10 Must-See Fairy Tale Castles — in America!
While we tend to associate castles with Europe - from the fairytale chateaus of France and the royal residences of Britain to the medieval palaces of Bavaria and the military fortresses of Portugal - you may be surprised to learn that the USA has its fair share of beautiful chateaus, mansions and palaces.
Whilst they were never home to the monarchs that resided in those of Europe, the castles of America were largely sought after and built by the millionaires of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who admired the wealth-flaunting, noble and militaristic appeal of the European castle aesthetic, and thus took it upon themselves to build their own lavish Medieval-inspired homes.
Of those that remain standing, only a handful are still private estates – many have been converted into (or were indeed built as) public attractions like museums which are open for the public to enjoy. So now we know that American castles exist, the trick is to know where to find them…
Hearst Castle, California
Perched high on a hilltop overlooking the Californian town of San Simeon, Hearst Castle, is a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark located on the Central Coast of California. The Hearst Castle Estate was built between 1919 and 1947 for publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, lavishly designed by Julia Morgan, California's first female architect.
Hearst nicknamed the estate ‘La Cuesta Encantada’ (‘The Enchanted Hill’) and consists of four buildings, 165 rooms and 127 acres of beautiful terraced gardens. The Casa del Mar guesthouse boasts panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean while the Gothic Study in Hearst Castle’s main building features a dramatic vaulted Spanish ceiling dating back to the early 1400s.
Hearst Castle is the only art museum operated by California State Parks and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
Biltmore Estate, North Carolina
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt. Completed in 1895, Vanderbilt’s mansion was under construction for six years: a process which began in 1889 after George Vanderbilt visited the area and became enchanted by its beauty.
Architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the 250-room French Renaissance chateau, while acclaimed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed the stunning grounds surrounding the castle, including a 15-acre Azalea Garden. Today, the estate has its own vineyard and winery which produce award-winning wines and tours of the chateau – including its stately 70-foot ceiling banquet hall and bowling alley.
The Breakers, Rhode Island
The Breakers is a Vanderbilt mansion located on Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, The Breakers is one of Newport’s most beautiful summer homes, completed in 1895 as a summer home for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the prominent railroad tycoon who had inherited much of the Vanderbilt family fortune from his father William and grandfather Cornelius. With 70 rooms and over 125,000 square feet, it dwarfed all of the other Newport mansions, and it would come to epitomize the luxury, grandeur, and excess of the Gilded Age.
Drawing inspiration from the Italian Renaissance palaces of 16th century Genoa and Turin, Hunt designed the 70-room mansion to include the grand Dining Room, with its dramatic freestanding columns and gilded cornice, and drafted in contemporary talents like Austrian-American sculptor Karl Bitter to create relief sculptures and Parisian interior design firm Jules Allard and Sons.
Bannerman Castle, New York
On an island in the Hudson, a tiny island 60 or so miles up the Hudson River from New York City, lie the remnants of a Scotsman's fortress called Bannerman Castle. Built in the early 20th century not as a home, but as an arsenal for Scottish-American merchant Francis Bannerman’s vast weaponry collection.
In the decades following the Civil War, it was the center of entrepreneur Bannerman’s northeastern retail empire. Bannerman, who was born in Scotland but raised in Brooklyn, accumulated and sold surplus military goods from a young age, and began his catalog business following the war.The castle was designed to resemble the medieval fortresses of Bannerman’s birthplace
Following his death in 1918, Bannerman Castle fell into disrepair and much of the structure was destroyed by a fire that broke out in 1969. Today the island is overseen by Bannerman Castle Trust who offer summertime island tours and host events including barbecue picnics and concerts.
Public access to this island has had a small window of opportunity, curtained by Native American and Dutch settler's fear of resident spirits and goblins, and then restricted since 1900 for more contemporary safety reasons. While Pollepel Island and the castle itself are largely cut off from the public, they’re accessible for tours throughout summer and fall, and a fantastic reason to take a day trip upstate.
Castello di Amorosa, California
Castello di Amorosa is a medieval-inspired Tuscan castle and winery in the northern reaches of California’s Napa Valley.
Constructed over a 14-year period, Castello di Amorosa officially opened its doors in 2007. Designed by owner and fourth generation winemaker Dario Sattui as a winery, the castle is surrounded by acres of vineyards producing award-winning Italian-style wines. Featuring 107 rooms, most of which are used for winemaking, Castello di Amorosa includes a drawbridge, a great hall with replica Italian frescoes and even its own dungeon and torture chamber.
The castle interiors include 107 rooms on 8 levels above and below ground, covering 141,000 square feet. The property contains numerous original features including a late Renaissance iron maiden in the torture chamber, a a 500-year-old fireplace, and Italian frescoes. The hillside surrounding the property houses a labyrinth of caves some 900 feet in length, while beneath it lies a 2-acre barrel cellar and tasting rooms where visitors can sample the wines.
Boldt Castle, New York
At the turn of the twentieth century, hotel magnate George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the world famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, set out to build a full size rhineland castle in Alexandria Bay, on the picturesque Heart Island. The castle was to be a display of his love for his wife, Louise.
Beginning in 1900, the Boldt family spent summers in the 1000 Islands at the Boldt Families Wellesley House near Mr. Boldt’s Wellesley Island Farms while 300 workers including stonemasons, carpenters, and artists fashioned the six story, 120 room castle, complete with tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a drawbridge, alster tower (children’s playhouse) and a dove cote. Not a single detail or expense was spared.
Tragically Louise died mere months before Boldt Castle was completed and a devastated George abruptly halted its construction, leaving the property empty and desolate for more than 70 years until the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired it and completed the restoration project. Since 1977, several million dollars have been applied to restoring and improving the Heart Island structures. Boldt never returned to the island, leaving behind the structure as a relic of his love.
Thornewood Castle, Washington
Thornewood Castle is a 500-year-old Tudor Gothic historic site in Lakewood, Washington. The castle has stood for over a hundred years, nestled among old growth fir trees on four acres at American Lake in Washington State. This English Tudor/Gothic mansion is one of the few genuine private castles in the United States and the only one on the West Coast.
Chester Thorne, a local prominent banker and developer, dreamt of building a Tudor Gothic home. In 1907, Mr. Thorne purchased a 400-year-old Elizabethan manor in England and had parts of it dismantled and shipped piece by piece to be included in the main house with the help of well-known architect Kirtland Kelsey Cutter.
Construction took three years to complete, from 1908 to 1911, with many of the materials, including the front door, oak paneling, and oak staircase, shipped from the castle in England. The red brick facing on the outside of the estate was imported from Wales. Three ships were commissioned to transport these building supplies around Cape Horn to the Pacific Northwest.
Now an inn, guests at Thornewood Castle have access to the estate’s private dock and lakeside beach and the beautiful sunken ‘Secret Garden’ designed by the famous Olmsted Brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted.
Fonthill Castle
Fonthill Castle was the home of the American archeologist and tile maker Henry Chapman Mercer, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Mercer, who was also an anthropologist, ceramist, scholar and antiquarian, built Fonthill Castle from 1908-1912 as a home and a museum for his collection of tiles and prints, mostly famously the Moravian tiles. The castle is a mix of Medieval, Gothic and Byzantine architectural styles.
The castle features 44 rooms, over 200 windows, 18 fireplaces, 10 bathrooms and a powder room. The interior was originally painted in pastel colors, however age and sunlight have unfortunately deteriorated the former hues. As a result the paint in one room in the Terrace Pavilion (built on the site of the former home's barn), has been restored so visitors can witness the home's former glory.
The castle is filled with an extensive collection of ceramics that are both embedded in the structure of the house, and displayed as artefacts from Mercer’s world travels. The collection includes Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets dating back to over 2300 BCE, along with 1,000 prints from Mercer's extensive collection, and six thousand books, almost all of which were annotated by Mercer himself.
Gillette Castle
Gillette Castle, Connecticut, was originally a private residence called ‘Seventh Sister’ commissioned and designed by William Gillette, an American actor, director, and playwright who is most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on stage. Gillette resided at this estate between 1919–1937, before it was purchased by the state of Connecticut in 1943 for $5,000
Gillette built this castle in 1914 as part of his estate, designing the home himself and overseeing every phase of the construction. While the outside looks shows little more than castle ruins, the inside tells a very different story, decorated as it is with an array of modern innovations such as built-in couches and sliding tables.
A number of oddities exist inside the home that were personally designed by Gillette and said to be examples of his "creative genius”, including a series of mirrors above the great hall allowing him to view visitors from his bedroom. This design is thought to have helped Gillette spy on guests and make dramatic entrances, a secret door that allowed Gillette to unexpectedly and theatrically appear, and an elaborate 3.2-mile railroad with mini trains winds around the property.
Iolani Palace
Iolani Palace, Honolulu, is the only true royal residence in what’s now the United States. Throughout the 19th century, Hawaii was a unified monarchy, and after its construction towards the end of the century.
The cornerstone for Iolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879 with full Masonic rites and construction was completed in 1882. The Palace was the official residence of the Hawaiian monarchs, where they held official functions, received dignitaries and luminaries from around the world, and entertained often and lavishly. Iolani Palace was ahead of its time as it was outfitted with the most up-to-date amenities, including electric lights, indoor plumbing and a modern communications system – the telephone.
The Palace remained the official royal residence until the overthrow of the monarchy by the US military, where Queen Liliuokalani was eventually imprisoned. The castle was used as a government building for about 80 years before being restored as a regal site. Today the castle is open to the public for tours.
So, before you plan a European vacation to explore the romantic medieval structures of a bygone age, you should try visiting these fairy-tale castles in America. They may not be as ancient and laden with royal histories as their counterparts across the pond, but they are certainly magnificent in their own right with each telling its own, fascinating tale.
Have you been to one of these castles? Do you know of other castles we should add to this list? Share your comments here.