The Ballroom Under the Lake

March 28, 2011 6:25 PM

The Ballroom Under the Lake

Photo series and explanation
Photo series
Misc pics: after the flood; wrap-around photo; on Flikr

posted by Paragon (30 comments total)

Wow - amazing it's still intact. It's a shame it isn't better maintained. Some of those pics took me right back to Myst.
posted by Xoebe at 6:45 PM on March 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

This is my favorite thing.
posted by nev at 6:50 PM on March 28, 2011

I also found these: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulholmes/sets/72057594100695007/detail/
posted by wilful at 6:53 PM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

wow... it's just like the fairy tale of the 12 dancing princesses. fabulous.
posted by lapolla at 6:55 PM on March 28, 2011

Neat! They found Andrew Ryan's first studio apartment!
posted by multics at 7:11 PM on March 28, 2011

Campion Bond Villain?
posted by leotrotsky at 7:12 PM on March 28, 2011

Neat little slice of history. But, gods, that article is written badly. The man needs an editor!
posted by clvrmnky at 7:14 PM on March 28, 2011 [6 favorites]

This is where they should be filming Bioshock.
posted by bloody_bonnie at 7:17 PM on March 28, 2011

This is the most exciting piece of English garden architecture I've seen.
the whole field - which essentially starts in the 1700's with gardens at Stowe, was only possible through extremely wealthy and imaginative minds. I like the "hidden room" aspect to this, and also that it is done entirely in a thin iron frame with as much glass as possible - a precursor in many ways to modernist architecture. It's definitely an interesting conclusion to the architectural movement responsible for follies.
posted by DeltaZ113 at 7:17 PM on March 28, 2011 [3 favorites]

Awesome, thanks.
posted by Gator at 7:32 PM on March 28, 2011

heh... I thought Myst as well.... amazing stuff!
posted by tomswift at 7:36 PM on March 28, 2011

Where Grendel's mom goes dancing of course.
posted by puny human at 7:36 PM on March 28, 2011

“Ah, commander,” I exclaimed with conviction, “your Nautilus is truly a marvelous boat!”

“Yes, professor,” Captain Nemo replied with genuine excitement, “and I love it as if it were my own flesh and blood!"

“One last question, Captain Nemo.”

“Ask, professor.”

“You’re rich, then?”

“Infinitely rich, sir, and without any trouble.."
posted by stbalbach at 8:08 PM on March 28, 2011

Huh, makes me think of the ballroom of the faeries in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell...
posted by maryr at 9:13 PM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Great, now I have a really awful song by AC/DC stuck in my head.
posted by Artw at 9:45 PM on March 28, 2011

Wow.
posted by rtha at 9:59 PM on March 28, 2011

I once had a house with an underwater mortgage, but that's not exactly the same thing.
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:11 PM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Awesome! Thank you for posting this.

A few more pics: Flickr set of Richard James on Witley Park
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:26 PM on March 28, 2011

It's a shame that the property hasn't been restored as a museum. In 2003, the new owner tried to get permission to build a new house on the property ... I wonder what ever happened to that.
posted by liet at 10:27 PM on March 28, 2011

Gorgeous. Could you imagine dancing there?
Love underwater structures.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:43 PM on March 28, 2011

I would freeze in abject fear at the entryway.
posted by Splunge at 2:36 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Whitaker Wright, who built the room (actually it's a billiard-room, not a ballroom) was the Bernie Madoff of his day; on being convicted of fraud in 1904, he lit a cigar, swallowed a dose of prussic acid and dropped dead on the spot. The underwater billiard-room has been described as 'the symbol of a whole plutocratic era'.
posted by verstegan at 3:22 AM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Whitaker Wright, who built the room (actually it's a billiard-room, not a ballroom) was the Bernie Madoff of his day; on being convicted of fraud in 1904, he lit a cigar, swallowed a dose of prussic acid and dropped dead on the spot.

Men had integrity back then.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:22 AM on March 29, 2011

And easy access to cyanide.
posted by Splunge at 4:39 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Lemony Snicket & the Below-water Ballroom
posted by dracomarca at 10:14 AM on March 29, 2011

If I owned that estate I can guarantee that I'd have the most kick ass underwater haunted house you've ever seen.
posted by Muddler at 11:28 AM on March 29, 2011

Is it wrong that I desperately want to run a game of Call of Cthulhu there at night?
posted by clockworkjoe at 12:22 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Rather than use the perfectly legitimate reason of location finding I never ventured down to Godalming to have a look at these curious rooms. I prefer to leave them as I found them, an implausible notion that could well have fallen from the pen of Lewis Caroll.

How fucking fascinating! I'm so glad you took the time to write about the experience of deciding not to do something interesting.
posted by anazgnos at 12:36 PM on March 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

Looking at those has made me want to go urbexing again.
posted by Acey at 12:58 PM on March 29, 2011

In the Flikr series Wilful linked to above there's a couple of nice photos of the dome lit up at night, as seen from the surface of the lake.
posted by Paragon at 1:29 PM on March 30, 2011 [3 favorites]