In a small mountain town you may stumble across hundreds of half-built., abandoned homes that resemble castles. While this development had big dreams, the plans never came into fruition
Row after row of castles lie abandoned(Image: Adem ALTAN / AFP)ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Imagine living in your very own miniature château, a three-storey villa that had gothic-inspired architecture with turrets and balustrades that made it resemble Cinderella’s castle at Disney World.
One housing developer had this dream, and it was set to build 732 of these unusual homes in a small town not far from Istanbul. But sadly, despite many homebuyers looking to buy into this unique community, it now lies abandoned 12 years after construction began.
While the houses looked straight out of a Disney film, they were actually inspired by Istanbul landmarks including the medieval Galata Tower and the Maiden’s Tower from Istanbul. The name of the development, Burj Al Babas, translates as ‘tower of Babas’ in Arabic, and came from the nearby Babas thermal springs. Each castle was set to have its own pipeline to the waters to create luxurious indoor swimming pools.
But the plans didn’t stop at rows and rows of castles. If completed, lucky residents would have had access to a huge domed complex with a shopping centre, mosque, cinema, and hammam, creating an entire community in the mountains. The relatively cool weather in the area was also seen as a selling point, allowing people from nearby Middle East countries to escape the worst of the summer heat.
The castles were listed in a glossy brochure, with prices ranging from $370,000 to $530,000, about £278,500 and £400,000, a modest sum to live in your own château. But despite half the castles being sold in advance, mostly to buyers from the Gulf states, not a single moving van made it to the complex.
As soon as construction began in 2014, with the aim of finishing in four years, it started to hit several snags. Firstly, contractors complained that the disposal of rubble had breached environmental laws, and a year later, workers protested that they hadn’t been paid. Contractors soon pulled out and started the long legal process of trying to reclaim their lost wages.
Add a failed military coup and bad luck with weather, and the construction soon fell behind schedule. Sales stalled too, due to the country’s instability at the time, and the lack of cash flow soon put the developer into bankruptcy.
Not a single castle was completed as of 2022, and there are 587 half-built castles on the plot, with the exposure to the elements likely causing water damage in many of them as time goes on.
As recently as 2024, there was renewed interest in the development with the Emir of Kuwait visiting President Erdoğan, and it was reported that Burj Al Babas was discussed. The Guardian were also given a tour of the site in the same year by Adem Tekgöz, a representative of developers the Sarot Group, who claimed: “It gets cold in the winter, so we stopped construction. We’re preparing to restart next summer”.
However, as of 2026 there appears to be no trace of the Sarot Group online and still no word as to whether the project will ever be restarted, leaving a ghost town rather than a fairytale village.
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