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Fake Castles (page 6)

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Garage Sale Store
Culver, IN
 Castle Storage
Dyer, IN
The Garage Sale Store building previously housed Castle Storage. It now houses Major Mike's, a military surplus and camping supplies store. [map]

Castle Storage appears to be a modern building. The knights in the turrets were mass-produced. There are many of these statues around the country. [map]

Candy Castle
Santa Claus, IN
Elf's Workshop
Santa Claus, IN
The Candy Castle and Elf's Workshop were originally part of "Santa Claus Town" which was opened in 1935. Santa Claus Town is believed to have been the first themed attraction in the country. The Candy Castle was sponsored by the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago. It was the first building constructed in Santa Claus Town. Santa's Workshop and a Toy Village were constructed in 1936. Other buildings and structures soon followed. Santa Claus Town closed in the 1970s. The buildings remained vacant and deteriorating until 2005 when restoration of the Candy Castle began. It reopened in 2006 as a museum and candy store. There are plans to restore a couple of the other remaining buildings. The Elf's Workshop building was still abandoned in 2018. For more, see this website. [map]

Shoe Castle
Decatur, IN
I believe this building was originally the Shoe Castle, a shoe store. After that, it was used as a fast-food restaurant. It later housed a MediaCom office. The building now houses the Discount Smoke Shop. Does anyone know more about it? [map]

Castle Car Wash [gone]
Princeton, IN
This Castle Car Wash was built in 1997. These photos are from 2010. The business was closed in 2011. In 2012, the building was still vacant. By 2015, the tower and the castle-features on the building were gone. It was reduced to a vacant box.

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

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