|
Britannia Manor was the residence of game designer Richard Garriott. The name comes from the castle of Lord British, ruler of Britannia, the setting of the ''Ultima'' computer role playing game series, which he created. Britannia Manor is situated atop a large hill near Austin, Texas. The home was featured in a 2007 episode of the HGTV television series ''Secret Spaces'' on ''Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'', and on ''MTV Cribs''.〔(Video Tour of Britannia Manor )〕〔(MTV Cribs Britannia Manor )〕 Britannia Manor is also the name given to what has been called the world's most famous haunted house, held in this location every two years from 1988 to 1994.〔(Mini documentary on the history of the Britannia Manor haunt )〕 ==Design== The manor's medieval design reflects Garriott's interest in the era. The house is adorned with various medieval items such as crossbows, swords, and armour. It features traps and a network of secret passages and rooms. A secret room in the basement contains some of Garriott's most treasured artifacts, including dinosaur fossils, a coffin with a human skeleton inside it, and an authentic 16th century vampire hunting kit. The house also features other collections such as hairs from the Glacier snowman, a brick from the Great Wall of China, a Russian spacesuit, and three stained glass windows retrieved from an abandoned church. There is a large collection of automatons. The basement room he refers to as the dungeon, has shrunken heads, mummified remains of parts of people as well as a mummified bird found in a tomb in Egypt, and human skulls. The house also has an observatory in the main complex. Although part of the house, it is structurally independent from the rest of the house in order to damp out vibrations, as they ruin long-exposure space photos. Britannia Manor was designed by designer/architect, Alan Barley, of Barley & Pfeiffer Architects in Austin, Texas. In 1996, Garriott hired Moore-Andersson Architects, Austin, to design another house on a nearby riverfront property. The property is situated atop a bluff overlooking the Austin, Texas skyline, the 360 Bridge, and Lake Austin. Britannia Manor Mark 3 will also have a rotating observatory and will be more castle than house. Construction on this house was delayed for some time after the dot com crash. It resumed for a while a few years later, but was put on indefinite hold when Garriott decided in 2008 to spend the majority of his fortune to go into space. There is a working cannon at the front door and an indoor grotto with hot-and-cold-running rain showers.〔(Do You Want to Play? )〕 After spending several years on the market, the house was sold in December, 2014. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Britannia Manor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|