Redstone Castle

Redstone Castle, also known as Cleveholm Castle, is a large timber-frame mansion located just outside Redstone, Colorado. It was built in 1902 to serve as the home of John C. Osgood, founder of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. He also built the town of Redstone as a planned community, intended to be much more liveable than other mining towns at the time. Osgood’s philosophy was that contented, healthy workers were more productive and less likely to strike.

The house measures a whopping 24,000 square feet, divided into 42 rooms. It is a simplified version of the stick style of architecture, a precursor to the luxuriant Queen Anne style that would sweep the nation at the end of the Victorian era. The interior is even more decadent, with fine wooden paneling, Tiffany glass lights, and European furniture and art collected by the Osgoods during their travels. When it was first built, Osgood was one of the richest men in the United States. He regularly entertained famous guests, the likes of whom included Theodore Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller, and King Leopold I of Belgium. 

Unfortunately for him, Osgood’s good fortune was not to last. He lost control of his company to John D. Rockefeller in a stock war, and was left only with ownership of the town of Redstone. Rockefeller was not a very active owner and left control of the company mainly to Osgood. The jaded founder ruled the company with an iron fist. He used racial tension to pit workers against each other, pressured the state government to deploy the National Guard to quell strikes, and colluded with other mine operators to reduce competition.

After Osgood died in 1926, his wife Lucille attempted to turn the house into a resort. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Great Depression put a stop to those plans, and she was eventually forced to sell the property in the 1940s. Subsequent owners used the town and castle as a base for mining but did see the potential in using it as a resort. At one point it was seized and sold in an online auction by the IRS, the first of its kind.

In 2016, the castle was finally repurposed as a boutique hotel, which is what it remains to this day.