SAN JOSE, Calif. — If you can’t decide between getting your Old World castle fix in Scotland, France, Germany or Spain, why not try something much closer to home?
Yes, the Bay Area has castles, magnificent chateaus and other unique structures built to evoke the romance and mystery of a medieval royal abode. And one was erected to serve the classic function of a castle, providing shelter and defense against enemy attack.
Here are five of the Bay Area’s most iconic castles to explore on the printed page or in real life.
Fort Point, San Francisco
On a foggy night, we thought we saw a ghost lurking among the cannon mounts on the roof of Fort Point.
While playing Union soldiers on a memorable fifth-grade overnight field trip, a classmate and I had pulled midnight to 2 a.m. guard duties at the fort, built in 1861 at the southern end of the Golden Gate to protect against Confederate invasion. A dark figure stood on the west bastion, looking out over the strait to the sounds of a fog horn, waves lapping against the rocks and the thunk-thunk of cars crossing the bridge above.
The figure turned out to be a parent chaperone, but our brief terror is a reminder of the lore and mysteries attached to this national historic site. The fort is so atmospheric, Alfred Hitchcock used it for a scene in “Vertigo,” when his haunted heroine jumps into the bay to escape her demons. Banquo’s ghost roamed its halls in 2013, when a theater company used it as a stand-in for Macbeth’s castle.
Built with 7-foot-thick brick walls to withstand a lengthy siege, the four-tier, brick-and-mortar fort fits the Old World definition of castle. The original design even called for a moat, and Fort Point replaced the Castillo de San Joaquin, an adobe gun battery built on the bluff by the Spanish in 1794.
Fort Point is one of many fortifications built around San Francisco Bay over two centuries to stop an attack — from the British, the Russians, the Japanese, the Soviets or fellow Americans. The invaders never came to Fort Point, though a Confederate ship was just a few days away from the Golden Gate in the summer of 1865, when its captain learned that the Confederacy had fallen.
How to get a closer look: Fort Point hours vary by season (and pandemic precautions), but the outdoor areas should be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday through May. Find the San Francisco fort at the end of Marine Drive, beneath the Golden Gate Bridge; https://www.nps.gov/fopo/.
Castello di Amorosa, Calistoga
This is the castle that wine built.
Make that wine and Dario Sattui.
The fourth-generation winemaker, who intended to construct an edifice that would honor his Italian ancestors and showcase his Castello di Amorosa wine label, discovered that his passion for medieval architecture knew few bounds.
Sattui had 8,000 tons of stones chiseled by hand and set individually. He imported lead glass from Italy and one million antique bricks from throughout Europe. He found artisans to hand-carve the gargoyles. He added a drawbridge, a moat, five towers, an armory and a chapel. He filled below-ground chambers with wine barrels and artifacts.
“You either do it right, or people will know it’s not authentic,” he noted on the winery’s website.
After 14 years and many, many millions of dollars, this authentically styled 13th-century Tuscan castle opened to visitors in 2007. Originally designed to cover 8,500 square feet, the awe-inspiring Castello measures 121,000 square feet, with 107 rooms on eight levels, four of them underground. The great hall is 72 feet long, with a 22-foot-high ceiling.
The architectural masterpiece found itself in the news in 2020, when flames from the Glass Fire destroyed a farmhouse on the property and $5 million worth of wine that had been stored there. The majority of Sattui’s wine is stored in the Castello’s cellars and off-site.
Winery president Georg Salzner said at the time, in the medieval ages, kingdoms stored goods that were flammable in a farmhouse that was separated from the main castle. Hoping to re-create Castello as authentically as possible, Sattui did the same here — just without the expectation that “one day it would really pay off,” Salzner said.
How to get a closer look: The castle is open daily for tasting and tours by reservation only. 4045 St. Helena Highway, Calistoga; https://castellodiamorosa.com
Albion Castle, San Francisco
When a young Englishman named John Hamlin Burnell immigrated to San Francisco to build a brewery in 1870, he set the stage for one of the Bay Area’s most unusual but hidden architectural treasures: Castle Albion in Hunters Point.
Burnell chose a site above a natural underground spring, dug caves and built two stone cisterns beneath the hill to capture the thousands of gallons of pure cold water that collects in aquamarine pools. For his home, he erected a small castle above the brewery, featuring a five-story stone tower that was no doubt inspired by castles back home.
In the 150 years since, the brewery became a casualty of Prohibition, and the castle has largely remained hidden behind high walls and a tangle of garden in a neighborhood that’s best known for shipyards and housing projects.
But Castle Albion was never a secret to current owner Bill Gilbert, a retired San Francisco police lieutenant-turned-real estate developer. The history buff grew up in Hunters Point and was enchanted every time he passed the property while patrolling the neighborhood. He bought the castle in 2011, and he and his family lovingly restored its woodwork, stone carvings and medieval-inspired interiors, largely created by a sculptor who once owned the property.
The family rents out the castle for eclectic private parties and the occasional A-lister looking for off-the-beaten-track accommodations, and they may one day bottle its spring water. Like her father, Jennifer Gilbert finds herself enchanted anytime she works at the castle. “When I step through the gates, it becomes quiet,” she said. “You hear the birds in the garden, not the buses on the street or the construction, and I love to smell the wood and see the carvings. It’s like stepping into another world.”
How to get a closer look: Castle Albion is not open for public tours, but it is available for overnight stays or private events, starting at $1,500, at 881 Innes Ave. in San Francisco. Peek inside at www.thealbioncastle.com.
Sam’s Castle, Pacifica
The imposing hillside castle that sits above the town of Pacifica, with majestic views of the Pacific Ocean just beyond, was built as a fortress.
The enemy? Mother Nature.
San Francisco railroad attorney Henry Harrison McCloskey and his wife, Emily, were so unnerved by the great 1906 earthquake and fire that they never wanted to live in the city again. So they looked south to an emerging area called Salada Beach and hired architect Charles C. McDougall to construct this 24-room concrete edifice, modeled after a Scottish castle, for peace of mind. (If they knew that Pacifica sits in what’s known today as the San Andreas/San Gregorio/Pilarcitos fault zone, they certainly built it to withstand the temblors.)
Members of the McCloskey family lived in their unshakeable mansion for just eight years, from 1908 to 1916. After that, the castle shed its role as a safe haven and became, according to historian Bridget Oates, a Prohibition-era speakeasy, a doctor’s illegal abortion clinic and a U.S. Coast Guard lookout during World War II.
Left in disrepair after those rollicking years, the property was rescued by Sam Mazza, a painting and interior decorating contractor and art collector, in 1959. He bought the castle for $29,000, restored it and filled it with antiques, works of art and vintage oddities. Though Mazza and his wife, Mary, never lived there, they entertained at the castle — and he was careful to ensure its future.
Now known as Sam’s Castle, the structure is owned and run by the Sam Mazza Foundation, an arts and culture nonprofit which offers tours by the Pacifica Historical Society that are enlivened by tales from the past.
As one docent told visitors, “There are ghosts flitting around who have interesting stories to tell of their time here.”
How to get a closer look: The foundation plans to reopen the castle at 900 Mirador Terrace for tours and events during 2022. Check the website, www.sammazzafoundation.org, for updates.
Lyford’s Tower, Tiburon
It wouldn’t be fair to draw too many comparisons between Tiburon’s Benjamin F. Lyford and King Ludwig II of Bavaria, whose turreted fortress Neuschwanstein inspired Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” castle.
Lyford was no “mad king.” Still, the Civil War surgeon and inventor shared Ludwig’s fondness for fairytale castles, as well as a Victorian-era ambition to be a master builder. After Lyford pioneered techniques in embalming at his San Francisco practice, he moved into real estate development, courtesy of his wife Hilarita Reed, who inherited 9,000 acres of prime land along the Tiburon peninsula.
In 1889, he built his “castle,” a two-story Romanesque-style tower overlooking Angel Island. The circular tower was to serve as his office and the gateway to “Hygeia,” his utopian health resort and residential community for people who wanted to enjoy the peninsula’s stunning scenery, temperate climate and freedom from “elements which retard growth and ultimately destroy life,” according to an 1895 brochure. Lyford’s Hygeia also promised such design and hygiene innovations as water closets and its own sewer system.
Alas, Hygeia never happened, because Lyford imposed too many design and lifestyle restrictions on future homeowners. The Lyford heirs eventually sold off the property, but the name is still attached to the tower and to a nearby cove that’s home to cliff-side residences that boast killer views and private yacht ramps. Lyford’s Victorian mansion also can be seen at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary, a few miles up the peninsula.
How to get a closer look: The open-air tower, at 2034 Paradise Drive, is always open to the public. But because parking near the tower is virtually nonexistent, visitors should park in downtown Tiburon or near Shoreline Park and stroll up.
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