Squire's Castle is a shell of a building located in the North Chagrin Reservation of the

Cleveland Metroparks Cleveland Metroparks is an extensive system of nature preserves in Greater Cleveland, Ohio. Eighteen reservations, which largely encircle the city of Cleveland, follow along the shore of Lake Erie and the rivers and creeks that flow through the ...

Willoughby Hills, Ohio Willoughby Hills is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,485 at the 2010 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area. Geography Willoughby Hills is located at (41.588151, - ...

Construction of the building

Feargus B. Squire Feargus O'Conner Bowden Squire (February 12, 1850 – July 21, 1932), often referred to as F. B. Squire, was an executive with the Standard Oil Company and former mayor of Wickliffe, Ohio. He is well known in the petroleum industry for introducing ...

was an executive with the

Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

and former mayor of

Wickliffe, Ohio Wickliffe is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,750 at the 2010 census. A post office called Wickliffe has been in operation since 1843. The city was named after Charles A. Wickliffe, 11th United States Postmaster ...

. Squire's earliest known residence was at 1729 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. In 1905, Squire moved to 7809 Euclid Avenue. Squire completed work in 1902 on Cobblestone Garth, a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

mansion located in

. The Squires moved from their Euclid Avenue home into Cobblestone Garth in 1910. About 1890, Squire purchased of forest land near what is now

, east of Cleveland. He called it River Farm Estate, and planned to turn it into an English country estate complete with

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...

. About 1895, Squire began construction on a gatekeeper's house in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style. The structure, which was exceedingly rustic (lacking electricity, natural gas, running water, or sewer) was completed about 1897. The outer walls are of locally-quarried Euclid bluestone, a form of bluish-colored

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

found throughout the greater Cleveland area. The structure originally had a ground floor, two upper floors, and a basement. Its windows were of leaded glass.

Use of the structure

Squire abandoned plans for a manor house after encountering difficulty obtaining building materials and labor. Squire and his daughter used the gatekeeper's house as an occasional weekend country home (even spending most of the summer of 1903 there). But Squire's wife disliked the house, and Squire rarely visited it after 1908. He sold the estate and gatekeeper's house to developers in 1922. After the developers went bankrupt, the estate was seized by a local bank. The Cleveland Park Board (precursor to Cleveland Metroparks) purchased most of the land from the bank in 1925. The park board began calling the structure "Squire's Castle". Cleveland Metroparks removed the upper floors and filled in the basement. Squire's Castle was heavily vandalized over the years, with vandals removing the leaded glass windows and stripping the interior of almost all architectural and decorative details. The structure was somewhat restored in 1995.

Urban myth

On December 26, 1876, Squire married Louisa Christiana Braymaier of Cleveland. She died on October 29, 1927, at Cobblestone Garth in Wickliffe. A myth about the structure grew up over the years. The details varied, but the essential story was that Louisa Squire woke one night during a storm and went downstairs to investigate. Startled by lightning (which illuminated the stuffed heads of animals in the structure's trophy room), she fell down the stairs and broke her neck. According to this legend, her ghost may be seen floating through Squire's Castle. The myth is false, as Louisa Squire did not die in the building.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Squire's Castle
at Cleveland Metroparks web page. {{coord, 41, 34, 48, N, 81, 25, 9, W, type:landmark_region:US-OH, display=title Houses in Lake County, Ohio Ruins in the United States Tourist attractions in Lake County, Ohio