Richthofen Castle

Walter von Richthofen erected this rhyolite castle as the show home of Montclair. Alexander Cazin, a fellow German, may have designed this mock medieval fortress with its third-story tower, turrets, and gables. On the northwest corner is a red sandstone bust of Frederick Barbarossa, the medieval ruler who first tried to unify Germany. The original castle, a prickly Prussian affair, was remodeled and enlarged in 1910 for a new owner, Edwin B. Hendrie. Maurice Biscoe and, later, Jacques Benedict softened the lines with half-timbered and stuccoed west and south wings (1924) and transformed the crenelated roofline with shingled gables and a cap for the central tower. Inside the thirty-five-room castle is an entry hall with dark oak paneling and hand-tooled leather walls and a parquet-floored music room seating 150. The gatehouse to the east has been divided from the property and converted to a separate residence.