Touring Tovrea

A few weeks ago, Chris and I had the unique opportunity to tour one of Phoenix's iconic landmarks, Tovrea Castle.

Pronounced Toev-ree, the Castle has been around since the 1920s, but it only opened for tours about ten years ago. Tours don't run during the summer, and since only a small number of people can go on each tour to preserve the Castle, tickets are hard to come by. We were lucky enough to score some for an April date back in September 2019 when they went on sale (it was a lottery system, and they sold out in 20 minutes!), but then the world became horrifying, and our April tour was rescheduled for early October.

After a full year of waiting, it was time to visit!

You start your tour at the Visitor's Center right off of Van Buren Street, not too far away from Sky Harbor Airport; technically, the Castle is "Tovrea Castle at Carraro Heights," and the total land area encompasses around 30 acres.

We were early for our tour
(you're shocked, I know),

so here's some shots from around the Visitor's Center.

Back in the 1920's, the Warner family, who owned the property at the time (the same Warners that gave their name to Warner Road, down in the south end of the valley), sold all of it Alessio Carraro, an Italian immigrant who wanted to turn the land into a luxury subdivision known as Carraro Heights. The Castle was to be the crown jewel of the subdivision, a boutique hotel designed to lure in guests who would then want to build a fancy home in the nearby desert and stay for a while.

Apparently, the late 1920s/early 1930s weren't great for selling luxury houses (who knew?), and Alessio found himself looking at an expensive piece of land he couldn't afford. Just a few years after he bought the land and built the Castle, Alessio sold it and the surrounding 30 acres to the Tovrea family, who lived there until their deaths in 1931 and 1969, respectively.

I asked our tour guide how much Alessio sold the

5,000 square foot Castle AND the surrounding 30 acres for -

he said it came to about $300,000 in TODAY'S money.

Times were hard, yo.

Right now, each tour lasts about an hour and accommodates 12 visitors and two tour guides. Six people hop into a golf car with a tour guide, and you zoom around the land and up to the Castle while an audio tour narrates the history of the site and some of its notable features.

One of those features is the pyramid built to

commemorate several generations of Tovrea family members.

They were ranchers, so their brands appear

on the sides of the pyramid.
I always wondered what this was!

After a very short ride, you make it to the Castle itself; our group of six headed to the basement first, while the other group set off for the main floor. The Castle is four floors high (including the basement), and right now, you can't visit the top two floors, as they haven't been fully restored. Maybe sometime in the future!

Looking west toward the Central Ave skyline

The basement is where the Tovrea family lived during their time in the Castle; while there was an early attempt at air conditioning installed when the Castle was built in the late 1920s, it was no match for the Phoenix summers, and the basement was the coolest area of the building. Although the basement wasn't where guests were intended to gather during its brief stint as a hotel, Alessio Carraro didn't skimp on decoration, and it's pretty incredible to see.

The technique used on the ceiling is called pulled plaster,

and only a few artisans around the world know how to do this.

It's really neat!

Lots of cool art deco sconces and lights.

Almost all are reproductions, since the Castle was completely renovated

back in the 1990s-2000s to make it suitable for tours.

However, these are exact replicas of what was there originally.

The artists creating the ceiling told Alessio

it reminded them of birds' nests.

He told them to add a few eggs in different "nests,"

and they did - here's one!

Now, the basement is used as a mini-museum of sorts; there are exhibits and a short video on the Castle, families, and property. It also houses some other neat features, including a gigantic vault, bought from a downtown bank that was being renovated at the time, and several tunnels which lead to the exterior of the property.

Heading down one of the tunnels

The bank vault

I wonder if the wine is any good?

Eventually, the other group was done upstairs, so we headed out of the basement and emerged back into the sunlight.

Looking northeast -

that's Camelback Mountain on the left

and Papago just behind Chris

The main floor of the Castle served as the hotel's reception area; the kitchen was located there as well. The maple flooring in these areas is still original, so we put on some booties to make sure we didn't scuff anything up.

Just like in the basement, the sconces and wall decor

were pretty darn neat on the main floor.

Neat stencil work around the walls and ceilings.

The main floor featured the guest lounge area, which included an impressive - and completely original - fireplace and mantle. The same artisans that decorated the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix created the fireplace for Tovrea Castle, and it's pretty cool.

Close-up of the plaster textures on the fireplace.

You know, if you're into that sort of thing.

After finishing up on the ground floor, it was back onto the golf carts for all of us, but not before grabbing a few quick shots outside on the front steps:

Once we were back on the carts, another audio recording fired up, and we toured through the rest of the grounds; we saw several outbuildings on the property, including the aviary where the hotel kept the 100 peacocks that roamed the grounds, the caretaker's cabin, and the machine shop and pump room. Most of these structures haven't been restored yet, so you just drive by them; Tovrea is trying to raise money to redo them, so feel free to chip in!

For my part, I mainly just sat there, taking picture after picture of the Castle as it slowly dwindled in size while our golf cart pulled further away.