From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgo to rack and ruingo to rack and ruinBADif a building goes to rack and ruin, it gradually gets into a very bad condition because no one has looked after it The house had been left to go to rack and ruin. → rack
Examples from the Corpus
go to rack and ruin• The old farmhouse had gone to rack and ruin.• He's let his father's old house go to rack and ruin.• First they let the house go to rack and ruin, then the garden; now they were sheltering hippies.• It seems that the government is prepared to let all our hospitals and schools go to rack and ruin.• Yet the truth of it was that the estates were going to rack and ruin. 