From worstpreviews, Tony Alleyne has spent over ten years transforming his 500 square-foot UK apartment into the interior of the USS Voyager from "Star Trek." It has cost him around $150,000 to do so, and now because of a divorce, he is forced to rip everything down.
Some of the features of the apartment include hand-crafted furnishings, a high-tech bathroom, voice-activated blue lighting, air conditioning, a command console and his own transporter room.
Before we start blaming the wife, it's important to point out that Alleyne and his wife have lived in the apartment since 1994 and she has been paying the entire mortgage for it. Meanwhile, Alleyne has been skipping on the mortgage in order to spend all his money to turn their apartment into a "Star Trek" starship.
Now that they are getting divorced, the wife wants to sell the apartment and wants it back to how it was. And he doesn't have any money to buy the apartment from her. "To say I'm gutted is an understatement," said Alleyne. "It is my life's work - and it looks like it's going into a skip. I admit there were tears."
See pictures of the apartment here
10 comments:
I have serious trouble sympathizing with this guy.
I do too and I'm quite sure there is some uber trekker out there right now opening his/her fat wallet with a substantial offer for the place as is.
The guy's got issues. I'm surprised it took his wife this long to cut him loose.
I mean, it's one thing when you're dealing with some crazy millionaire obsessed with Star Trek (even if it's inherited money and the guy's a deadbeat). But this is a guy plowing his entire income into this bullshit. His "life's work." Like Anonymous said, it's amazing that his wife took so long to realize she didn't want to be married to him.
For me the telling detail was "500 square-foot apartment."
The pics look pretty cool, but not as a place to live. Seems like long torture.
I agree, he's a nut and she's an idiot for staying as long as she did. Also, I don't understand, how can you own an apartment? If you own it, it's not an apartment, right? Wouldn't it be a condo? Why would you sink all that money into something you don't own? Educate me Jordan!
Wait, Jordan, you own your apartment! You could totally do this!
(I think the answering term will be "co-op apartment," with a healthy dash of ??? because I don't really know. I'm pretty sure I've never heard Jordan refer to his condo.
I kinda feel bad for the guy. Those pictures are sweet!
From Wikipedia: The difference between a condominium and an apartment complex is purely legal: there is no way to know a condominium from an apartment simply by looking at or visiting the building. What defines a condominium is the form of ownership. The same building developed as a condominium (and sold in individual units to different owners) could actually be built someplace else as an apartment building (the developers would retain ownership and rent individual units to different tenants). As a practical matter, though, builders tend to build condominiums to higher quality standards than apartment complexes because of the differences between the rental and sale markets.
In the 1970s, I seriously wanted to do over portions of my apartment (meaning, my parents apartment) as:
1) Moonbase Alpha (or at least Koenig's office)
2) The centrifuge from the Discovery in 2001 (I know, I know; the gravity. I figured I would always be on the bottom and it would turn. If I didn't make the bed, the blankets and pillows would totally fall off onto my head when I walked around to the kitchen. Also, Obviously you need a 60-foot-ceiling for this; I can't remember how I got around that problem.)
3) The original Saturday Night Live layout for Studio 8H.
Also, my apartment (today) is not a condo, but a co-op. I pay maintenance, and a couple of utilities, and (for many years) paid a mortgage.
I always think that the reality of recreating a famous set would be less fun than the idea. For the most part all of these sets sound like they would make for uncomfortable living quarters.
You own an apartment in the middle of Manhattan? If you ever sell that baby you'll be a rich man.
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