An English country manor featured in Batman Begins, the first entry of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, has been abandoned since 2022. Historic England’s Heritage at Risk program, which evaluates the state of England’s historic sites to discern which are most in danger of “being lost as a result of neglect, decay, or inappropriate development,” has officially designated the estate at risk. It served as Wayne Manor—the caped crusader’s HQ—in the 2005 action drama.
Originally built for the Rothschild family, the Buckinghamshire mansion known as Mentmore Towers was constructed between 1852 and 1854. The Elizabethan-meets-Jacobean-Revival-style property was conceived and designed by Baron Mayer de Rothschild as both a country home and a place to display his extensive art collection. In 1977, its contents—including historic paintings and late-17th-century gilded furnishings—were sold by Sotheby’s, but Mentmore’s interiors, inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture, remained.
In 1999, the estate was bought by British businessman and property developer Simon Halabi, who aimed to transform the property into a 171-suite luxury hotel. After plans to build an extension including guest rooms, conference rooms, and an enormous spa were rejected by local authorities, the anticipated next incarnation of Mentmore came to a halt. The temporary delay became a more permanent one when Halabi’s real estate empire fell into its own sort of holding pattern due to the collapse of the property market.
One of the largest houses of the Victorian era, the stone mansion covers nearly 460,000 square feet. Its grand appearance has attracted many filmmakers, including the Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer auteur. In Batman Begins, which kicked off a reboot of the saga of Gotham City’s guardian, Wayne Manor is set on the outskirts of the city.
