The Castle Green

In the late 1880’s, Pasadena became a popular winter resort for wealthy East-Coasters, and an enterprising hotelier began building a grand hotel that would eventually become known as the Hotel Green.

It was designed from the beginning as a convenient, all-inclusive resort complex, with the builders going so far as construct the first Santa Fe Railroad depot just to the south, so travel-weary visitors had only to go half a block to find the comfort of the hotel’s luxurious lounges and rooms.

As the hotel thrived in the 1890’s, it expanded across Raymond Avenue in the form of an eclectic 7-story building which mixed Spanish, Moorish, and Victorian styles together to arrive at something truly uncategorizable. This first annex to the hotel – now known as Castle Green - is all that remains of the lavish resort. It was connected to the main building by a pedestrian bridge which was demolished (except for the western portion) in the 1920’s. To the south were landscaped grounds, which are now Pasadena’s Central Park.

The hotel succumbed to the changing tastes of travelers, the effects of the Great Depression, and the decline of railroads in the face of air travel. Castle Green clung on long enough for appreciation for historic buildings to come into vogue, and it has since been renovated and converted into an apartment building and special events center.