It was tipped to be one of the grandest homes found anywhere in the country. But Hamilton Palace, the vision of Nicholas van Hoogstraten, sits quiet and empty on a stretch of East Sussex countryside.
Building work began in 1985 on the site of the former High Cross house, a former nursing home destroyed by a fire of an unknown cause.
Initially, things were going well, and the body of the palace went up quickly and racked up a bill of £40million.
Today, it is unclear whether any work is being done to it, with requests for comment made by Express.co.uk to Mr van Hoogstraten and his associated businesses in recent months falling deaf ears.
Hamilton Palace is currently covered in scaffolding, hidden away off a junction on the A22 south of Uckfield in East Sussex.
It was supposed to be the most private house in the country, with reports that Mr van Hoogstraten, a wealthy businessman, hoping to keep his private collection of art currently stored in Switzerland in it.
He has faced any obstacles throughout its construction, including from local ramblers’ associations.
They accuse Mr van Hoogstraten of blocking public paths and local authority rights of way. He responded by blocking those public paths with razor wire and a pile of discarded fridges.
In 2002, campaigners took legal action against a decision by the local council to divert the 140-year-old Framfield path — which crosses Van Hoogstraten’s estate — resulting in the Court of Appeal finding against the council.
Following a string of unpaid fines and six court cases, the right of way was finally cleared in 2003, with the removal of a pair of industrial refrigeration units, half a dozen concrete piles, barbed wire and other impediments.
The vast nature of the palace and its emptiness has attracted urban explorers, though warning signs of CCTV and on-site dogs deter even the hardiest of surveyors.
There are few photographs of the estate given the security concerns, though some aerial drone images exist.
They show the opulence of the mansion, with its golden dome perhaps the feature and only fully finished aspect of the building.
Despite this, in 2016, Mr van Hoogstraten denied that his project had stalled, and said: “Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see from the pictures that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the Palace.”
He has also previously denied that the property is in any way deteriorating, saying: “Hamilton Palace is far from ‘crumbling’ and was built to last for at least 2,000 years.
“The scaffolding only remains as part of ongoing routine maintenance such a property would require until completion.”
Regardless, the building has developed such reputation in East Sussex that some locals have dubbed it The Ghost House of Sussex.
