Posted on 07/31/2020 3:44:37 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
One of the things people start thinking about once they’ve become mature and individual adults is how to get their life together on top of all of the worldly things like getting and maintaining a job, creating a family, and whatnot.
Among the many things in this list is also one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make in your life, and that is getting a flat or a house. After all, once you commit to it, it’s something you’re gonna have to live with for anywhere between 5 and 40 years.
But if you’re gonna commit that much, why not skip the whole small-fry real estate and go straight to buying a castle?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, buying castles are a thing. And there’s one currently for sale.
This is the Helmer Castle, aptly named after its original owner Max Helmer, who was a reclusive and eccentric concert violinist and son of a well-off Jackson County banker of the 20th century. The castle was built in 1927 by C.J. Jorgensen at 7300 Draper Road, Jackson, Michigan. And it’s surprising what you can do with 500 tons of fieldstone, 300 barrels of cement, nine workers, a horse, and a crane from 1927.
The Castle’s origins are traced back to Max Helmer’s love of medieval castles. Helmer was touring through Europe and had a chance to visit some of the castles there. After returning, he designed a home for himself based on a 5th century Roman hall that can be found near Nuremberg, Germany.
The medieval-styled building has been modernized since then, with some of the interior furniture and tech being of a more contemporary style and there now being a spacious garage to the side of the castle, everything else seems authentically medieval.
The 2,000 square feet Helmer’s Castle features a 60-foot tower with a spiral staircase, a number of fireplaces, shake-style metal roofing, hardwood floors, as well as a half-mile driveway leading up to it. As for the living spaces, it has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen and dining area, expansive living and great room, and a walkout master suite, among many other things.
The luxury doesn’t stop here as there’s also a lighted basketball court outside, 3 separate patios, as well as a number of scenic walking, running, sledding, and exploring trails, all spread across a 20 acre bit of land.
As of the moment of this article, the castle is going for $529,000 US dollars. The real estate ad suggests that it can be used for a number of functions, serving as a single family home, vacation home or rental, wedding venue, private multi-use retreat venue, or a new single-family home community. This is besides all of the immersive D&D campaigns that you can host inside.
Sources also state that this very castle was a filming location for the 1977 low-budget horror movie “The Demon Lover”, which told the story of a group of teenagers hanging around a cemetery and getting involved with a satanic priest who calls up a demon from hell. Don’t worry, the castle isn’t haunted or cursed, though some might find it a bit ominous given its aesthetic and the fact that there were rumors of Helmer being murdered here, but in reality he died of a heart attack.
The castle’s current owners, the Klenk family who have been living here since 1982, have spent their 36 years redoing the castle to make it more homely. They have done their best to make sure any renovations that they did fit Max Helmer’s original design, this way mashing the old and new styles into what they called “modern medieval.” Two years ago, they put the castle up for sale.
If you want more castle goodness, Bored Panda has a number of castle-related articles, including this one about the smallest castle in England (which was incidentally also for sale some time ago), and also another castle in Spain that you can rent via AirBnB.
If I were to go to the trouble and expense of keeping a saltwater moat in Michigan, I’d at least stock it with sharks, with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads.
I’ll buy it if they throw in a trebuchet and a sign “Thou stayest off my lawn”
But they’re on the Endangered Species list!
The permits are too hard to get!
With any luck, no inspector would survive to make a report.
OH MY GOSH!! Absolutely stunning! I just love it!
That's what I was about to say. My previous two houses were bigger than that. Now that the kids are gone, we have something smaller and much easier to clean LOL!
My daughter went to a Bible school in England for a year. The school is in an old castle.
They had a power outage for a week or so and used candles to maneuver at night. She said even though she’d been there for months, it was really creepy.
Wow, the place is gorgeous. It must be awfully cold in the winter, though, with those bare stone walls and no exterior insulation.
My nephew lives 80 miles from there. I just sent the article to him and said “easy commute distance for you!”
Really? Projects with Crips and Bloods adjoin Grosse Point? I had no idea.
Thanks Diana in Wisconsin. There's also what remains of the Loeb Farm, which was a concert venue in the late 1970s-early 1980s called Castle Farms, near Charlevoix (it's a wedding chapel now, last I knew) and in scenic Heritage Hill in Grand Rapids there's one of those grand homes that is just called The Castle, on, hmm, Cherry SE I think.
Never buy an old stone house without a dungeon.
http://www.google.com/search?q=castle+farms&tbm=isch
Castle Farms Aerial Video Virtual Tour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYk0qa8D4JY
The Castle on Cherry (story)
https://stonecastledentistry.com/castle/
Hey, I’ll throw in a pyramid:
http://www.google.com/search?Marcus+Brown+Pyramid&tbm=isch
And a foam replica of Stonehenge:
https://clonehenge.com/2008/12/19/nunica-henge-michigan/
That dungeon rule is not a bad one for pretty much any real estate.
Small for a castle, but homey.
“But labors of love are so very rewarding and who wouldn’t love Ill-tempered mutant sea bass.”
Probably someone who had their heart set on sharks with frickin lasers on their heads.
Seems like hanging things on the walls would be a special challenge....don’t get it wrong and be sure it’s what you really really want in that spot...
5 bedrooms in 2000 sq ft means really small rooms.
Good survival retreat. No rifle round penetrating those walls.
Is this castle related to Tintagol?
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