Mansion fire - Art/ Car collection lost

nthfinity · Jul 22, 2009

23,000 sq. ft. in Birmingham, MI with both a car collection, and modern art collection.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31983402/

The home was owned by Linden Nelson, chairman and CEO of Raleigh Michigan Studios, formerly Motown Motion Pictures.

Four people were home when the fire broke out around 4 a.m.

No one was hurt.

Neighbors told Local 4 there was a party at the home Friday night.

They also said Nelson was known for his art and car collections, which he kept inside the home.

Several million dollars worth of artwork may have been lost in the fire.
Click to expand...

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP: Investigators to seek cause of mansion fire

An investigation is to start this week into the cause of the fire that destroyed a 23,000-square-foot home on Wing Lake Road, Fire Chief Dave Piche said Sunday.
Piche said officials from his department, the township's fire marshal, Oakland County Sheriff's Office and the homeowner's insurance company will investigate the blaze.
No one was injured in the Saturday morning fire at the home of movie studio businessman Linden Nelson. According to the township's assessor, the property has a 2009 assessed value of $2.45 million.
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

"Lago1" seems familiar with the situation, at least somewhat.

Not sure which autos he kept in the garage odf his wing lake house, however He did collect mostly modern art. Please remember Lindy has a close friendship/biz-relationship to Alfred Taubman who is a high -end collector of fine art.

I would like to comment on a couple of points made here in this forum. The 2.45M assesment is really low considering it is a 23k sq. foot structure of steel/glass and wood designed by Irving Tobocman. That puts it at $100 a sq. foot! I would say the $5-6M dollar range is more like it.

One fine detail that bothers me is Mr. Nelson himself called the Fire dept at 4:19am.... His high-tech fire alarm system should have alarmed the residence. When we have a problem w/ one of our biz's we get a call from the alarm Co. then they notify the fire dept. But in the news it says Lindy himself called..I find this strange. Also ,I'm suprised the home did not have some kind of fire-suppression system to protect the fine art.

In the past , Nelson always had a staff of one live-in servant at a much smaller home he previously had in Blmfld hills (approx 10k sq. feet) It shocks me that only 4 (mr-mrs and 2 children) were at the home during the fire .... especially since he had a large party the evening b4. I'm sure Irving had to have had a servants quarters somewhere tucked away in the design of the 23k sq. feet house.

All done and said...It's an awful thing to have your home and contents lost to a fire...Fortunately everyone is safe.

One further note, During a business trip to Aspen Co. just two weeks b4 this fire tragedy, Lindy was arrested for being disorderly and resisting arrest for parking in a Fire Lane in downtown Aspen. Linden was only charged w/ being disorderly.
Click to expand...

From that artcile link, someone wrote some pretty good commentary.

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20090721/NEWS02/307210001

BigHattMan wrote:

If you are inteested in doing some Internet research, try the following:

1. Google "Aspen Daily News" and then search the name Linden D. Nelson. Very interesting stuff. For example, Mr. Nelson paid $13M for the Crystal Palace restaurant which has been closed for months due to lack of business.
2. Aspen Daily News mentioned Mr. Nelson was building a shopping mall (with his pal Taubman?) in North Las Vegas but for which construction has been stopped.
3. Today, fifteen vehicles were all over Wing Lake Road in front of the house. Rent-a-guards watch over the driveway entrances. Oakland Sheriff' car in the driveway, Fire Dept. investigator car on the street. What are they so interested in?
4. Contrary to rumors, the house is NOT in foreclosure.
5. What would be the motive to torch the house?
7/22/2009 4:20:58 PM
Click to expand...

The rabbit hole seems curiously deep.

The home wasn't built that long ago... and filled up most of the property.

Conversations

Alerts

Mansion fire - Art/ Car collection lost

nthfinity F1 Veteran

Share This Page