Hoquiam Castle interior — 6/20/1981 — #67028_1
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Photograph Copyright Anderson & Middleton Company
United States — Washington (State) — Hoquiam
Watson, Bob
Hoquiam's Castle was built between 1897 and 1900 to be the home of lumber baron Robert Lytle. Located at 515 Chenault Avenue, this imposing 10,000 square foot mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as is Joseph Lytle's nearby house at 509 Chenault Ave.
Brothers Robert And Joseph Lytle arrived in Hoquiam in 1890 and opened a grocery store. A few years later, they accepted an oxen logging enterprise in payment of a grocery bill. They combined their two interests as the Lytle Logging & Mercantile Co. Low timber prices and a lumber boom were among the favorable conditions that assisted the Lytle brothers as they established the Hoquiam Lumber & Shingle Co. and became important figures in the Grays Harbor timber industry. Although Rober Lytle left Hoquiam's Castle in 1911 to live in Portland, Oregon, he continued to expand his business activities in the region. He built the Panama-Eastern Lumber Co. sawmill in East Hoquiam and was involved in establishing an all-electric shingle mill and a public log dam, both part of the Woodlawn Mill & Boom Co.
When the Robert Lytle family moved to Portland, they gave Hoquiam's Castle as a wedding gift to niece Theadosia Bale who lived in the house until her death in the late 1950s. The house was offered for sale for $14,000 while the contents were auctioned off.
For years, the Castle remained vacant except for the visits of neighboring children who would sneak in to roller skate. The Watson family bought the mansion in 1968, undertook the restoration of the house, and collected many period objects to replace the original furnishings. They established tours of the Castle, a tradition that was continued by the next owner Jim Spencer who bought the house in 1992.
In 1999, the house was converted to a bed & breakfast hostelry by David and Linda Carpenter who restored and remodeled it for this purpose. Donna Grow bought the Castle and lives there (2008), operating the bed & breakfast with her daughters Kathy Herr and Pat Casteel.
