The Amazing Brady Mansion

It’s of the era and has a style and vibe that would make a Brady (famously from that quirky ’70s TV show) proud. There’s thick shag carpeting, mirrors and pillars, pastel shades and rich wood panelling. There’s avocado coloured appliances, rock and brick work, marble, brass and all things satin, velvet and plush. And to end all, there’s a sunken tub in the living room. It’s unapologetically outrageous and makes no claims of sophistication. Although not looking terribly mansion like in appearance or size from certain exterior angles, it’s something huge and glorious, each and every room decorated in a most over the top way. Sadly, this vacant home has been badly vandalized.

We won’t speak of the location nor will we delve into the history of the home, out of respect for those who once lived here. Please, if you know where it is, don’t share. Someone’s going to get hurt here and that’d be disastrous and it doesn’t need to be destroyed further. So here it is, a simple photo tour, raw and honest, of a home stuck in time we think you’ll thoroughly enjoy even without a back story. Yes you will…so let’s go in…presenting, a kitschy house like no other…

The home dates back almost five decades and is little changed from when built. It’s never been updated, renovated nor anything done over and is petty much as it was, a literal time capsule and a temple to that period. The style is certainly dated today, but they so liked it that it was kept. And while looking the mess now, you can see it was maintained impeccably. In the odd places untouched, it is spotless.

The home is rather long and skinny in footprint, but huge in square footage. Hallways on the upper floor are pretty nonexistent, each room simply connecting up with the next. There’s more bedrooms than can be counted, a rather modest sized front living room, many rec and family rooms, at least a few bathrooms and sort of central to to it all what is the most amazing kitchen ever. It’s right out of the June 1971 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Welcome to what we call the “Brady” Mansion.

Smell the meatloaf cooking. That brick work. That flowered-pattern wallpaper. My eyes! Hard to imagine styles like this were a thing but back then it would have been looked at as “in” and cutting edge. Almost expected Alice to walk in.

Alliances are all old school and before the vandals were of showroom quality. Like right out the Sears Catalogue, shiny and new. In fact everything here was immaculate and new in appearance – you can tell. Those who called this place home clearly took pride in where they lived. So much love for this dated wonder. It’s evident no expense was sparred when built and everything looks top quality for the era.

Windows are huge, lighting the interior well. Each bathroom has a colour theme and whole we’re no fan of photographing toilets, we had to include one here, the powder blue sh***er. One bedroom has the most busy rose motif wallpaper known to mankind – millions of them – so crazy that is made us dizzy and threw off all kinds of camera settings. Another is done up a in bold pink so bright that even come night, it must glow.

There’s the fabulous orange room, a go-to colour of the time. Curtains are heavy velvet or wispy and sheer and in various pastels hues. Carpets are thick and deep but in places are all squishy from water leakage. It’s like treading on a sponge.

Scattered about the home are personal possessions left behind, furniture and some personal effects, old papers mostly. Some go back decades and it looks like the owners never threw any of them out.

You can see, before being vandalized, that everything kept all orderly and tidy – old newspapers and stacks of bills we’re neatly tied up in bundles. All these things were abandoned after the building was condemned and deemed uninhabitable on account of heavy water damage and the resultant mould outbreak that came of it. There was a heady smell of the latter, and of rot in the air, doubly so on the lower floor which was mostly devoid of effects. Anything prone to mould was simply left behind and was scheduled to be cleaned out, but the vandals got to it first. It’s suggested the house may be demolished soon.

Dangers abound in the Brady Mansion, broken glass being the biggest worry. They smashed every single freaking window. And left behind, their calling cards, empty cans of cheap-ass swill beer. Collectively, it’s a heavy sigh from us, and a question of why. It seems so disrespectful.

Wood panels are so dark as to suck the light out. In other rooms, it’s colours so bold at to blind. They went all in here.

It’s a house lost in time…and heavily vandalized.

In the garage, a Lincoln Continental Mark V land yacht gas guzzling beast from the latter half of the 1970s. One of the longest cars to ever hit the road, and can weight in at close to five thousand pounds (roughly 2250 kilos). Gas mileage is measured in litres per click – okay I’m kidding here – and on each fill up there’s localized shortages all the while the oil companies celebrate and cheer. They filled up the Mark V again…stock dividend! No sports car this, it’s rides as though on a cloud and has all the bells and whistles one would expect for such an upscale automobile of the time. It fits in this garage with but a hair’s width to spare.

For the sake of “fuel economy” this model could be ordered a with a modest sized (for Lincoln) 400 cubic-inch (6.6L) V8. Shaking our heads, we say “what the…?” Those small oval-shaped “opera” windows are iconic to the Lincoln brand.

We wander about in awe, what in it’s day was a most incredible and opulent place, that the owners so clearly loved, and that they kept it as is. Stepping gingerly about – all that glass and dangers underfoot – we take it all in and marvel at the sheer awesomeness of it. Even in spite of the place being an all out mess, you could see a strange majesty and even a beauty to it…in all it’s weird and wacky glory. We’re a touch saddened knowing that this was once someone’s pride and joy but now a essentially a junk yard. We imagine it when it was still lived in and let me tell it was fabulous.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. It was a tough one to shoot in many ways, all those dangers, the challenges of working with stuff less than photogenic account everything in disarray, and that a rush of emotions on seeing it in such a state.

More time capsule type places…
The Humble Miner’s Cottage – untouched for decades!
Peeling Paint and Lace Curtains – like they just up and left.
Canadian Forces Station Alsask – at a former military base.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: Latter half of 2018.
Location: Somewhere in Alberta.

This site is private property and BIGDoer.com was here with permission.

It’s vacant account water damage and mould.

Dangers abound – that broken glass.

It’s shag carpeting underfoot.

Thoughts of Alice…

That crazy wallpaper.

And all that orange!

Colours of the era everywhere.

A land yacht in the garage.

Dark wood panelling was a thing once.

Knock, knock!

Bask in the awesomeness!

Seems the vandals like cheap swill beer.

Every living room needs a sunken tub – leg photobomb!

Small details.

There’s more than a few fireplaces here.

In keeping with that late-’60s/early-’70s vibe.

As seen in Better Homes & Gardens.

Looking this way and that…

Siding is a soft shade of green.

It doesn’t look like much from this angle.

New for ’82!

A million little roses!

At every turn…things retro.

Fixtures to die for.

Out into the yard…

Plush is the word!

Colour themed rooms.

The meatloaf’s on!

Each bathroom was a different pastel shade.

Lower floor, a picture and a quick retreat.

Once someone’s pride and joy.

It barely fits.

Outside, or in, people have made a mess here.

Not a window spared.

Everything here is equally dated.

Sigh…vandals.

Soon it might all be gone.

Once the front window.

They sure liked pastel blue.

It’s long and skinny.

This wonderful dated charm.

On rounding a corner…

Tapered rock pillars, another Brady design cue.

A sad state of disrepair.

From some angles it’s nothing mansion like.

A last look at a place that’d make the Bradys proud.