Abilene Manision

As a kid I would pass by this amazing almost mystical mansion in Abilene Texas. I moved from Abilene Tx. to Charleston South Carolina when I was 9yrs and somehow this place has always stuck with me. Although I am sad to see the decay from years of sitting in- between foreclosures, I think it may have broken my heart a little to see a church purchase it and parade the mystery for $10 a head in order to gain the means to take it over and open it completely as commercial profit. Another church screaming look what I have, our church could afford and will now profit even more.   

The Beginning


The regal home became an instant landmark following its construction in 1983.
The home's original owner, Peter Kasimirs, was born in what is now Poland and lived and worked in Germany as a young man. He immigrated to Canada in 1952 without a penny to his name, but dreamed of working in the United States. He eventually followed his dream to Alabama, where he became successful in the hotel business.
In 1973, he and his wife, Pat, bought the Royal Inn in Abilene. They also bought an old house that had stood for years at 7302 Buffalo Gap Road.


The Royal Inn thrived, and the Kasimirs decided to build a bigger home.

Pat Kasimirs still lives and works in Abilene. Peter Kasimirs died in 2006 at age 93. Pat Kasimirs said they planned to expand around the old house, but couldn't because the house's foundation was not strong enough to support the planned additions.

So in 1983, they tore down the home and started from scratch.

Peter Kasimirs loved European architecture, and Pat Kasimirs, who was from Alabama, loved colonial homes. So they compromised.

"That's how the design of the house came about," she said. "We kind of sat down together and combined what I liked and what he liked and designed the house."

Rumors

Rumors have circulated that the home was modeled after the Alabama governor's mansion, but Pat Kasimirs said that is not true.

"No way," she said. "It looks nothing like the Alabama governor's mansion. It does not look like the White House in Washington, D.C."

Yet "The White House" has been a common nickname for the sprawling mansion -- as has "The Elvis House." (It does not look like Graceland either.)

Kasimirs said the construction caused quite a stir in 1983, and people gossiped about what the house was going to be, suggesting everything from a museum to a place for illegal activity.

"There were all types of rumors," Kasimirs said. "You name it. It was hilarious from one day to the next. We would neither confirm or deny. We kept everybody guessing. There was always a lot of curious people."

She said no one could believe that a seven-bedroom house, covering more than 12,000 square feet on more than three acres of land, was simply going to be their home.


A Dream Come True

The house was a dream come true for her husband, said Pat Kasimirs, 65, and he was determined to build it with the best materials available.

"We didn't cut corners at all," she said. "He had his hands on every part of it. The house is very well-constructed."

Kasimirs told the Reporter-News in 2005 that the home cost $2.5 million. More recently, she said it was around $1 million.

The construction took several years. Materials were imported from Italy, Austria and South America, among other places, and much of the glass and crown molding was hand made.

"The glass that is in that house was handmade, hand-cut," Kasimirs said. "Local artisans did that. It was very time consuming."

She said the beveled, leaded glass in the entrance hall is particularly beautiful.

"That hall is so fascinating," she said. "As the sun goes down, you get a rainbow of colors. It's just absolutely fantastic."

Pat Kasimirs said the library was one of her favorite places in the house. All four walls were covered in shelves from ceiling to floor, and the shelves were made of solid red oak.

At the end of the long hall is a large blue room with a fireplace and a full wet bar made of solid mahogany with a marble countertop. The blue room served as their game room, and they entertained there quite a bit

The kitchen is relatively small compared to the rest of the house, but it is covered with solid red oak cabinets all the way to the ceiling. It also has a rose-colored marble floor and marble countertops, Kasimirs said.


The kitchen leads to the formal dining room, which boasts beautiful stained-glass doors. From the dining room comes a foyer with doors leading to the indoor pool on the south side and doors leading to a more formal living room on the west side.

Throughout the home are chandeliers that Kasimirs said were imported from Austria and are Swarovski crystal, not glass.

The house also has a little apartment in the back, which the Kasimirs hoped to use when family visited. Their son ended up living there when he was home from school, Pat Kasimirs said.

The house also had a three-car garage, and Peter Kasimirs planted more than 200 evergreens throughout the three-plus acres. The grounds also had an outdoor pool and a fountain.

"It turned out to be a beautiful home," Kasimirs said.

The dream dies

The Kasimirs had lived in the house for six or seven years when their fortunes took a turn for the worse. Pat Kasimirs said their accountant made some poor stock market decisions, and the couple literally lost a fortune.

"We lost everything we had," she said. "It's just one of those unfortunate things. It was one of those things that could have been avoided."

The Kasimirs were bankrupt and did not have the money to keep their dream home.

"We did not give up the house voluntarily, I assure you of that," she said. "We continued to live there as long as we possibly could. We stayed there for a time knowing that foreclosure was pending."

In 1990, they were forced to leave. Before they left, they let the public see their beloved mansion. They had an open house and donated the proceeds to the local soup kitchen and to Holy Family Catholic Church.

"It was a super-fantastic turnout," Kasimirs said. "More than we ever thought it would be. The house attracts people."

Kasimirs said she and her husband hated to see the deterioration in the house over the years, and in the later years of her husband's life, she would not even drive him by it.

His wife chokes up a little when she thinks about what the home meant to both of them.

"I loved the house," she said. "I enjoyed living there. We had some fantastic memories there."

A New Beginning (So They Say)


Since 1990, the mansion has passed from owner to owner, many of them from out of state.

Twice it's been repossessed by an out-of-state bank.

Champions Church, which has been around since 2000, purchased the building in April 09, and church leaders call the house "The Mansion"

The Mansion will soon house the church's administration offices and several of its ministries. The facility also will be available to the community for weddings, business meetings and more.

The asking price for the home was way below the appraised value of more than $770,000.

Although the church paid less than market value, by the time extensive restoration work is figured into the totals, Humphries figures they will have spent the appraised value or more on the building. But it would have cost $1.2 to $1.9 million to build the same size facility from scratch.

Plus, the location of The Mansion made it a natural fit with the church's longtime goal of becoming an active, thriving part of the Wylie community. The church already owns the Wylie Swim Club, the land between the church and The Mansion and the lot directly behind The Mansion.

The Renovations

The biggest changes to the home will come to the two pools, which church leaders do not plan to keep. They already own the Wylie Swim Club, and the pools don't fit in with the home's new role.

I FOUND INFORMATION ON THE MANSION UP UNTIL 2009, BUT THAT IS WHERE IT STOPPED. DID THE CHURCH BITE OFF MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW, YIELDING A BANKRUPCTY OF THEIR OWN, OR ARE THEY FIRMLY AND CURRENTLY PROFITING OFF OF THIS MEMORY, THAT IS MINE AS WELL AS OTHERS, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRESERVED AS A MUSEUM OR REMAINED AS A SINGLE FAMILY DEWELING? I DO NOT KNOW, BUT AM MORE THAN EAGER TO FIND OUT.