America doesn’t have royalty—unless you count Taylor Swift or Beyoncé as queens of music—but that doesn’t stop castles from popping up all over the country.
Whether it’s a Harry Potter- inspired castle that replicates Hogwarts outside of Nashville, a fairy tale castle in Las Vegas that mimics a 17th-century Scottish castle, or a waterfront dream home in Fort Worth, Texas, built to honor an ancestral property, palatial turreted properties are having a moment.
The price tags for these castles require a royal-size budget—most start close to $5 million and some go up to $35 million. Still, there’s something about those turrets and fortresslike residences that tempt buyers like the apple lured Snow White.
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“I always wanted a castle, and I have everything else, so why not buy one,” says Hugh Cassar, 89, founder of Kretek International, a cigar- and tobacco-import company. “I always want something no one else has.”
Cassar purchased Chateau Plaisance in Lake Sherwood Country Club, which is part of the Westlake Village area in Thousand Oaks, California, from his friends, the original owners, in 2022.
“I was born in Malta and have traveled everywhere, and every time I went to a castle I would think ‘I would love to have something like this,’ ” he says.
While castles in other parts of the world are often associated with royalty or are part of a multigenerational family legacy, owners of castles in the U.S. are more likely to be making a statement about their individuality. Like Cassar, they want something unique that will serve as a landmark for their family members, friends, and their community.
“The Cassars are known as the biggest donors to a variety of causes in the Conejo Valley,” says Sher Toor, a real estate agent with Compass in Westlake Village, California. “This castle has been the setting for fundraisers and board meetings for all kinds of organizations and causes related to alleviating poverty, supporting transitional housing, and other local and national causes.”
Castles can be traditional or modern, but consistent elements include distinctive architectural details, especially a turret or two.
OLD WORLD CHARM IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Ed and Lynn Hogan, founders of Pleasant Holidays travel company, were inspired by their love of European architecture, particularly in France’s Loire Valley, to build their own castle in Southern California. Named Chateau Plaisance (the French translation of “Pleasant Castle”), the castle sits on 3 acres across five lots within the gated community of Sherwood Country Club. More than 15,000 acres of protected green space surround the castle grounds, which have views of a golf course and the Santa Monica Mountains. The 14,000-square-foot castle is listed for $34.9 million.
“My wife and I were friends with the Hogans, so when they were ready to sell it, we took advantage,” Cassar says. “It’s three levels of French beauty, and it would be impossible to build something like this now.”
Not only would the materials be difficult to acquire from overseas, but it would also be nearly impossible to find the artisans to build it, Cassar says.
“This isn’t a fairy-tale-inspired place. The Hogans carefully researched French architecture when they built this,” he says.
The grounds include cobblestone walkways, hand-carved statuary, thousands of rose bushes, a reflecting pool with bronze horses, an infinity pool, and a gazebo overlooking a koi pond. The property also has a guest house, a carriage house, and a pool house.
Inside, the six-bedroom, 11-bathroom house features a rotunda entrance with a Baccarat crystal chandelier, hand-painted murals, and a marble staircase.
“The grand salon and ballroom have 22-foot-high ceilings with hand-painted murals,” Toor says. “The original owners flew artists to California and lodged them for six months to paint the murals.”
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Chateau Plaisance also has a “Hall of Mirrors,” reminiscent of Versailles, that leads to the dining room, and a hidden door in the library that leads to a space with a full bar.
“It’s like a speakeasy, but it also serves as a security room,” Toor says.
The property, which is fully enclosed with two guarded gates, sits within the highly secure Sherwood Country Club.
“I’ve had Netflix and other film people ask to use the property for various projects, but I didn’t want them moving things around, so I said no,” Cassar says.
Cassar says that given the timeless materials used to build his castle, maintenance isn’t a big issue. Still, landscapers and housekeepers are needed to help any property of this size meet royal standards.
A CASTLE IN WHISPERING FARMS
When Billye Battle and her husband saw the former model home for the Whispering Farms community in Prosper, Texas, they felt transported to France.
“The curb appeal of this castle was amazing,” Battle says. “My husband knew immediately that this was the right place for us to raise our family. There’s just a unique personality to this house.”
The Battles, who purchased the castle in 2010, have four children aged 12 to 21.
“We never named the castle because with four kids we have a hard enough time remembering their names,” Battle joked.
Built in 2006, the five-bedroom, 10-bathroom house sits on nearly 2.3 acres. It’s listed for sale with Victoria DeLaCruz of Coldwell Banker Realty at $4.99 million.
“All our kids’ friends call this ‘the castle’ because of all the vaulted ceilings and the points and peaks,” Battle says. “The whole house has high ceilings, but to be practical we added a floor inside one of the turrets for an exercise room.”
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The house includes multiple turrets and numerous fireplaces. Battle added a resort-style pool to the property, and wrought-iron doors throughout the house in a nod to the castle-like exterior.
While Battle says film and television crews have asked to film their home, they never accept the offer in order to maintain their privacy.
“Sometimes people just stop by and ask if they can see it,” she says. “We’ve seen the exterior in ads sometimes, too, even by contractors we don’t know.”
But for the Battles and their community, the house serves as the neighborhood magnet for kids and their activities.
“We’re always nominated as the family to host team parties, including our daughter’s cheer team,” Battle says. “It’s a great house for entertaining since you can easily move inside and outside.”
The whole house feels like an escape from the Texas landscape into a European vacation, she says. A favorite feature is an elevated breezeway that connects the main house with two guest suites, Battle says, but her husband loves the man cave above the garage, which is also private. They also appreciate the secure room to protect them from storms.
Battle says they are careful to take care of the house and all its details, but she believes that would be true of any house, regardless of whether it resembles a castle.
ALL ‘SHOOK’ UP
While it might be tempting to think of Elvis at Shook Castle, it’s actually named for John Shook, the original owner and developer of the Bear’s Den gated community where it’s located, about five minutes from Sedalia, Colorado, and about 30 miles south of Denver.
“John Shook designed the exterior of the castle, and his wife Emily Shook designed the interior,” says Felicia Jenkins of LIV Sotheby’s International Realty, co-lister of the castle with her mother Joyce Paloma. “They drew inspiration from a number of different places they traveled, so Emily created a theme for each level: French Chateau for the lower level, Mexico for the main level, and West Africa for the upper level.”
Exceptional materials and craftsmanship are found throughout the castle, which has more than 9,000 square feet.
“It’s not just about the three turrets, it’s truly a castle built of stone,” Jenkins says. “It took more than two years to build it with imported red granite from Oklahoma inside and out. The stone keeps the house warm in winter and cool in summer.”
Completed in 2012, Shook Castle sits on nearly 16 acres. The five-bedroom, eight-bathroom house, which the Shooks sold to the current owners in 2020, is listed for $5.9 million. A full-time caretaker who was hired by the builder continues to maintain the property, according to Jenkins.
“Even though the castle is big and seems massive from the outside, it feels very warm, inviting, and homey inside,” she says. “There are sweet touches, like iron heart-shaped doorknobs and chandeliers made of spoons in the kitchen.”
Shook Castle has geothermal heat, a partially heated cobblestone driveway to melt snow, a four-car garage, and a tractor garage. The grounds include a greenhouse, a pond with a solar pump, and three patios with fire pits. Inside, every room on the main level has an exterior entrance and every bedroom has an en suite bathroom, Jenkins says.
“One turret is above the front door and foyer, another one is over the round breakfast nook in the kitchen, and the other one is right over the tub in the primary bathroom,” Jenkins says. “The Shooks paid attention to every detail when they designed this house. There’s even a safe room upstairs that looks like it’s a regular closet.”
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The formal dining room features a barrel-vaulted brick ceiling, and the counters on the kitchen island and the lower level bar are made from railroad-car floors. There are a few modern touches, too, such as the stamped concrete floor on the lower level and a floor plan designed for indoor-outdoor living, Jenkins says.
“There are seven fireplaces including the outdoor fireplace and a fire pit, plus you can keep all the doors open for entertaining inside and outside,” she says. “Upstairs, there’s a flex space that can be used as an office, an art studio, or a guest suite, that has a door to a balcony at the front of the house.”
For authenticity, Shook Castle even has crenelation along some of the roof lines that matches the spaces of olden days for knights with bows and arrows to protect the inhabitants. While modern castle owners enjoy the elegance and craftsmanship of their homes, rather than filling them with knights and ladies-in-waiting, they warm them with friends, family, and community.
This article first appeared in the winter 2026 issue of Mansion Global Experience Luxury.