Editing Britannia Manor (section)

==Design==
The manor's medieval design reflected Garriott's interest in the era.

The house was adorned with various medieval items such as [[crossbows]], [[sword]]s, and [[armour]].  It features traps and a network of [[secret passage]]s and rooms.  A secret room in the basement contained some of Garriott's most treasured artifacts, including [[dinosaur]] [[fossil]]s, a coffin with a [[human skeleton]] inside it, and an authentic 16th century vampire hunting kit.  The house also featured other collections such as hairs from the [[Yeti|Glacier snowman]], a brick from the [[Great Wall of China]], a Russian [[spacesuit]], and three stained glass windows retrieved from an abandoned church.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/161267/britannia-manor-tales-from-the-crib.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230022533/http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/161267/britannia-manor-tales-from-the-crib.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 30, 2008 |title=Britannia Manor: Tales From The Crib |publisher=MTV |date=2007-07-06 |accessdate=2012-08-18}}</ref> There was a large collection of [[automaton]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marthastewart.com/245777/automata-collection |title=Automata Collection - Martha Stewart Holidays |publisher=Marthastewart.com |date= |accessdate=2012-08-18 |archive-date=2015-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019070235/http://www.marthastewart.com/245777/automata-collection |url-status=dead }}</ref> The basement room he referred to as the dungeon, had [[shrunken heads]], mummified remains of parts of people as well as a mummified bird found in a tomb in Egypt, and human skulls.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BasXNb4UPnQ  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/BasXNb4UPnQ| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Richard Garriott's House - Britannia Manor - a peek inside by Bizarre Magazine |publisher=YouTube |date= |accessdate=2012-08-18}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The house also had an [[observatory]] in the main complex.  Although part of the house, it was structurally independent from the rest of the house in order to damp out vibrations, as they ruined long-exposure space photos.

Britannia Manor was designed by designer/architect, Alan Barley, of Barley & Pfeiffer Architects in Austin, Texas. In 1996, Garriott hired Moore-Andersson Architects, Austin, to design another house on a nearby riverfront property.  The property was situated atop a bluff overlooking the Austin, Texas skyline, the 360 Bridge, and Lake Austin.  Britannia Manor Mark 3 will also have a rotating observatory and will be more castle than house. Construction on this house was delayed for some time after [[Dot-com bubble|the dot com crash]]. It resumed for a while a few years later, but was put on indefinite hold when Garriott decided in 2008 to spend the majority of his fortune to go into space.

There was a working cannon at the front door and an indoor grotto with hot-and-cold-running rain showers.<ref name="fastcompany1">{{cite web|last1=Lewis|first1=Peter|title=Do You Want to Play?|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/60790/do-you-want-play|website=Fast Company|date=November 1, 2007}}</ref>

After spending several years on the market, the house was sold in December, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property.aspx?prop_id=142333|title=Travis Property Search|website=propaccess.traviscad.org}}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The new owner demolished the house in late 2016.