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Fake Castles (page 7)

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Mad Jack's Fresh Fish
Kansas City, KS
Mad Jack's Fresh Fish has occupied this building since 1984. This building looks older than that. I'm told that this was built as a Nu-Way Sandwich Shop but I haven't found evidence of that. [map]

Kentucky:
Taylor Distillery (Frankfort) [map]
Martin Castle (now Kentucky Castle) (Versailles) [map]

Children's Castle
Kenner, LA
 Snow Castle [gone]
Lacombe, LA
The Children's Castle featured live performances including music, magic, puppetry, storytelling, dance, and opera when this photo was take in 2010. By 2014, the building was housing the Castle Theatre. I believe the building has been vacant since 2019. [map]

The Snow Castle building was originally used as a fireworks stand many years ago. The columns in front look like they might have been rockets. The ice cream stand opened around 2009. by 2013, the building had been repainted and the faux stone detail was gone. The building appeared to be vacant in 2020. It was gone by 2022.

Irish Bayou Castle
Slidell, LA

2010:
2019:
The Irish Bayou Castle, aka the Fisherman's Castle, was built by Simon Hubert Villemarrette in 1981. According to one source, he planned on using the place as a tourist attraction for the 1984 Worlds Fair but that never happened. Another source says that Villemarrette was building the castle as a home for himself and died before it was finished. The castle was vacant for many years. It survived Hurricane Katrina with only minor damage. The castle was restored from 2009-2016. The building will be used for private events, photo shoots, and possibly as a bed and breakfast. In 2022, one of the turrets was damaged, most likely from a hurricane. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

More Louisiana:
Covington

Castle Restaurant
Leicester, MA
The Castle Restaurant opened in 1950. The building itself was constructed in 1937, modeled after the Morro Castle in Havana, Cuba. [map]

More Massachusetts:
Searles & Tenney Castles (Methuen)

Maryland:
Conner Brothers Aqualand's Storyville U.S.A. (Newburg)

Marden's Discount [gone]
Portland, ME
Marc's Deep-er Discount [gone]
Akron, OH
Marden's Discount sold clothing, furniture, and other household items. The chain had about a dozen locations but this was the only castle-styled building. This building originally housed a Child World, a now defunct toy store chain which was established in Quincy, MA in 1962. This building was located in the Pine Tree Shopping Center, the oldest shopping center in Maine. This photo is from around 2001. In 2007, the castle features of this building were removed. Marden's has since closed. For more, see this website.

The Marc's Deep-er Discount building was built in 1983 as a Child World toy store in the Rolling Acres mall. The store closed soon after this photo was taken in 1992. Marc's took over the building but then closed in 2004. The mall was built in 1975 and has been vacant since 2008. This building has either been demolished or significantly altered. For more, see this website.

The Child World building in Lancaster, PA survives and still has the original turrets. There are a few other remodeled buildings in Aurora, IL, Waukegan, IL, and Sandusky, OH.

Children's Palace buildings had the same design. Some other surviving buildings can be found in St. Louis, MO, Englewood, CO, Metairie, LA, Knoxville, TN, Memphis, TN, Norfolk, VA, and Barboursville, WV,

For more about these chains, see this website.

King's Table Restaurant & Roller Castle [gone]
Greenville, MI
According to one source, the Roller Castle & King's Table Restaurant building was constructed in the 1920s as a car showroom for Tower Automotive. Another source says the building was originally an armory. A third source says it was built by R.J. Tower in the late 1920s as the Merchant Palace. In 1936, the building was used for 4-H exhibits. In the 1970s, the building was used for storage. In 1981, the building was remodeled and opened as J.R. Roller Castle, a roller rink. The story book murals were painted at that time. After an addition in 1983, the building was also used as King's Table Restaurant, a banquet hall. There was an extensive fire in 2008. These photos are from 2011. Later that year, the building was demolished.

Wild Rover Public House
and Bistro
Marquette, MI
 Water Tower
Brainerd, MN
 Minnesota Museum of Mining
Chisholm, MN
The Wild Rover Public House and Bistro opened in 2009. The building previously housed Jeffrey's Cafe. Does anyone know what was here originally? By 2023, this building was housing the WZMQ television station. [map]

This concrete, castle style Water Tower was built in 1918. This structure is no longer functional, having been replaced with another water tower in 1960. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [map]

The Minnesota Museum of Mining castle style building was built in 1933. The design was based on the Army Corps of Engineers logo. The building was originally used as a firing range.

More Michigan:
Highlands Castle (Canadian Lakes)
Grand Castle (Grand Rapids)
Jorma Lankinen Castle House (Marquette) [map]
Curwood Castle (Owosso) [map]

More Minnesota:
Hans Skalle's Camelot Restaurant (Bloomington) [map]
National Guard (Madison)

Castles (page 1) Castles (page 2) Castles (page 3) Castles (page 4) Castles (page 5)
Castles (page 6) Castles (page 8) Castles (page 9) Castles (page 10) Castles (page 11)

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