Rosehall House: The Love Nest of Coco Chanel and Hugh Bendor Grosvenor
The house that used to be Ms. Chanel's secret hideout is still full of luxury items owned by the fashion designer.
The French fashion designer has recently been summoned by some Youtubers who, fascinated by her myth, have published footage of an abandoned house, the images of which evoke a mixture of excitement and thrill. It is Rosehall House, a Scottish moorland manor house set in a deserted area near the town of Lairg, inside which one can still - incredibly - find unattended objects and furnishings made by Coco Chanel himself, who lived, coveted, bought, brought there, touched and used at Rosehall House for several years.
Urban researcher Matt from the Youtube channel Finders Beepers took a look at the abandoned property in 2020 and found that the house "smells like Chanel No. 5".
Welcome to Rosehall House
In the middle of nowhere. It takes at least two hours to get to the first major city, Inverness. A talented French fashion designer certainly doesn't retire to a remote heath in Scotland without a subject that could even become the stuff of fiction. Rosehall House was owned by the Duke of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor, whose mistress was Madame Chanel.
The relationship
The Duke of Westminster and Coco Chanel met in Monte Carlo in 1925. The designer was not yet as famous as she would later become, but the duke, who was among the richest people in Britain, fell in love with her and they began an affair, despite being married to a second wife. Coco wasn't the Duke's only mistress, but for her, who certainly wasn't in love with him, that wasn't a problem because Grosvenor could be very generous with all his wives. In fact, he soon gave the designer the house in Scotland, which Chanel didn't dislike, even if she found the interior hideous.
What makes this house even more incredible: Coco Chanel designed part of the interior herself, replacing the wallpaper in her signature chic style. Gabrielle quickly redecorated everything to her liking, reclaiming the furniture from the somber trend of the old Highland mansions. She filled each room with beige tones reminiscent of her Rue Cambon Chanel showroom in Paris and had all the old fireplaces replaced with more vibrant designs. There is also a rumor that the house houses Scotland's first bidet.
However, how things ended between Coco Chanel and Hugh Grosvenor is well known. The liaison lasted more than ten years and survived the Duke's third marriage undisturbed. However, she was cut short when Grosvenor, who was also weary of his third wife, got the bad idea of asking Coco Chanel to be his fourth wife. The fashion designer immediately and abruptly ended the relationship. And when asked why she so adamantly refused to marry such a coveted partner, she simply replied: "There are many duchesses, but only one Coco Chanel".
today
The MailOnline reports that the 22-room, 700-acre Rosehall Estate was sold to a foreign family for an undisclosed sum earlier this year after being on the market for almost five years. The sale was handled by agency RE/MAX, who offered the property for £3million with the intention of converting it into a luxury boutique hotel. However, the sale didn't go through, giving Nadin the opportunity to take a peek inside the house while on vacation with his family.
Today the house is in ruins, the paint is peeling and the floor is almost destroyed. But remnants of the former splendor remain.
