Hoquiam's Castle

Hoquiam's Castle is a three-story mansion with a wood-frame structure supported by hand-fitted sandstone from the Tenino quarry. The building contains roughly twenty rooms, including a ballroom on the upper floor with a bandstand and multiple pocket doors throughout.

Robert F. Lytle built this mansion in 1897 and gave it to his niece Theadosia Bale in 1900 as a wedding gift. The structure embodies the architectural style and prosperity of the timber industry era on the Pacific coast.

The mansion earned recognition from the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as an important example of Richardsonian Romanesque design in Washington. The building stands as a marker of the wealth that the timber industry brought to the region during that era.

The mansion was one of the first buildings in Hoquiam to feature electric lighting when it was completed, showing how advanced the technology was at that time. Visitors should allow time to examine the details, as the rooms contain many original features and interesting architectural elements.

A 600-piece crystal chandelier hangs in the main salon and fills the space with light. The second-floor bathroom still contains an original Thomas Crapper commode, a rare example of bathroom history.

Location: Hoquiam

Inception: 1897

Architectural style: Richardsonian Romanesque

Address: 515 Chenault Avenue

GPS coordinates: 46.98444,-123.88778

Latest update: December 13, 2025 11:46