The strange case of millionaire Prince Mongo and his abandoned castle

Tour the historic mansion with a chequered history

From a regal family estate to a raucous nightclub, the tale behind this abandoned Memphis mansion isn’t short of twists and turns. Captured by Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, this once-derelict mock castle has a fascinating history hiding behind its grand doors.

Read on and let's take a tour inside...

Ashlar Hall: a family estate

After Robert Brinkley Snowden graduated from Princeton in 1890, he returned to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee to build his family estate. A prominent real estate developer, he completed Ashlar Hall in 1896, aptly named after its Ashlar stone construction.

The final cost of the grand home was $25,000, which would be around $936,000 (£708k) today.

New beginnings

After his death in 1942, Ashlar Hall was passed onto Snowden's heirs. But the upkeep proved to be too much and the family filed an application with the city for non-residential use of the building.

By the 1950s, it had been transformed into a restaurant.

An eccentric buyer

However, around 1990, eccentric Memphis millionaire Robert Hodges, also known as Prince Mongo, purchased the hall. The quirky buyer is known for his unconventional lifestyle – he claims to be a 333-year-old refugee from a planet called Zambodia, who has 33 wives and 33 children. He has even featured as a guest star on US TV show History's American Pickers.

“I’m here on a mission to save Earthlings, and I will in due time," he told the local newspaper Memphis Flyer in 2000. "The Earth is self-destructing and when the time comes I will save a few people and take them with me. People don’t realize how much I've already saved them from."

Memphis mayoral candidate

Also known for running in multiple Memphis mayoral election since the late 70s, he hit the headlines in 2009 when he was spotted campaigning without his wacky costume.

Not one to give up, pro-Mongo stickers were seen dotting the city's streets as recently as 2020.

Local celebrity

In fact, as local news station ABC24 Memphis reported at the time, the self-proclaimed Prince went so far as to request a petition to run as mayor in 2019.

Despite his numerous attempts, the colourful character hasn't won an election to date. In 2023, locals took to social media to decry the conspicuous absence of the self-styled prince from the ballot for the Memphis mayoral elections, which were held on 5 October.

"We got 17 candidates and Prince Mongo ain't one," one X user wrote, while another replied: "Portrait of a society in decline."

The place to be

Political aspirations aside, Prince Mongo turned Ashlar Hall into a thriving local late-night hangout called The Castle or 'Prince Mongo's Castle'.

However, in these images captured in 2017 by photographer Leland Kent for Abandoned Southeast, the hall was a far cry from its heyday, with peeling wallpaper, graffitied walls and an abandoned piano in the hallway.

A thriving nightclub

With the promise of cheap beer and wet T-shirt contests, partygoers in Memphis flooded to the unusual new venue.

This old sign left to languish in the property shows the opening times – the pool had to be emptied at eight in the evening, but the nightclub remained open until the early hours.

A sprawling estate

Inside, the expensive abandoned mansion has 11,000 square feet (1,021sqm) of space spread over two floors, encompassing eight rooms, a basement, a large attic and even servants' quarters.

Outside, the property – which once stood on 3,000 acres of land – now has just one eight of an acre (0.32ha), which includes an unusually-shaped swimming pool.

Left to languish

The double-height hallway would have been a regal entrance to the nightclub for many a reveller.

Despite being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, in more recent years, the Ashlar stone has turned grubby, graffiti lines the wall and the ceiling is peeling after being left open to the elements.

Faded grandeur

Upstairs, the carpet was littered with debris and the décor is time-worn. The main hallway branches off to numerous rooms that would have once been the hub of the late-night parties.

The end of an era

Eventually in the late 1990s, amid mounting pressure from the surrounding neighbourhood, the club was shut down. However, according to local legend, Prince Mongo was not deterred. He purportedly dumped 800 tons of sand in the driveway and continued the party outside.

A sorry state

However, once closed, the castle sat vacant for years and descended into a state of disrepair.

It's clear to see here that it was long abandoned, with rubbish piled up in the corners and layers of grime that have built up over time – a true riches to ruins story.

Years gone by

After many years standing empty, what was once the life and soul of Memphis became a dilapidated mansion with nature creeping in and peeling wall murals from yesteryear. The mock castle looked like it needs a thorough clean before it could be restored to its former glory.

Discarded belongings

Many of Mongo's possessions were left behind in the wake of the Castle's final raucous party, including this old reel-to-reel tape recorder that no doubt got plenty of use.

The end of an era

In 2013, a non-profit organisation acquired Ashlar Hall through a quitclaim deed from Prince Mongo. The organisation sought financing to transform the building into a rehabilitation centre for veterans and the shift marked the end of an era for the Prince – seen here on bonus footage from American Pickers – and his castle.

Architectural gems

From the intricate stained-glass panes, it's easy to see how beautiful the hall once was. Unfortunately, the historic building looked well past its best when these photos were taken in 2017, with dust and dirt creeping into every corner.

This bay window would once have been the perfect place to sit and enjoy a beverage but it became little more than framing for an empty shell.

What once was

From crumbling staircases and faded entrance halls to graffiti-clad walls, pictured here, the property was almost unrecognisable from its regal heyday and in need of a complete overhaul.

We wonder what the developers thought when they first stepped through the door...

A spanner in the works

However, not everything went to plan. According to an account the then-owner gave to local newspaper Memphis Daily News, a contractor he hired took pieces of copper from the roof, along with original stonework and beams, none of which were recovered.

Out of bounds

Blue tarpaulin that once covered portions of the roof dangled in front of the building, leaving the hall exposed to the elements. The gates were securely shut, but the windows had been left ajar, almost as though someone left in a rush.

A fresh start

The huge expanse of concrete to the rear of the castle would once have been filled with hundreds of revellers, but it became an abandoned space being slowly reclaimed by weeds. However, it's not all doom and gloom for this once-grand home.

In 2016, real estate contractor and investor Juan Montoya purchased the derelict property for $59,000 (£44.6k) and work got underway.

Hanging in the balance

In another twist of events, the local newspaper Daily Memphian reported that a ‘Stop Work' order was issued in February 2020 for failure to obtain a building permit for repairs to the property. Renovations ground to a halt and the future looked bleak for the grand old mansion...

A bright future

Luckily, work resumed and, as you can see from this recent picture, the renovation is nearly complete. According to Montoya's daughter, the project has been a "labour of love."  Water had seeped in through the heavily damaged western tower and severely impacted the main entrance and middle foyer, Commercial Appeal reported.

The tower restoration cost approximately $270,000 (£204k) and the family has reportedly spent over $1 million (£756k) on renovations so far, including a painstaking three-year process to restore the foyer's wooden carvings. While they estimate the building will need another year of work before they can host events there, new permits were applied for in August and the future is finally looking brighter for the historic building.