Dutifully scrawled on the back of the photo was a basic description of a few outbuildings and the home's rock-solid foundation.
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| "There is a small 2 rm guest house on left beside garage and another one on right just across the fence below the Juniper tree. In front at top see the sun dial on that big stretch of rock. That rock extends into the house & forms the living room floor." |
But that was it. Sure of neither the home's location nor the penman, I saved the photo for several years, actually scanning it and creating a blog draft in case I stumbled upon more information. For years, the draft sat patiently, quietly awaiting the day the home's mystery would be solved.
I had heard rumors of a strange castle along the California-Mexico border that had once been a family landholding; as all the potential players had long since crossed the life-afterlife border, however, it seemed my geneo-real estate questions would forever remain unanswered - until, I kept digging for more family history. One scorching day, I found myself in the garage, elbow-deep in a musty box loaded with photographs spanning eight decades. Inside, I discovered a beautiful, spiral-bound album with a handwritten label taped to the cover that read, "Chinese Castle." When one finds a family album labeled "Chinese Castle" and the contents have nothing to do with a trip to the Far East, it is obvious that a vein of pure wacky tacky gold has been struck!
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| As with everything, they sure don't make photo albums like they used to. |
Between the dusty, floral covers was a twenty-plus-year pictorial history of the Chinese Castle of Jacumba, CA. As it happens, the house belonged to my paternal grandmother's aunt , Velma by name (an eccentric school teacher with a history of nude photos, multiple marriages, and a penchant for wearing safety whistles in her later years).
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| Chinese Castle (pictured in the mid-1950s) - Jacumba, CA |
With her then husband, British novelist Harry Lee, Velma used the Chinese Castle as a vacation home and artist retreat (he for writing, she for painting). As they had no children, they eventually sold-off all of their real estate...but not before taking a multitude of snapshots of their stony pride and joy, painted Empire Red.
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| The only dated photo in the album comes from September , 1962. The characteristic woodwork frames Aunt Velma at the screen door and the castle's signature wind chime. |
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| The terraced yard is a maze of steps and pathways winding all around the castle and through the desert landscape. |
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| The pan-Asian influence is apparent all over the castle, both inside and out; Japanese torii-styled railings once surrounded the second-floor deck. |
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| Built on a solid-granite foundation, local stones were collected to build the walls of the ground floor. |
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| A Japanese symbol of the physical transition from the profane world onto sacred ground, full-size torii gates mark the path to the castle entrance. |
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| Based on the sheer number of photos, they were quite proud of the multi-colored, graduated wind chime. |
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| The perimeter of the property is delineated by an undulating series of railroad ties. |
At some point, Velma thought it necessary to document the history of her home in a brief, two-page essay. I'm rather grateful she did.
Included in the album was a mimeographed copy of a page from a book (source unknown) that featured a line drawing of the castle and a one-sentence description.
Selling the house in 1976, Velma kept in touch with the new owners, keeping tabs on the decoration and maintenance of the Chinese Castle. She was even invited back for a visit.
Seeing the photographs and ephemera, Mary realized that she had actually been to the grounds of the castle on a long ago road trip; completely unaware of the family history, she definitely remembered making note of its wacky tacky magnificence. With the discovery that our heritage included the Chinese Castle, the only thing to do was chow down on some chow mein and hit the highway to Jacumba.
Included in the album was a mimeographed copy of a page from a book (source unknown) that featured a line drawing of the castle and a one-sentence description.
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| "One army officer settled here with his Chinese war bride and built a superb Chinese Castle on a rocky hill overlooking the town." |
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| According to Aunt Velma, it was all wrong. |
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| A partial letter from the woman to whom Harry and Velma sold the house was sent on Chinese Castle stationery. |
Seeing the photographs and ephemera, Mary realized that she had actually been to the grounds of the castle on a long ago road trip; completely unaware of the family history, she definitely remembered making note of its wacky tacky magnificence. With the discovery that our heritage included the Chinese Castle, the only thing to do was chow down on some chow mein and hit the highway to Jacumba.
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| Famed for its hot springs, Jacumba all but became a ghost town when Historic Route 80 was circumvented by the new Interstate 8. |
We drove into the sleepy border town armed only with hopes that the castle was still standing and a disk to which I had saved every bit of Chinese Castle history that we had. I figured that at the very least, the local historical society might have an interest. Directionless, and completely unsure if the castle was still standing, we slowly made our way down the main road and wondered what would happen next...
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| STAY TUNED to see if the mysteries of Jacumba's Chinese Castle will be revealed!!! |
Cheers!
Mr. Tiny
What a fascinating piece of family history. I wish I had scads of photos and memorabilia to wade through. Lucky guy!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Patricia!!! I do feel lucky but there is so much of it that still needs to be organized. I'm drowning in family history. Hahahaha!!!
Deletei grew up in that town an never once herd that version of the story.
ReplyDeletewe were always told storys of some strange chinese internment camp around the same time the corrizo gorge railway was built early 1900.
there were plenty of ghost storries for kids an the fact that nobody ever lived in the main house in the 12 years i lived there didnt help.
you could sneak up anytime you wanted an go inside. it was always empty other than a few boxs of decorative chinese things. couldnt reallyi magin living in it there are no ammedites really the kitchen type area is like added to it. the house is like 1 big room with loft an a pond/bath thing in other.
there is how in fact a a trap door in kitchen type area, with a ladder leading down about 3 ft in solid concrete. was once told it originally had a dungeon with cells an everything. but it started to collapse so they filled it in. sopposibly some of the old locals have pictures somewere.
any ways its still there. i think somebody bought it an did a tacky paint job a while back. but other than that just lots of storys.
I use to live in the castle! I loved that house, and have wonderful memories of living there. Kathy
ReplyDeleteIs he house still standing? I'd love to go see it. Are people living in it?
ReplyDeleteI vegly remember this house, My grandmother lived in Juacaba (1965 to 1978) and I woud visit on weekends and hunt rabbits across the street on the land that Bob Hope was to build his golf coarse. The house I remember the most was the one right next to the border. The people that lived there had a tunnel that lead to the Mexican side.
ReplyDeleteI lived in the rock house by the border in 1975-1976, and we did not have a tunnel. That's funny. Why have a tunnel when you could just walk across?
DeleteI lived there next street over- and had a few friends who lived/ care took/ or rented there. Have stayed in the margin house on several occasions- SO very haunted!!! I always loved the detached kitchen, (except when I got hungry late at night) As a kid, we heard that there were tunnels that led into Mexico, as the Border is very close. I had been told that the cement hole in the kitchen was a small wine cellar. What a cool place!
ReplyDeleteIt's now owned by the woman who owns Pine Valley's newspaper; she has been restoring it and offers tours several times a year.
ReplyDeleteIt was lived in when I moved my gift shop to Jacumba around 1987. At one time I had historical photos of many of the old buildings in the town with the hopes of one day writing a book. The owner then tried hard to restore the castle while adding amenities like a bathroom. She was not successful and Lynn Hutchins housesat for a while. It sold after we left in 2011. I closed my shop in 2007 due to the poor economy. I am kicking myself now as I sold all of my photos and historical data to a local for $100, thinking he would do something with it. I gave all of the postcards I had made from some of the old photos to the library. Thanks for sharing the real history of this once beautiful building. (One of the small rooms held a Jacuzzi type pool I think once had the hot springs water going in to it. The windows in that room were all stained glass) Arlene Lenhart (Gifts n Things 1997 - 2007 Boulevard/Jacumba)
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know who built it?
ReplyDelete