Alabama Guitar Mansion!

Alabama Guitar Mansion!

Alabama Guitar Mansion!

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Alabama’s largest mansion comes with a history almost as dramatic as the home itself. When Larry House first began to build this estate in the mid 1990s, he was riding the crest of the success wave. When House and friend Richard Scrushy were respiratory therapists at an Alabama hospital back in their early careers, little did either imagine that Scrushy would end up in prison on multiple counts of fraud within his company HealthSouth, or that by riding on Scrushy’s coat tails to riches, first at HealthSouth and then as CEO of Scrushy’s MedPartners, that he would make and lose a fortune in just a few short years.

House made millions beginning in 1992 when he took MedPartners from a startup physician management company with a $1 million investment to a Fortune 500 company. He soon began construction of his 34,000-square-foot Birmingham home with 22 bathrooms and giant guitar-shaped front yard, but a $7 billion buyout of MedPartners that would have made House over $80 million fell apart when the company’s questionable business practices were discovered. In 1997, House went through an expensive divorce and MedPartners lost $821 million. He lost everything else in 1998 when MedPartners stock fell almost 50 percent in one day.

House tried to sell the guitar home to cover his multitude of debts but Alabama mega mansions have a limited buyer’s pool. With no takers, it was put up for auction in 2003 bringing only $3.95 million, not meeting the reserve against the more than $30 million invested in it. Now for the second time, it will go on the auction block on Halloween - this time selling absolute with no reserve.

Located just outside of Birmingham in the gated Shoal Creek golf community on 27 acres and 15 bedrooms, the home is just 5,000 square feet smaller than the White House. The entry drive is whimsically shaped like a guitar and the house is classically designed. It took five people 1.5 years just to apply the gold leaf throughout the house. Highlights include his-and-her master wings, a 25-seat theater with 170-inch screen and ticket booth, large wine cellar, office space on the lower level and well-outfitted equestrian center, large stable, paddocks, pastures and elegant estate manager’s home. The Shoal Creek Country Club offers a Jack NIcklaus-designed course with lakes for canoeing and fishing. Alabama’s largest estate went up for absolute with no reserve on October 31st.

Source: decaroauctions.com