Stuart Castle

Missouri Mansions Series:

This may be the most bizarre home in Missouri

I had the chance to tour Stuart Castle 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.

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.

Property History

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 footwear.

The mansion sits high on the bluffs overlooking the Meramec River. In fact, it can be seen from Interstate 44 when the trees have lost their leaves for the winter. It is also just a couple miles away from the old town of Crescent. That is where the 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. He 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 finish, but the couple didn’t live in the home for long. The Stuarts divorced in 1980 and he moved out. His ex-wife left the home a few years later. Dr. 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 with views for miles. The kids loved the secret passages and the dungeon, and had plenty of room to roam. The third floor even had a massive bedroom that looks like something out of a Disney movie. But the family also 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.

Just the Beginning

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. The guard even spent time in prison over that shooting.

It’s also believed that Mrs. Brown still haunts the property. As I first wrote, this may be the most bizarre home in Missouri!