American Castle Was Built by Iron, Coal Baron

Even though there are castles in Spain, castles on the Rhine, castles in England, Scotland and Denmark, high in the Colorado Rockies lies a splendid American castle.

In this red and white sandstone mansion crowned with red-roofed towers beneath serrated sandstone cliffs, Teddy Roosevelt once waited for big game to be driven conveniently down a valley toward the veranda.

Thrusting a hand into his shirt front, he expounded: “This scenery bankrupts the English language!”

Redstone Castle was built in the beautiful Crystal River Valley by John Cleveland Osgood, who made his fortune in Colorado coal and iron. He created his 45-room, 27,000-square-foot fantasy at the end of the 19th Century.

Although he owned estates in Denver, London and New York, Cleveholm (the castle’s original name) became his favorite--a manor in the Hudson River style with overtones of King Ludwig, Tudor, Moorish and Nantucket.

Rising like a mirage through the mists, Redstone Castle is a place of peace and plenty.

Beyond vast expanses of lawn by the rushing Crystal River, large blocks of marble from an upriver quarry lie like giant chess pieces tumbled from a board--part of a shipment destined for Washington’s Lincoln Memorial.

Model Company Town

The estate comes with the usual quotient of gatehouses, stables, greenhouses and outbuildings. Nearby is a company town, handsomely designed for the employees of Osgood’s Carbondale coal mines and coke ovens. (He employed 19,000 workers statewide.)

The town was a social experiment. It provided decent family living in an era fraught with dirty and depressing workers’ quarters--an era of powerful cartels, when the rich freely trampled the poor.

When Roosevelt became President, Osgood was influenced by his friend’s desire to see the little man get “a square deal.”

Although he never believed in “keeping the peasants out of the castle,” he did provide his bachelor miners with a large, comfortable hostelry, today the Redstone Inn. The model workers’ village is called Redstone, the great manor house is known as Redstone Castle.

Osgood was a first cousin to President Grover Cleveland and one of the nation’s richest industrialists. The years of his greatest power, the era when he built his mountain castle, were his happiest.

International Shoppers

Osgood and his second wife, Alma Regina, a beautiful member of Swedish royalty, traveled extensively to find perfect fittings and furnishings for their castle 37 miles northwest of Aspen.

In the manner of William Randolph Hearst, they filled room after room with carloads of Gustav Stickley chairs, English silver services, Tiffany lighting, Oriental carpets, carved cherrywood sideboards and inlaid Moorish thrones.

Backdrops for these treasures were gold-embossed leather ceilings, Belgian wall coverings, French silks and damasks.

Once everything was in place, the Osgoods played host to the world. The fact that the castle was 2,000 miles from New York, in a valley far from any metropolis, did not deter visitors. A Denver and Rio Grande Railroad trunk line ran through Glenwood Springs, 12 miles away. And George Pullman’s elaborate sleeping cars with gold-embossed leather walls and hand-painted murals made train travel luxurious.

John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan came to the castle to escape Wall Street. Teddy Roosevelt gleefully rode the valley’s 19,000 wooded acres. The King of Belgium relished this idyllic refuge from Europe’s marble palaces.

Bountiful Hostess

Guests basked in the waters of nearby natural hot sulfur springs, rode the manor’s five-gaited horses, declared the food Lucullan and the service nonpareil.

With an enormous household staff and all the activities of the employee town, the castle was a beehive of activity. The Osgoods had no children, so Alma, known to employees as “Lady Bountiful,” played the role of gracious grande dame.

Beneath the castle Christmas tree were the dolls and sleds every village child dreamed of. Sick or needy families could expect frequent visits and gifts from Lady Bountiful.

The only person she dismayed was the castle engineer--by paying unannounced visits to his hydroelectric plant and conducting white-glove inspections of pipes, hoses and fittings.

Everyone in Redstone, however, loved having the Osgoods in residence. When they were here the power was turned on--in the town as well as the castle.

Dedicated Owners

Owned today by Ken and Rose Marie Johnson, the castle is almost exactly as Osgood built it.

Johnson, a former newspaperman, is a publishing consultant who says: “My primary occupation is grappling with 89-year-old fire hydrants, bathtub plumbing that’s been in place nearly a century and the sensitive wiring of all those touchy Tiffany lamps.”

Although the castle has had long periods of lying empty, it has never undergone the rigors of redecorating. Guests sleep in original canopied beds, dine in high-backed leather and brass-fitted chairs. Nothing is roped off.

“This is a castle for all seasons and all people,” Rhodie (Rose Marie) Johnson says.

Redstone Castle is the scene of gala weddings and parties. Luncheons, teas, cocktails and castle tours are arranged for groups. Musical, political and convention groups take it over most weekends. Castle “Mystery Nights” are a favorite feature.

Working House Parties

The ambiance is house-party weekend. The Johnsons’ friends come from Denver and Colorado Springs to tinker with plumbing and savor the romance of castle life.

The big kitchen is filled with Rhodie’s friends and manager Cyd Lange’s friends--polishing silver and crystal, peeling vegetables. Pasta, the cocker spaniel, greets guests at the baronial front door.

Redstone Castle has become a bed-and-breakfast inn Monday through Thursday. So everyone can share the magic: the great hall, scene of chamber music soirees and gala holiday celebrations, with acoustics said by musicians to be the finest between St. Louis and San Francisco.

The sumptuous mahogany, ruby velvet and Tiffany-silvered dining room was voted by visitors the most exquisite space in the castle. There’s the library with its gold tooled leather and Moorish accents, and the light-flooded music and sun rooms. The downstairs game room is fitted with baccarat, Vingt et Un and Brunswick pool tables.

Towering Suites

Towers and turrets hold guest suites fitted with Italian marble fireplaces and Mauve Decade baths. There are secret passageways, cubbyholes and hidden closets.

From a lace-curtained window in her grand bedroom suite, Lady Bountiful could look down into the Great Hall to be sure that the guests were prepared for her entrance--and that no other woman was wearing the same gown.

Visitors delight in the German courtyard clock, whose gold hands were said to have stopped on Osgood’s death in 1926, now repaired and running once again. They relish the gleaming silver bell across from the clock, once used to herald the arrival of guests in carriages.

They are awed by massive trophy heads, inlaid music boxes, fine bronze and marble sculpture, diamond-dust mirrors, Venetian crystal, Wedgwood china and other treasures from an opulent era.

Such a palatial life style was not often encountered in early Colorado high country. But what better place. Alpenglow reflects from snowcapped peaks so that “its splendor falls on castle walls.” And, like J. P. Morgan, you feel “the air is so salubrious a man could rest forever from his labors.”

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The luxurious tower suite has two rooms and a private antique (fully operable) bath. Luxurious and secluded, the rate is $100 a night.

Main wing rooms are sumptuously furnished with a washbowl and fireplace--five rooms share two antique baths from $75 a night.

South wing rooms, reached via the kitchen, are former servants’ quarters. Eight very small but charming rooms share three antique baths at $50 a night.

All accommodations include continental breakfast in the main dining room.

There are organized tours every Wednesday and other weekdays when space is available. The castle may be rented for private parties, luncheons, overnights.

Horseback riding, hiking and trout fishing are at your front door, historic quarries at Marble, nine miles upstream.

To reach Redstone from Denver, drive 170 miles on I-70 to Glenwood Springs, turn south onto Colorado 82 then Colorado 133 and go 10 miles to Carbondale. Redstone is 18 miles south along Colorado 133 up the Crystal River Valley from Carbondale.

For bookings or overnight reservations, call manager Cyd Lange at (303) 963-3463, or write to 58 Redstone Blvd., Redstone, Colo. 81623. For tour information, call the Redstone Country Store, (303) 963-3408.