Stokes Castle
Lander County, Lander County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Stokes Castle. Anson Phelps Stokes, mine developer, railroad magnate and member of a prominent eastern family, built Stokes Castle as a summer home for his sons. After the castle (or the tower, as theStokes family always referred to it) was completed in June 1897, the Stokes family used it for two months. Since then, with one possible exception, the structure has remained unoccupied.Stokes Castle is made of huge, granite stones, raised with a hand winch and held in position by rock wedging and clay mortar. The architectural model for the castle was a medieval tower Anson Stokes had seen and admired near Rome. This building originally had three floors, each with a fireplace, plate glass windows, balconies on the second and third floors, and a battlemented terrace on the roof. It had plumbing and sumptuous furnishings.Stokes Castle has served for decades as an iconic Nevada building often photographed by enthusiasts of Western history.
Erected by Austin Chamber Of Commerce
The Story
Rising like a transplanted Roman ruin over the Nevada high desert, Stokes Castle was built in 1897 by mine developer and railroad magnate Anson Phelps Stokes as a summer retreat for his sons. Modeled on a medieval tower he had admired near Rome, its three floors of granite—raised by hand winch and set with rock wedging and clay mortar—held fireplaces, plate-glass windows, balconies, plumbing, and lavish furnishings. The family used it for only two months, and it has stood essentially empty ever since, becoming one of the West's most photographed oddities.
Why it matters
The tower embodies the extravagant ambitions and fleeting fortunes of Gilded Age mining wealth stamped onto the raw Western landscape.
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Related people
- · Anson Phelps Stokes
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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