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4 Unbelievable Facts About the Copenhaver Castle in Arizona

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Copenhaver Castle is a massive mansion located in Phoenix, Arizona. It stands on the side of a cliff on Camelback Mountain. Check out these 4 unbelievable facts about this amazing desert castle.

1) Who Built the Copenhaver Castle in Arizona?

Flickr User Colin Firth
Flickr User Colin Firth

As strange as it sounds, a dentist built the Copenhaver Castle! Clearly, Dr. Mort Copenhaver wasn’t your average run-of-the-mill dentist, though. Ever since seeing a castle in a movie as a child, he became fascinated with the idea of living in one himself.  

Dr. Copenhaver was clearly not the type to let his dreams just be dreams. So he set out to teach himself how to stone cut. Building the castle was a huge endeavor – what ended up being a more than a ten-year project – but by the end of the 1970s, his castle was completed.

Located on 5050 E. Red Rock Road, in Phoenix, Arizona, the castle occupies the south side of Camelback Mountain. Copenhaver Castle is known for being the highest and most impregnable home in Phoenix.

2) Did We Mention That the Dentist Built This Castle by hand?

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14151-presscdn-0-43.pagely.netdna-cdn.com

For whatever reason — sheer stubbornness, lack of funds, who can speculate? — Dr. Copenhaver chose not to use any machinery when he built his famous castle. He purchased a separate parcel of land on Camelback Mountain to use as a source for the stones he needed to build his castle.

He blasted rock free from the nearly vertical chunk of the cliffside, and since he wasn’t using any machinery, he had to cut each block down until they were small enough that he could carry them. This must have been quite a tedious process because once he had moved them to the location where he was building the castle, he simply cemented the rocks back together again.

Dr. Copenhaver used around 50,000 bags of cement! Dr. Copenhaver had very little assistance with his gargantuan project. He traded dental services for construction work, rather than paying his few helpers. He also made donations to missions in Mexico after some Hispanic missionaries helped him out. Dr. Copenhaver dedicated so much of his time to building that he had lost a wife and two girlfriends by the time it was finished.

3) Dr. Copenhaver Built the Castle to Resemble Moorish Architecture

steelcactus.com
steelcactus.com

Following the traditions of 8th century Europe, Copenhaver built his castle high on a mountain, so it would be easy to defend from attacks. Not only this, but he also had a phenomenal viewpoint. The structure is eight levels high, but even more impressive are the walls, cut from granite and an incredible eighteen inches thick. All eight levels total up to around 7,000 square feet.

The twenty rooms include five bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms, a servants quarters, a billiards room, and a dungeon with a bar. At least half of the rooms have balconies, there are three garages, and you’ll even find a helicopter pad on the roof.

To complete the castle look, there are crenelated towers and walls, and the structure is surrounded by a moat and access is granted via a drawbridge. One of the coolest rooms in the house is arguably the living room, which features a seventeen-foot tall waterfall above the fireplace, a sauna, and a twenty-person whirlpool spa. Above the spa, a retractable roof makes it easy to enjoy some sunshine during the day, or marvel at the stars at night. Oh, and did we mention there are secret passages throughout the castle?!

4) You’ll Probably Hear the Castle Called Camelback Castle These Days

c2.staticflickr.com
c2.staticflickr.com

Even today, the structure stands gracefully on the side of the mountain. Having been built from local materials, it is perfectly in harmony with its environment. Historians suspect that the castle will endure time well, and will stand for many, many more years.

Unfortunately, Dr. Copenhaver was forced to sell the product of his hard work. In 1985, he set the selling price for the castle at seven million dollars. Sadly, he refused an offer for five and a half million dollars, only to ultimately lower the price of the castle to two and a half million dollars by 1987. Since he had used the castle as collateral for loans and he was unable to pay on them or sell the castle. Chase Bank of Arizona eventually had to foreclose on the building. They sold it for the unbelievable price of $985,000 to Jerry Mitchell who also knew Dr. Copenhaver well and had even attended parties at the castle. Mitchell reportedly redecorated the castle to fit a western cowboy and Native American theme.

 

Many people hope that the castle will be opened for tours, but it is unclear what the new owner’s plans are for this beautiful, timeless castle.

Cheyenne Reed was born and raised in Ohio. She recently relocated to rural Wyoming to try out working at an exclusive guest ranch. She graduated from Kent State University with an English degree, and most enjoys writing about travel. If she has free time, you may run into her anywhere, because she is always itching to explore new places. Her personal motto is, "Any day can be an adventure if you make it one!"

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