Fire-damaged Tennessee mansion quickly found a new owner

This fire-ravaged estate has attracted a lot of attention online.

Although this luxurious southern villa was just a shell of itself, it aroused huge interest and was quickly awarded a contract.

“The tragic total loss of a classic mansion in a fire!” begins an unusual listing for a property in Franklin, Tennessee that immediately went viral after it was publicly listed for $1.49 million this month. The main image of the house, which lasted only a few days on the market before it was sold out, is also strange: a picture of a burning mansion with white columns, flames erupting from the roof and black smoke in the sky.

“The photo was taken right after we arrived at the scene…I stood there crying,” salesman Danny Duvall told The Post about the emotional story of the fire, this image, and the subsequent sale. He and his wife, Paula Duvall, spent two years meticulously renovating a grand home built in 1997, only to have the house burst into flames in a freak accident.

It happened in September, when workers were finishing renovations at the library, when a tiny spark from an airbrush ignited the fumes of the lacquer paint they were using. “The whole room and the house quickly caught fire,” Duval said.

The damage is difficult to quantify as “it was no ordinary house” but a house “filled with exquisite details”, most of which was collected and some survived. The foundation can also be saved.

Their insurance company, Duval stressed, “went through every step with us” after the disaster, but the couple still didn’t know how to bounce back from “such a catastrophic loss.” Therefore, they decided to leave home, selling everything as it is. To their surprise, interested buyers flooded in, and just two days later the house was contracted to the new family.

“The new family plans to restore the home to all of its original glory,” Duvall said. “I am thrilled to know that our home will soon be reborn and new life will rise from our destructive flames.”

However, despite the contract, the couple continues to receive daily calls from interested parties.

In addition to the badly burned main house, the new family will also receive a guest house untouched by the flames, great potential for expansion and about 5 acres of land with a summer kitchen and a veranda on which buildings stand.