Perched high on a hill above the town of Chattanooga, Tennessee, this mystery mansion has seen its fair share of scandal. The brainchild of entertainment tycoon Billy Hull, the opulent home was finally completed in 1972. Three decades later, photographer Leland Kent from Abandoned Southeast captured striking images of the mansion in all its derelict glory. So, what caused Hull to desert his dream home just a year after it was built?

Pictured in 2017, the forlorn Polynesian-inspired property gives no hints as to its former grandeur. The two large tikis that flank the entrance have been disfigured over the years by uninvited visitors, while the once-regal glass-panelled doors have been smashed and the entrance blocked by sheets of discarded chipboard.

Strip club owner Billy Hull’s vision was for a sprawling, tiki-style mansion complete with luxury marble bathrooms, mirrored lounges and the crowning glory: a huge swimming pool with tiled tunnels leading to the opulent bedroom suites. He contracted architect Ed Ball to design the home, which took 14 months to build, and Billy celebrated its completion with an extravagant house party.

Leland Kent’s photographs show an altogether different story; an unbelievably expensive abandoned mansion,ravaged by time and decades of neglect. In the living room, the shabby red carpet is littered with broken glass, old magazines and discarded mementos. The grand marble-topped bar still remains but it's now scratched and strewn with rubbish.

When the mansion was first built, this living space would have been impressive, with marble-clad walls framing grand floor-to-ceiling arched mirrors. Money was no object for Billy Hull, the owner of two popular clubs, the Lion’s Den and the Castaway Club, and he planned to build the most opulent home Chattanooga had ever seen, encompassing an impressive 5,600 square feet, along with three bedrooms and four bathrooms.

In the 12 months following its completion, the palatial property would play host to numerous decadent parties and soirées. Discovered in one of the abandoned rooms, this affectionate note offers a glimpse into the lives of two of the partygoers. Despite the rumours that swirled about the nature of these gatherings, barely any photos exist of the mansion in its heyday.

Hull designed the house for entertaining – the building had several large bars, including this one with its gorgeous veined marble counter and crystal glass taps. You can almost imagine a swish 1970s crowd dressed to the nines, assembling by the bar to sip blue Hawaiians and piña coladas while Barry Manilow croons softly in the background.

The focal point of the ostentatious property is a huge, 20-by-40-foot pool with undulating sides and tiered steps. Electrically heated, the pool is 12 feet deep at one end and features separate humidity controls, a faux rock waterfall and even a diving board. It rose to national prominence after being featured in a 1972 issue of an electrical trade publication.

The hub of the home, the large pool space is the first thing visitors would have seen on entering the property. A vast, double-height space with a wood-panelled, domed roof; it has a large, open-plan bar and a lounge area with a fireplace. The walls were originally clad in tiki-style palm mats, punctuated by taxidermy animal heads, with palm trees lining the poolside.

The crowning glory of the unusual tipi-shaped space is a spectacular skylight inset into the roof, illuminating the creepy abandoned mansion below. Once upon a time, the striking architectural feature would've framed the buzzing parties thrown here, casting light across the water of the swimming pool as guests milled around.

Thirty-five years later, the glamour has all but vanished from the mansion’s pièce de résistance. The sunken pool had become a gaping hole in the centre of the home, filled with all manner of mangled furniture and debris. Scrawled tags and insults debauch the once gleaming white tiles and the space has been ransacked; stripped of its gilding and reduced to a hollow shell.

Only the iconic Playboy Bunny has stood the test of the time, an indelible mark on the property. The pool itself was also designed in the shape of a rabbit, with the two tunnels at the shallow end forming ears. This unusual feature attracted plenty of press attention in the 1970s and was one of the main draws for young hopefuls dreaming of an invite to a Billy Hull party.

The master bedroom, once shared by Billy Hull and his wife, Gloria, is separated from the main room by a sheet of tinted glass. From this angle, you can see one of the two swimming tunnels with its rounded bridge. All of the bedrooms featured closed-circuit TV monitors with feeds from the pool room, presumably so Hull could keep an eye on what was going on at any given time.

Painted pastel pink with mirrored cabinets and gilded beams, the master bedroom has an Art Deco vibe, but despite the glitz and glamour, the space hides a sinister secret. In May 1973, just a year after the house was finally finished, a man named Roland Hargis was shot and killed as he left the Tradewinds Night Club in Chattanooga. Hargis had been carrying on an illicit affair with Billy’s wife, Gloria.

His murderer was a certain Mr Larry Parker, a good friend of Billy’s who alleged that Hull had contracted him to carry out the revenge killing. With all the evidence pointing squarely to his involvement, Billy Hull was sentenced to 20 years in prison. This was the first in a string of allegations, leading to his eventual bankruptcy in the 1980s after a conviction for tax evasion. With no-one left to run the vast mansion, the now-infamous party house fell into disrepair.

Outside on the deck, a copper-roofed bar, complete with bamboo frame and palm mat-lined walls, stands vacant. The patio functioned as an additional entertainment area, welcoming the numerous revellers who spilled out from the pool room and lounge. The outdoor space also included a wooden sauna and a 12-person jacuzzi sunk into the decking.

This faded leopard-print chair is one of the few pieces of furniture that remained in 2017. Resting wearily on the weathered boards, it is a stark reminder of Billy Hull’s fall from grace; the wealthy nightclub mogul turned washed-up jailbird. Documents show that he later attempted to fight tax evasion charges by claiming that his lavish lifestyle was funded by his grandmother’s bootleg whiskey business – an assertion that was dismissed by the courts.

On the door of the sauna, this carved metal head would've leered down at partygoers back in the property's heyday. Despite Hull’s extensive criminal record, there's no doubt that he was meticulous when it came to details. Every inch of the mansion was decorated to the hilt and equipped with all the decade’s mod-cons; from an advanced intercom system to a self-cleaning oven.

Now derelict, the old sauna would've been an indulgent space for Hull and his guests to relax and unwind. Following Hull's incarcerations, the property was listed for sale a number of years ago, before being seized by the city due to unpaid taxes. Damaged extensively by vandals, it was deemed beyond repair and completely demolished in 2017, just 45 years after it was originally built.

With the once-extravagant party mansion reduced to no more than a pile of rubble, the property's dark secrets have been buried with it. Little is known of what happened next to Billy and Gloria Hull, and while their former dream dwelling no longer stands, this is one haunting home that Chattanooga locals aren't likely to forget about in a hurry.

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