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Published February 02, 2017
Calling all Bat fans! Rumor has it the next installment of the Batman movie franchise, " Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," was filmed in Detroit, with the Motor City serving as a stand-in for Gotham, that poster child for urban decay. And the flick's Wayne Manor is actually a run-down mansion known as the Ransom Gillis house. Bam!
Make that was run-down. Before its fabulous bat-makeover.
The backstory: An Internet informant known as "Tony Detroit" told the fan site Batman News that the highly secretive producers were filming in and around the crumbling Gothic mansion, located at 205 Alfred St. A crew member divulged that it was indeed being used to depict Master Bruce's digs.
The rumors, not yet confirmed by Warner Brothers, sparked a flurry of fan commentary online about whether this home was worthy of being Wayne Manor.
"While it's not as big as other mansions we've seen Bruce Wayne live in on-screen, they could certainly add to it with CGI in post-production," admitted Batman News' Chris Begley.
And we're talking a lot of CGI, because the place was notoriously ramshackle. Built in 1876 and named after a dry goods merchant, the Ransom Gillis home had been abandoned since the 1960s, according to the book " 63 Alfred Street: Where Capitalism Failed" by John Kossik.
As if housing the caped crusader weren't enough, this derelict mansion has also become the focus of an extensive real-life renovation by Nicole Curtis, the star of HGTV's "Rehab Addict." A Detroit native, Curtis has been dying to restore the structure for years; now, a year-plus and eight-part series later, the home is finished. On Sunday, Curtis opened its doors to the public, who lined up around the block to peek inside.
Since no one was allowed to snap photos of the interior -- for that, you'll have to tune into "Rehab Addict" which begins airing on Thursday -- visitors say it's an astute mix of old and new: antique chandeliers against stark-white walls and exposed brick, stained-glass windows amid stainless-steel kitchens.
So what's next for this historic home? Well, within 60 days Wayne Manor is slated to be split into duplexes and rented out. Holy Urban Development, Batman! It's a bit anticlimactic, but then again, given the place's once-decrepit state, we think even the Dark Night would approve. The film is due out in March 2016.
https://www.foxnews.com/real-estate/a-sneak-peek-inside-batmans-new-wayne-manor