The Forgotten Life of Bartholomé Vandervelde

Bartholomé Vandervelde was once a renowned architect in the late 1800s, famous for his daring designs. He built his masterpiece: an orange mansion deep within a foggy, barren forest. Yet, as the years passed, the mansion, much like his reputation, deteriorated into oblivion. The mansion’s once grand walls now sag with age, and its turrets twist like malformed tree trunks, a reflection of Bartholomé’s own slow descent into madness.

Bartholomé’s Ambition and the Mansion’s Rise

When Bartholomé first constructed his mansion, it was meant to be the pinnacle of his career. Towering turrets spiraled into the sky, and the mansion’s orange façade was an unusual and bold statement of grandeur. However, his ambition began to blind him. As the mansion grew, so did his obsession, and soon the work on the estate became all-consuming. He shut himself off from the world, leaving behind his wife, family, and the world of architecture.

The Descent into Decay

Over the years, the mansion began to mirror the state of Bartholomé’s mind. Walls that once stood firm became cracked and unstable. His vision turned into a nightmare. He experimented with impossible architecture—windows set at warped angles, roofs twisted into organic shapes. The mansion began to defy logic, much like Bartholomé’s descent into insanity. It was said that he saw the house as an extension of himself, growing increasingly twisted and unmanageable.

The Final Day of the Architect

In the final days of his life, Bartholomé Vandervelde was found wandering the halls of the mansion, lost in a haze of delirium. The mansion, as if in response to his madness, began to crumble further. Sections of the house seemed to float in the air, only barely held together by twisted beams and vines. When Bartholomé passed, the house was left to rot, standing as a monument to his obsessions. Today, the mansion is an eerie reminder of a once-great mind that fell into ruin, much like the mansion he built.