Stokes Castle
Stokes Castle Overview
Anson Phelps Stokes, mine developer, railroad magnate, and member of a prominent eastern family, built Stokes Castle as a summer home for his sons.
The family only used it for two months.
Category
- Architecture
- Person
Marker Type
Blue marker
Nevada Historical Marker Number
Stokes Castle is Nevada Historical Marker #59.
Click here to view the complete list of Nevada State Historical Markers.
County
GPS Coordinates
39.493476, -117.079916
Nevada Historical Marker Transcription
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 the
Stokes 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.
STATE HISTORICAL MARKER NO.59
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
AUSTIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE