Stokes Castle — Attraction in Nevada

Stokes Castle Started in the fall of 1896 and completed in June, 1897, by Ansom [sic] Phelps Stokes, mine developer, railroad magnate and member of a prominent eastern family, as a summer home for his sons, principally, J.G. Phelps. After the castle (or the tower, as the Stokes family always referred to it) was completed, it was used by the family for one brief period in June and July 1897. Since then, with one possible exception, the structure has remained unoccupied.

Stokes Castle is made of native granite, hewn and put in place by the ancestors of people still living in Austin. The huge stones were 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 on an Italian campagna, near Rome. It originally had three floors, each with a fireplace, plate glass view windows, balconies on the second and third floors, and a battlemented terrace on the roof. It had plumbing very adequate for the times and was sumptuously furnished.

The structure stands as an abiding monument to the local men who built it and to those who helped develop the mines of Austin.

State Historical Marker No. 59 Nevada Sate Park System Austin...

Stokes Castle is Nevada Historical Landmark 59 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2003 as listing #03000757.

The NRHP nomination reads in part:

Stokes Castle, a three-story granite tower, was built in 1897 for Anson Phelps Stokes, who was the driving force behind the Nevada Central Railroad and Austin's mining industry.

Stokes modeled his romantic summer home on a family painting of a tower in the Roman Campagna, and he sited it on a prominence with sweeping views of the Reese River Valley. The Castle featured balconies cantilevered on railroad rails (the rails survive), plate-glass picture windows, a castellated parapet, and a rooftop terrace once shaded by a suspended canvas awning. The floors in the simply detailed interior were removed years ago to deter intruders.

Anson Phelps Stokes, his sons, a Chinese cook, and guests occupied the Castle on several occasions in 1897 and 1898. For much of the twentieth century the Castle was boarded up and subjected to deterioration and vandalism.

Threatened with removal to the Las Vegas Strip after 1950, it was saved by Stokes relative Molly Knudtsen and today stands as a testimony to...

Well worth a brief stop if you are traveling through Austin. And amazingly, you can disperse camp right next to it, with incredible views all around and only 10 mins from the town.

Originally built in 1897, this elaborate three-story granite tower is a nod to the unimaginable silver wealth surrounding Austin’s boom days. Railroad magnate Anson Phelps Stokes, a prominent mine developer and banker, purchased this land to construct a summer home for his family. As a distinctive businessman and world traveler, Stokes modeled his elaborate home after a tower he had once admired in the Roman Campagna in Italy. His new castle would be built entirely of hand-hewn,...