Stuart Castle

This may be the most bizarre home in Missouri

Stuart Castle is unique. I had the chance to tour the mansion on the bluffs overlooking Eureka several years ago. I quickly realized that there was nothing I could show or say on TV that would do it justice. When I did the story around 2009, the house about 25 miles from downtown St. Louis was listed for $2,000,000. It sold a few years later for only about $400,000.

So why would a mansion near multiple golf courses on a picturesque setting go down so much in price? Maybe the better question is – why did it sit empty for two decades? It’s maybe because a property like this had to have a special owner.

First of all, the specs:

• 7,800 square feet
• 6 acres
• 5 garage spaces
• 6 bedrooms
• 6 baths
• Dungeon
• Secret Passages
• Giant Phallic Symbol

Whoa, hold up. That is certainly not the typical listing information. In fact, the last three items weren’t on the listing! Like I said, this house is like none other in the state of Missouri.

The property has an amazing history. It used to be a hunting camp for George Warren Brown. If that name sounds familiar it’s because that is the same man who founded the Brown Shoe Company in St. Louis when the city was the epicenter of fashion and shoes. His name is on the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. The property sits high on the bluffs overlooking the Meramec River and can be seen from Interstate 44 when the leaves are gone for the winter. It is also just a couple miles away from the old town of Crescent, which is where the pristine country clubs of Pevely Farms, Aberdeen, and Crescent Farms now attract thousands of golfers a year.

A doctor named Wallace Stuart bought the property in the 1960s and had a plan to build a castle for his wife, “the princess.” A project of this magnitude took a mammoth effort. The stone that comprised the mansion and the exotic materials inside all had to be delivered to the property, which wasn’t exactly easy. It took about a decade to complete, but they didn’t stay in the home for long. Dr. Stuart and his princess divorced in 1980 and he moved out. His ex-wife left in the 80s. Stuart moved back in with a second wife, but they too split and he abandoned the property.

The castle sat vacant for several decades and vandals often broke in a damaged the home. It stayed like that until 1996 when another buyer, also a doctor from St. Louis, tried their hand at remodeling the home. This was when I was able to tour the mansion. He bought the castle for a little over $100,000, but sunk more than a million into it. He told me that his family enjoyed the property, especially when kids and guests found out that there were secret passages, the dungeon, and plenty of room to roam. The rooms were opulent with views that were hard to believe. On the third floor, a massive bedroom that looks like something out of a Disney movie soared above the trees with a view for miles. But they too decided to sell.

The next buyer got the bargain of a lifetime. The home was first listed for $2,000,000 but no buyer ever closed the deal. A young couple eventually bought the home for $395,000 in 2012 and made the castle their own. Since then, the piece of private property has been out of the news.

But there has never been a time when I was driving east on I-44 approaching the Meramec River when I didn’t try and spot the castle on the bluff again. I was only there a couple of hours, but it has given me a lifetime of memories.

My story would end there, but there is one thing you are likely still dwelling on. I pointed out that the home had a giant phallic symbol. You couldn’t see it from the front, but if you went under the giant archway around back you could see it high on the wall. I asked the real estate broker why the house had something that graphic, literally etched in stone. He told me that Dr. Stuart was an eccentric guy and he thought that by putting something like that on the side of the home was sure to re-ignite love and passion inside the castle. You now know how the story ended for him, so apparently that piece of lore doesn’t stand the test of time… although the carving does!

But wait, there’s more. While the home was vacant, a security guard was patrolling the property one night when he heard someone on the roof. He shot and killed the intruder and the guard spent time in prison. It’s also believed that Mrs. Brown still haunts the property. As I first wrote, this may be the most bizarre home in Missouri!