Stokes Castle

Stokes Castle, located in Austin, Nevada, is one of the state's most recognizable historic landmarks. The three-story granite tower was built in 1897 for Anson Phelps Stokes, the driving force behind the Nevada Central Railroad and Austin's mining industry at the end of the nineteenth century. 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 in the 1970s, it was saved by Stokes relative Molly Knudtsen and today stands as a testimony to her foresight.