Tovrea Castle

Tovrea Castle

The Tovrea Castle looks like a tiered wedding cake and often is seen from planes preparing to land in Phoenix . It was built on a hill by Italian immigrant Alessio Carraro between 1928 and 1930 as part of a planned Carraro Heights resort development. He also planted extensive cactus gardens around the castle.

Neighbors, however, began building sheep and cattle pens to supply a packing plant owned by the Tovrea family to the west of Carraro’s castle, and Carraro gave up on his dream and sold his castle and gardens to Della Tovrea, the family’s matriarch, in 1931. Tovrea lived in the castle until her death in 1969.

The castle deteriorated until 1993, when the city bought it with plans to renovate the building, rebuild the cactus garden, and open it to public tours as a historic landmark. Those plans have been delayed by the economic downturn.

Address: 5041 E. Van Buren St . Phoenix , AZ. 85008

Website:  http://phoenix.gov/PARKS/tovrea.html