In the 1980s housing boom he acquired more than 2,000 properties and had sold 90 per cent of them by the 1990s. In 1990, he had the public paths blocked with razor wire and a pile of discarded refrigerators. It was even dubbed "The Ghost House of Sussex", our sister site SussexLive reports. I don't have to be nice to anybody. The residents had eventually gained the right to the deal, which enabled them to buy the property, after a three-year legal case. It's one of the reasons why nobody can tell me what to do. He was born in 1946 in Shoreham, East Sussex, as plain Nicholas Marcel Hoogstraten - the "van" was added later. Each day we'll be sending you a selection of our top stories from across our county, as well as breaking news so you can be the first to know. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Nicholas von Hoogstraten is well known in Brighton as a notorious slum landlord who started to build his property empire around Sussex in the 1960s. Van Hoogstraten, a convicted criminal who is now 75 and goes by the name of Nicholas von Hessen, is a Sussex native born in Shoreham who owns dozens of properties in the area. Locals have previously vented about the large area being left unused and there was a row over a public footpath that ran through it that van Hoogstraten did not want to be used. In answer to those complaints, he is quoted as saying "even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the palace so as to prepare for scheduled works". When Raja answered the door to them, a fight broke out. "And he's going to list all the crimes, or supposed crimes, I'm supposed to have committed. However, he has fired a succession of architects and quantity surveyors and fell out with his builders. In 1999, one of his business partners Mohammed Raja was killed by two thugs Hoogstraten had hired. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. He was released on appeal and cleared at retrial. [8] He was educated at a Jesuit school in nearby Worthing. Nicholas van Hoogstraten 's Hamilton Palace in Sussex is a folly - a colossal country house begun in 1985. [4][38] He was charged with violating the Censorship Act by possessing pornographic photographs;[39] women in "indecent poses", a proportion of which also featured van Hoogstraten himself. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. It is hidden away off of an unassuming junction on the A22 south of Uckfield in East Sussex and the house, bigger than Buckingham Palace, is completely obscured by a thick wooded area. Responding to suggestions that the house - now dubbed the "ghost house of Sussex" - should be used for the homeless, he added: "The 'homeless' - the majority of whom are so by their own volition or sheer laziness - are one of the filthiest burdens on the public purse today. In 2002, he was sentenced to 10 years for the manslaughter of a business . It may even be an eccentric marvel of a kind: a grisly self-portrait in the form of a loveless mansion. In the 1960s, a judge at his trial for arranging a hand grenade to be thrown through the window of someone said to owe him money called him "a sort of self-imagined devil who thinks he is an emissary of Beelzebub". The man whose vision it was, and who has famously had a mausoleum built inside, is more than aware of his fierce, notorious reputation. LIKE WHAT WE DO? He then moved to Zimbabwe where he became a close associate of its dictator president Robert Mugabe. He also denied that the project had stalled, saying "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. Take a short drive over the East Sussex border and you might stumble across an incredible half-built mansion. It was once said to be the most expensive private house built in Britain for a century and it is bigger than Buckingham Palace. Picture date: Tuesday March 3, 2020. At the time of the documentary, he had four girlfriends and lived a "secret location" in Hove while spending his evenings working at the hotel. His vast yet unused palace has now become a symbol of Britains housing crisis. In 2009, it was reported he had been "a generous contributor to Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party and [had] bought into several large state-owned companies". Few have been inside, but one reporter who did, in 2000, when it was said to be two years off completion, described a grand central staircase and reception hall, with lift shafts already installed and expensive stone balustrades and pillars. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Raja was stabbed five times in the heart and neck and was shot in the head twice at point blank range, dying as a consequence. [5] Van Hoogstraten reputedly emigrated to Zimbabwe. It's one of the reasons why nobody can tell me what to do. Van Hoogstraten, a convicted criminal who is now 75 and goes by the name of Nicholas von Hessen, is a Sussex native born in Shoreham who owns dozens of properties in the area. Alexander Hamilton complained to Sussex Police over his arrest in August, 2019 on suspicion of wheelclamping a vehicle in a car park owned by his company in The Drive, Hove. It appears not many have, with most recent photographs taken by drones and older photographs taken on site apparently when work was still ongoing. He is the scourge of ramblers, a ruthless property baron who regards his tenants as "filth" and his women as chattels. The fine was not paid and the company was then in the process of being wound up. van Hoogstraten is known for his business empire as. The scaffolding only remains as a part of ongoing routine maintenance such a property would require until completion.". [26], When neighbours called for the property to used for the homeless in early 2016, van Hoogstraten said in a statement: "The 'homeless' the majority of whom are so by their own volition or sheer laziness are one of the filthiest burdens on the public purse today. His house is more like an abandoned Victorian asylum than a Palladian mansion. he says. According to evidence given in court by Sylvia Braunstein, the wife of Braunstein senior, Hoogstraten had announced during a threatening altercation at the Braunsteins' home, where he had regularly dined: "I'm a Fascist, and a Nazi, didn't you know that? Low-level lighting had been installed on the roof, where there was to be a garden, and there was space for a fountain below. ", The vast Hamilton Palace near Uckfield in Sussex is the largest home built in Britain for a century. [10] The enormous edifice is intended to house his private collection of art, currently stored in Switzerland, and includes a marble mausoleum he intends for himself. "You don't want to end up floating down the Thames", says Nicholas van Hoogstraten with a smile on his face. Yet photos show the 40million mansion in East Sussex lying empty and unfinished 35 years after work began. Van Hoogstraten holds a 31 percent shareholding in HCCL. In April 1998, Raja sued Hoogstraten for conspiracy and fraud.[28]. To the anger of the local community, work on the mansion halted in 2001. He was born in 1946 in Shoreham, East Sussex, as Nicholas Marcel Hoogstraten - the "van" was added later. A couple of years before that documentary, he'd done another for ITV with journalist Martin Bashir in 1999, during which van Hoogstraten took a camera crew on a tour of his 40m mansion during its construction and discussed the planting of trees on the estate, saying he was doing it himself to buy his way into heaven. [14] Van Hoogstraten said of the grenade attack in 2000: "It seems a bit distasteful to me now, but back then when I was young these weren't anarchists, they were businessmen, respectable people". British businessman Nicholas van Hoogstraten, says he is going to challenge the reconstruction of Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL). In desperation, Raja raised a building society mortgage on a property for which he already owed money to Hoogstraten. The neoclassical palace features a copper dome and is larger than Buckingham Palace. 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However, in 2005, Rajas family successfully sued Hoogstraten and were awarded 6 million by Mr Justice Lightman, who found on the balance of probabilities the recruitment of the two thugs was for the purpose of murdering Mr Raja and not merely frightening or hurting him.. I wouldn't say we do it for ecological reasons. Mugabe's British henchman: One of our worst slum landlords , he built a monstrous mansion in Sussex and had a rival murdered. He allegedly told the BBC that Raja's family "will never get a penny". [15], On 26 January 2008, he was arrested in Harare for allegedly demanding payment in US dollars for rents rather than in Zimbabwean dollars, which is forbidden under Zimbabwean law. Raja also signed some blank property transfer forms and gave them to Hoogstraten. [11], He was sentenced to a four-year prison sentence in May 1968, and sentenced to a further four-year sentence the following August, to run concurrently, after an appeal. His more attention-drawing quotes have been widely reported, and include describing tenants as "filth", ramblers as "scavengers" and himself as "probably ruthless and probably violent". Van Hoogstraten, a convicted criminal who is now 76 and goes by the name of Nicholas von Hessen, is a Sussex native born in Shoreham who owns dozens of properties in the area. Updated On January 29, 2023. But its just as brave to try and build a palace as it is to build a glass pavilion. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. That's the way I am, that's the way I've always been and I'm not going to change. Nicholas Van Hoogstraten - Life Life He was born Nicholas Marcel Hoogstraten in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, the working-class son of a shipping agent. In the 2002 BBC documentary, he sits at a table in the Courtlands Hotel cutting out stamps and envelopes to reuse, even using those not suitable for re-posting as paper to write on, saying: "There's too much waste in the world. "They all know so I'm not hiding anything," he says of his girlfriends. Nicholas Van Hoogstraten in 1967, when he was Britain's youngest millionaire, Nicholas van Hoogstraten at court in Brighton in January 1968, Van Hoogstraten (now known as Nicholas Von Hessen) leaves Brighton Magistrates Court in March 2020 he was cleared of behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress after a row with a police officer over clamping at a car park he owns, Nicholas van Hoogstraten in 1967, when he was 22 years old and described as Britain's youngest millionaire, during an interview for the Sunday Mirror, Hamilton Palace in 2000, when work was still ongoing, The impressive structure from a distance, with a dome seen above trees, A second building on the estate a short distance away from the main house, The stern words of warning at the gates to the estate today. One entire floor was due to house van Hoogstraten's art collection. 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