Friar Park: The Victorian Gothic Mansion Restored By George Harrison

Описание: Friar Park is a Victorian Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames built by eccentric lawyer Sir Frank Crisp (1889-1895) featuring a 20-foot Matterhorn replica, underground ice grottos, hundreds of garden gnomes, and England's largest Alpine rock garden before falling into ruin when Catholic nuns abandoned it in the 1960s. Beatles guitarist George Harrison bought the derelict estate for £140,000 in 1970, spending 30 years restoring Crisp's 62-acre fantasy while recording classic albums at his FPSHOT studio including All Things Must Pass and Cloud Nine, finding sanctuary from fame in elaborate topiary gardens and Victorian whimsy—until December 30, 1999, when paranoid schizophrenic Michael Abram stabbed Harrison over 40 times in a brutal home invasion that punctured his lung, with wife Olivia saving his life by knocking the attacker unconscious with a brass lamp. The trauma triggered lung cancer that killed Harrison in 2001, but widow Olivia continues maintaining this Grade II Listed masterpiece where Gothic architecture, Beatles history, botanical genius, and violent tragedy converged in one of England's most extraordinary estates that inspired Harrison's music and remains the ultimate rock star sanctuary. Subscribe for more historic mansion documentaries and comment which legendary estate we should explore next!