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All the United States Arizona Phoenix Tovrea Castle
AO Edited

Tovrea Castle

A mysterious "wedding cake" castle in the middle of the urban desert.

Phoenix, Arizona

Added By
Joe Schallan
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Tovrea Castle, surrounded by cacti.   Gage Skidmore
The paths surrounding Tovrea Castle are lined with river rocks painted white.   Eileen Kane
A vintage Tovrea Castle tour sign.   Eileen Kane
E. A. Tovrea’s memorial pyramid.   Joe Schallan / Atlas Obscura User
Cactus Gardens at Tovrea Castle.   Joe Schallan / Atlas Obscura User
The gates of Tovrea Castle.   Eileen Kane
Tovrea Castle.   Kirs10
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About

They say the desert attracts dreamers, schemers, and prophets. A mysterious, fanciful structure that tops a knoll in the Airport Gateway District of Phoenix looks like the work of at least two out of three.

Italian immigrant Alessio Carraro dreamed of building a resort hotel as the centerpiece of his high-end subdivision, Carrarro Heights. He and his son constructed the hotel over just fourteen months, between 1928 and 1930. The building was a thing of beauty, based on Italian architecture and tiered like a wedding cake.

However, perhaps because of the stench from the nearby Tovrea meatpacking stockyards, or because of the Great Depression, it never opened. Carraro sold his castle and its 42 acres to Edward Ambrose Tovrea, magnate of the stockyards, who transformed the massive hotel into a private residence. Tovrea died after less than a year living in the castle, and is memorialized by a giant steel pyramid on the property. His widow Della lived there until her death in 1969.

Over the years Tovrea Castle developed an air of mystery. As Phoenix grew outward and the land surrounding the castle developed into a metropolitan area, the isolated mansion and its acres of desert attracted a lot of attention. After Della's death, the land (which had fallen into ruin) was purchased by the City of Phoenix. The structure was restored, its cactus garden replanted, and the grounds were opened for tours.

Visitors on the rare tours (they occur intermittently every couple of months and usually sell out) get to wander across the Tovreas' desert with its 5,000 plants. Then they are led inside, where they get to peek in the basement and the ground floor of this 1930s palace.

Related Tags

Castles Deserts Architectural Oddities Pyramids Architecture

Know Before You Go

Access to the Tovrea Castle is by docent-led tour only. Tickets for the nearly two-hour-long tour, which includes the Castle's interior and the surrounding cactus gardens, can be reserved through the nonprofit Tovrea Carraro Society at (800) 838-3006 or via the website.

Currently, tickets are only being distributed on a lottery basis which can be entered through the website. This lottery is done months in advance so plan accordingly.

As well, if using a GPS to get there, they recommend directly plugging in the address instead of putting in Tovrea castle because it takes visitors to the wrong side of it,5025 E Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ 85008.

Community Contributors

Added By

Joe Schallan

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, stevson97

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • stevson97

Published

March 3, 2017

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Sources
  • https://tovreacastletours.com/
  • http://www.azpbs.org/arizonastories/seasontwo/tovreacastle.htm
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tovrea_Castle
Tovrea Castle
5025 E Van Buren Street
Phoenix, Arizona
United States
33.450435, -111.973309
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