Fire guts Batman mansion

2005-10-07 11:41

California - The Gothic mansion that was home to superhero "Batman's" alter-ego Bruce Wayne in the original 1960s US television series was destroyed by fire early on Wednesday.

The 21-room stately home, dubbed "Wayne Manor" in the Batman series starring Adam West, was empty and undergoing a major facelift when the blaze erupted overnight, razing it to the ground, firefighters and the owner said.

The $10m mansion in the Los Angeles area of Pasadena was built in 1929 and has featured in countless Hollywood movies and televisions shows over the last 70 years, the owner said.

"If you would have seen it before and to see it now - it looks like a war zone," said the house's owner Michael Hammer, the grandson of the late US oil billionaire Armand Hammer.

Hammer said his family had been planning to move into the house that he bought a year ago in one month's time.

"You can never duplicate what was there, so I don't know what we're going to do," Hammer told KCAL9 television, adding that he would like to rebuild the historic house.

Some 80 firefighters battled the flames for hours, but the intensity of the flames left only the shell of the 1 440 square metre mansion standing.

In addition to portraying Bruce Wayne's home, which stood above the famed Batcave, the house has featured in movies such as 1937s Topper starring Cary Grant, 1990's Rocky V and 2003's Hollywood Homicide starring Harrison Ford, Hammer said.

- AFP