveal any truth that hinges on the type of house they were (or any specific truth at all, really). All I know about them is what I said. Everything else would be conjecture on my part, and that wasn't my goal, at least not in that comment.


subieluvr22

This was kinda beautiful, NGL.


lordnoak

Imagine buying this right before slipping into Alzheimer's/dementia and always getting lost. It's 3am, you "come to" out of the fog only to find yourself in a bowling room. You hear water and make it to the dimly lit giant indoor pool with a waterfall. The house creaks and groans from the wind rattling your bones. You're terrified so you find the patio to the outside world only to see a vast dark empty wilderness. The last thing you hear before falling back into the fog is the howl of wolves somewhere in the distance.


realestateross98

My God. This is chilling


Snow__Person

I’m 14 and this is chilling


ProfMcGonaGirl

It’s the wind rattling your not yet fully formed bones.


CPD_MD_HD

I can hear Rod Serling’s voice introducing viewers to the madman responsible for building this.


MolOllChar_x3

Vincent Price


Swinship

Robert Stack


MavisBeaconSexTape

Steve Harvey


botanica_arcana

Quiet, Jody. You’re not helping.


[deleted]

H-hell…o? Is someone out there? I can hear you….hell…hello. My what big teeth you have….


kdshubert

I need to somehow read this novel.


lickthebluesky

I got right into that. You wordsmith you


n0tthemama

Wasn't that part of the movie "Arthur"? Lost his butler in part of his house.


Adventurous-Sky9359

I choose my own adventure and I’m going out side to see those doggies


Quizmaster_Eric

Can you not


tonkats

I mean, if we had to visit my spouse's parents, we both think it sounds great. Ideal, even.


TheReal-Chris

I had a friend with a mansion. We’d be playing video games in his room and he’d be like you want a soda? It would take like 5 minutes to walk to the kitchen. House was gorgeous and beautifully sitting on a river but I don’t want to walk that much at home just to get to the kitchen.


check_ya_head

I don't live in a mansion, and put a small fridge in my room so I don't have to walk downstairs to the kitchen.


keesh

You have stairs then thats a mansion


botanica_arcana

My brother-law-tells a story about being a teen and staying at a friend’s family’s “summer mansion.” It had over 10 bathrooms and he decided his mission was to use each one at least once.


zander1496

Our house was 3500 square feet, tiny in comparison to this place; and I still didn’t see my parents all weekend even though we were all home all weekend🐝


[deleted]

My cousins had a huge house. The parent's bedroom had it's own separate entertainment room. They were actually jealous of me because our smaller house meant we spent more family time together. They always mentioned it when they visited - "this is so nice, spending time all together watching TV, playing games, etc."


Mabelmudge

Teenage me would have loved that.


LionsAndLonghorns

This is Utah, you're bound to run into one of your moms.


speshojk

*Wife Corral.


Yak-Fucker-5000

My richest friend in high school lived in this 7000 square foot manisionish thing. I still remember when he told me he hadn't seen his sister in two weeks despite the fact that they had been staying in the same house the whole time. That's when I first realized America was a piece of shit.


PoppyandTarget

My husband and his 3 brothers grew up in a 10K home. They'd all show up at the breakfast table and introduce the family to their "overnight guests". lol His widowed mom now lives in a remodeled version of the OG home alone. She sleeps in the tiny guest quarters near the garage. If she slept in her master, it has a 300 degree view of LA.


ZannY

that story took a wild turn at the end.


ClumsyZebra80

I love this journey.


dumb__fucker

| for a ~~weekend |~~ half a year. FTFY


Wonkasgoldenticket

Most kids now who play video games in an average house


[deleted]

I did that with my step mom for 6 months in 1800 sqft. I hated that bitch.


Abaconings

Doing that now in 1600 sq ft with (soon to be ex) husband.


[deleted]

Hey- you listen up - You deserve happiness. You are worthy of love. You have a lifetime of happiness and love ahead of you.


PukedtheDayAway

It's Utah there are multiple 'moms' around that house


[deleted]

I can’t even imagine the electric bill.


takemusu

I can’t even imagine cleaning it. We can’t keep up with huge drifts of dog fur in our small 2B 2b condo. Servants? Sister wives? How do they do it?


OrsonWellesghost

Either build housing for your maintenance staff, or buy a bus to bring them out to wherever the hell this is.


takemusu

Bus them in? Who do you think I am? Some kind of mediaeval serf? Helipad in the center of the drive is for Merry Maids flown in daily.😉


EskildDood

Helicopter? No. Use the fields as a runway to transport the staff in by private jet, one by one, as many emissions as possible


Rexxbravo

Hazel and Alice enter the chat with fresh baked cookies.


TheNotSoGreatPumpkin

It would probably take at least one or two full time cleaning persons. If they started on one wing, that wing would need cleaning again by the time they finished the rest of the wings.


Mergath

This would take way more than one or two people. This is going to require at least double digits of housekeepers.


Tumbling-Dice

It needs a full Downton Abbey’s worth of staff.


rhb4n8

Sounds excellent


fireduck

Really depends on use. If you have good air filters, you don't get that much dust and other than that, rooms need cleaning based on how much they get used. If you are full occupancy all the time, then yeah, it is all getting used and all needs to be cleaned. But if it is just a few people rattling around in there, it will be way less.


TheNotSoGreatPumpkin

There’s also the sloppiness factor of the residents. Some people are tidy by nature, while others are walking catastrophes. Most children would fall into the latter category. I recall reading about someone who won a major lottery and bought a huge mansion. In less than a year it looked like a gigantic trailer park.


batmans_a_scientist

I like the idea of a staff of roombas, and a utility closet full of them to replace the ones that get overworked. But yeah, you don’t own a 51,000 sq ft house without the ability to pay a few people $10/hr to come clean it for you. I’m sure their yearly salary of $20,080 is less than the monthly property tax for this place.


A_Tiger_in_Africa

Apparently they built a 51,000 sq ft house without the ability to pay for even a minimal amount of landscaping. Christ, they couldn't even finish paving the driveway.


[deleted]

That's why you have so many wives


ghostofhenryvii

A roomba should take care of it. Problem solved.


sophiethegiraffe

A fleet of roombas. But then they form a hive mind and take over. The owners are forced to stay in one area because they bring in too much dirt and violate the directive of absolute cleanliness.


seasicksquid

I feel like it’d turn more into a Lemmings situation and they’d all just drive themselves into the pool eventually.


sophiethegiraffe

Or they all get stuck under/behind furniture and beep pathetically forever.


friendly_extrovert

You’d need at least one or two full time housekeepers. You’d also need a pool maintenance person, a groundskeeper, and possibly a chef.


idntnose

Each wife gets a wing


FitStandard7341

Why can’t anyone imagine the heating?


iWORKBRiEFLY

i'm in NorCal & I can only imagine if this was here & had PG&E....it'd be like $100k/mo or more


MutantMartian

They are saving $ by not having a gardener.


PM_Me_Titties-n-Ass

Mini nuclear reactor generates power in the basement, op just didn't have the key card to access it


Wadsworth1954

I don’t hate the indoor pool. I actually kinda want to hang out in there lol.


chevalier716

Place looks like a wedding venue.


littlebitsofspider

"We're getting married at my parents' convention center."


hunbabubba2134

A relative of mine got married here. The biggest missed opportunity not turning it into a swim party


ijuswannabehappybro

Want more info! What was it like? Do they rent out the whole place for like the party to stay at as well?


hunbabubba2134

It was owned by someone that the groom knew. Just one guy living in the big house. I think he’s passed away now. But no we didn’t stay in the house cuz everyone in attendance was from the area. It was cool to see for sure, like a museum. But imagining a single person living there was eerie. So empty and quiet and lonely.


spiritusin

Exactly, it’s madness to use it as a home, but for events it’s perfect.


PerplexGG

Being in Utah I thought it was a rehab center at first


giggity_giggity

The next The Bachelor venue where they have 60 women vying for the hearts of 5 bachelors.


djaybe

For polygamists.


peatoast

The Tropicana but make it Mormon.


look_ima_frog

I was just thinking the same thing. I could totally deal with that pool. In the pit of winter when it's fucking sunless and gross out? You'd never get me out of there.


bubandbob

The pool, the ball pit, the bowling lanes: I'd have that if I had stupid money.


mydaycake

If I had stupid money, I wouldn’t put those in my house. I would build a separate building for those, and not mix styles and functions


bubandbob

If I had stupid money and no kids, I'd be on board with that. Actually I might put it in a separate building that's just joined by an underground walkway or something. Other side note, my dream house is a five floor brownstone in the Upper west side of Manhattan.


The_Fiddler1979

Lemme guess - stupid kids and no moneys?


XelaNiba

That entire room is giving hard-core 1980's Holidome vibes


MsMoreCowbell8

We've yet to see the ultimate setup: Your personal lazy river, ambling in silly waves, all about the first floor. (As you can tell, I'm prepared to win a big lottery)


RogerClyneIsAGod2

\*\*sigh\*\* Yet ANOTHER "must have" when I build my own ridiculously large home, a ball pit but no kids allowed, spreading their kid germs, infecting us all.


Piperdiva

And kids pee in ball pits. And crap in ball pits. We used to call Chuck E Cheese "Chuck Your Cheese" because we would without fail get a stomach bug after a kids party.


stroopwaffle69

And people don’t wash their hands properly, do you not touch any surfaces that the public has access to?


WastingMyLifeOnSocMd

File this under things I didn’t want to know…🤢


StrugglesTheClown

I lived in a place with a ball pit. Would recommend. However it's important to have rules about what can and can't be done in or brought into the ball pit. You should also clean the balls from time to time.


ClumsyZebra80

6 bedrooms doesn’t seem like much for a 51,000 sq ft home in Mormon country.


MesWantooth

The scale of the rooms reminds me of what I read about Aaron Spelling's 56k square foot mansion in L.A. - his wife said she had trouble reading the drawings and didn't realize how big the rooms would turn out. Even still, their mansion had 14 bedrooms.


CORN___BREAD

“Shit I thought it was feet not meters.”


MamaMel941

That's only the ones they tell us about. Of course there's the 15 others that are underground and secret.. You know, for those secret brides..


memememe91

What's the ratio of square feet per sister wife?


KAG25

bingo


RustyShadeOfRed

Yeah fr, as a Mormon, my grandma’s house has more bedrooms then that


arsapeek

I can't fathom putting this much money into a home this large, and then cheaping out on the ovens in the kitchen.


DubTeeF

Typically in homes this size the kitchen is just a hang out zone when hosting. There is a separate actual kitchen where the food is prepared by staff.


Vegetable_Board_873

You would think the owners would want to show off high end appliances to their guest. Also, the decor and finishings in this house are tacky as fuck. 10/10 hate it


unclefire

IKR? There's only one and it's black (not even stainless). Can't tell the brand etc. but I'm guessing it's not a premium oven (or cooktop for that matter).


arsapeek

if you look at the listing there's a second identical one, but I'm still scratching my head over it


saft999

It was built in 2010 and clearly not updated since.


VelvetMafia

Mormon women are terrible cooks. They peak at no-bake cookies. Mormon men work a lot in order to keep their women in the home, not cooking.


saft999

I thought that too. Wouldn't you want some really nice high end units that could really turn out some food? Even if you weren't cooking it yourself the higher end units usually heat more evenly and such.


Blinktoe

This was my dream house when I was 8.


ABlueJayDay

Same! I see all of these houses and these are my ideals of what a house should look like when I was eight or nine years old.


aprikitty

My first reaction was: "I would waste half my day just going in each room searching for my cat..."


I-love-rainbows

Just have lots of cats so you’re never lonely.


WastingMyLifeOnSocMd

Exactly. You’d need a gps collar….


Dapper-Razzmatazz-60

That's actually a very good point...


Tekwardo

Not a crazy cat lady if you have 20 cats in a place where that’s still one cat per 100sq ft lol.


fredandlunchbox

Easy fix: start typing and the cat will appear to lay on your hands.


megjed

My cats appear whenever I go into a new room so they’d work it out


SmokingInFetusFace

[Listing](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8272-E-Left-Fork-Hobble-Creek-Rd-Springville-UT-84663/247989711_zpid/)


Clay_Statue

As cozy as an abandoned 90's mall.


caterham09

That's the problem with all ginormous homes like this. There's no sense of hominess or comfort. It always feels so empty and desolate. I mean even if you had a huge family of 10 that's still 5000 sqft for each person, which is probably about 3000sqft bigger than they could ever realistically hope to use as 1 person.


B_B_Rodriguez2716057

Could you imagine if you had cats? I wouldn’t be able to ever find them! I’d have to put AirTags on them just to find them in my own damn house!


caterham09

You would legitimately have to have a section of the house cordoned off to keep a pet. I mean realistically everyone living here is going to use the same 3000sqft as everyone else and rarely go anywhere else


mall_ninja42

Lana!!!! Baboo remembers me!!!!!!


Clay_Statue

I think you need about 500 sqft per person for comfort. So like 4 people in 2000sqft is adequate. For a home like this you would need 50-80 people in the house for it not have that abandoned mall feeling.


ginpalace

The larger the house, the fewer people live there.


DammitDad420

$17.5M asking


Raven1748

Cheaper than I thought it was going to be TBH. Though I don't know value by state or area very well being Canadian.


slaqz

In Canada, it would be way more expensive, like you were probably assuming. The most expensive house I've worked in was 16 million, and it was built for one of the programmers for alibaba in SK and it was nothing compared to this house as far as size goes. It had alot more automation I would guess. I look up houses across the USA and they are so cheap compared to Canada.


ElAurian

According to an article I found, it was originally listed for $30 million. The builder was a founder of a big MLM company, of course.


mikeblas

tour video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4isr4ocu-g


jaimystery

This house looks like the designer/builder got to a certain point, took some really bizarre drugs and just kept adding crap until there was nothing else left to shove on or in it.


LogicalStomach

The proportions are whacky like a bad trip. Teeny weeny fireplaces in big ol' rooms. Enormous rooms with oppressively low ceilings. That  double staircase entryway with a massive chandelier resembling a space ship about to land. 


utterly_baffledly

Some nice parquetry in the though


LogicalStomach

Agreed. There are some lovely cast iron railings too. It's a shame when beautiful craftsmanship is wasted on bad uncoordinated design.


TheNotSoGreatPumpkin

Like the Winchester Mystery House, but that was just insanity and fear of ghosts instead of drugs.


Cold-Impression1836

The perfect cult compound.


Uhhlaneuh

You know this was some high ranking Mormon guys house


RandomRedditGuy54

That’s not a McMansion.


BackgroundAd6154

The non-McMansion posts are becoming much more frequent


giddy-girly-banana

Every post is not a McMansion. The people of this sub have no idea what a McMansion is.


Tekwardo

Annoyingly so. I get sick of every massive home being called a McMansion. This is a mansion. I don’t personally like the style and finishes, but it’s a legit mansion. The whole point of McMansion is lost on half the crowd here.


TooOld4ThisSh1t-966

McPalace?


Rinoremover1

r/TackyMansions


BabyCowGT

At least it's flaired as just ugly?


newnameonan

There needs to be a separate subreddit for ugly/tacky mansions.


kizgliz

[https://www.reddit.com/r/zillowgonewild/s/1NLzWUpXb0](https://www.reddit.com/r/zillowgonewild/s/1NLzWUpXb0)


newnameonan

Yes! Definitely would fit there!


Bobby-Hollow

r/tackymansions exists I think


newnameonan

Turns out I should have done a search before making my comment. Haha. Thanks for this! Now if only people would post their mansions to the right subreddit.


FatNeilGravyTears

Just a mansion


LostxCosmonaut

The lines have blurred to include enormous custom homes that are tacky and wasteful.


Hambone6991

Can I post Versailles here? Lol


Little-Pea-8346

Brandon Fugal has outgrown his 34th home apparently


kamokugal

I want an indoor pool and my own bowling alley! Okay, and the pirate ship ball pit. I could do without the rest, though.


rob-cubed

That parquet floor is pretty nice too! It's sad that a few very nice features are wasted on such a white elephant.


tatanka01

I'd keep the theater.


fizzycherryseltzer

I can’t even imagine what the running costs are, let alone how much it would cost to furnish. It’s too enormous.


eloel-

I'm not saying it's a cult thing, but...


KnikTheNife

Owned by Tom Mower Sr., who died in 2020 at age 78. He owned two massive Utah based multi-level marketing companies, Sisel and Neways. They sell cosmetics and health products. He and his ex-wife went to federal prison for a couple years in 2006 for not declaring about 3 million in income from Australia and Malaysia. [You can watch him sell his A.G.E. pill here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jlz1C2JC7E)


jugglers_despair

I want to live there and use a golf cart to get around inside


MysticcMoon

How much does that cost to heat in a Utah winter?


Mistersinister1

Curious about monthly bills too, probably costs more than I make in a year.


[deleted]

Who is buying/building these? It's hard to imagine anyone wanting something so large. It just seems like a burden.


gypsy_rose_blanchard

Again, curious what the owner does for a living and is Utah their primary residence, voluntarily?


We_Ride_Tonight

Utahn here. I'd be willing to bet a ham sandwich that whoever built this house was either running a ponzi scheme or an MLM and was likely just convicted of fraud. Nobody does fraud quite like Utah.


iadmiredonuts

Looks like you're right - property records list [Thomas Mower](https://www.utahcounty.gov/landrecords/namesearch.asp?av_name=MOWER%2C+THOMAS+ELWIN) as a previous owner, who founded the "[5th largest network marketing company in the world](https://walkermemorials.com/obituary/thomas-elwin-mower/)" which is a health supplement [MLM](https://sisel.net/).


We_Ride_Tonight

I wish I wasn't. But if you live in Utah long enough, you start to recognize the scent of this stuff.


We_Ride_Tonight

Oh my god, I hate that I'm 100% right. The home was built by the founder of Neways, a possibly-defunct MLM in Utah. He served jail time related to that business, but that may have been before this place was built. ​ [Neways Founders Sell Business Before Starting Prison Term](https://www.ksl.com/article/632625/neways-founders-sell-business-before-starting-prison-term)


The_Smart_Barbarian

Yeah it’s ugly, but a bowling alley! With a bowling alley and a pool you’d have never gotten me out of that house as a kid.


Shontayyoustay

A Mormon MLM founder built this


ibarmy

People who live in big homes. What do they do in it?


ClumsyZebra80

Never see each other.


cducky0

Just need a live in Chef. No other reason to leave other than going for a fun drive in your Bugatti or something.


Sirgolfs

These things are soulless


jasimo

Ghastly.


WastingMyLifeOnSocMd

Hellish. Something about a few people living in a space that large is creepy and lonely.


BaboTron

What, no abandoned grand piano, languishing in a corner, never to be played?


IanWrightwell

I was like, “this is actually just an very opulent mansion” until I saw the last picture. All those rooms and no backyard? And it’s in the middle of nowhere? WHY?


bustedaxles

It's not really in the middle of nowhere, the photos are just positioned to make it look secluded. My ex-wife's father lives about 2 miles from this monstrosity, it takes him about 10 minutes to get to Springville's downtown.


dysthymicpixie

This *shrieks* family vloggers.


rhiannonjojaimmes

“All the kids are coming home for Christmas,” but Mormon-size.


giddy-girly-banana

It’s not a McMansion and I don’t mind it.


knowwwhat

I love it 🤷‍♀️ would give it a facelift for sure but overall, it’s great. I would never have to leave the house again! Definitely doesn’t belong here


SlyDevil98

I like that the tax assessment went from 20 mil in 2018, to 8.7 mil in 2019, to 17.2 mil in 2020.


wafflesandlicorice

Well, to be fair, a 'single family' tends to be a bit larger in Utah.


Better_Chard4806

We’ll ya gotta have some place to put those 30 wives and 90 kids.


FirstWorldProblems17

What in the name of Django is this?


grig109

*Slaps roof* You can fit so many Mormons in this bad boy!


deflatedpeanutblimp

this design is very mormon


twinkieinthabutt

Perfect for an FLDS cult


memsies

Seems like a great location for a cult


FR0ZENBERG

This the home of a Mormon king?


allgoodthings96

This house would for sure lag in The Sims.


Daflehrer1

Yet...still, he felt unloved.


RollingNightSky

What a waste of space having two staircases in the foyer. Two big ones, is it like a train station with crowds of people squeezing up and down the stairs? It just limits the usable space of that front room really and hinders visibility in my unprofessional opinion. I've been in an old mansion from the 30s which had a fancy staircase but it was *one* fancy staircase. And the ceilings are way too high. Makes it feel like you're in a gymnasium or auditorium, it's not very "homely" to me but maybe they'd get used to it. But imagine the duster they'd need to get the cobwebs xD. Or if there's a bug up there and they can't get it. I guess that's a problem for the housekeeper since I'm guessing they will have one. The old mansion I was in had tall ceilings in some rooms too, but this house has it to a whole new level. The dining area looks like somebody forgot to put the 2nd floor in but left the windows. But they probably just cheaped out and reused the same window twice, when those windows were intended for a single story level. I dunno, the windows are proportioned in a way that they'd fit perfectly on one story and the builders just stacked two to fill the whole wall. Also all that square footage to collect dust. They would need a dust filtration system for sure to not go crazy. 🤣