Rubel Castle

The inspiration

As a boy, Michael Rubel salvaged scrap from the municipal yard and built makeshift forts with other kids in Glendora¹ . When the orange groves of Albourne Rancho gave way to suburban housing, the old packing house and reservoir were left behind, and in 1959, at nineteen, he bought the last remnant and set out to turn his childhood dream into a real castle^1,2 . Over twenty-six years the site grew tower by tower, built from river rock, cement, bottles, and salvaged fragments of the town's disappearing agricultural past¹ .

What to order

• The Tin Palace: the former citrus packing house, once part of the Rubel family's home^1,3
• The clock tower and 75-foot stone towers: the signature structures raised from river rock and salvaged material^1,3
• The Santa Fe caboose, windmill, blacksmith shop, and printing press: a whole little world that grew up around the castle^1,3

What people are saying

Writers at Secret Los Angeles call it a wonderfully eccentric landmark of pure DIY architecture, with towers, tunnels, and repurposed objects³ . Atlas Obscura describes it as the most unique castle in Southern California, constructed entirely from repurposed materials⁴ .