-
(Photograph by Gerald Moorhead ) -
(Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )
Occupying most of a block, this house illustrates the building types and town land use that make Castroville unique. Arcadius Steinle was a native of Prussia and a mason who constructed his house and a compound of outbuildings for himself and his wife, where they raised six children. Steinle died in 1859 but the house remained in the family until 1946. The original one-and-a-half-story house has had an ell and a rear porch added. The compound has ornamental doors and windows similar to the nearby Walter House ( CJ9), with the exception of an enclosed end wall chimney stack. The house and sheds are positioned at the corner of the lot, near the street intersection for ease of access, leaving over half the lot for the kitchen garden. This house best illustrates the village tradition of Alsace, where the farmers of Castroville lived in town and traveled out to their fields, rather than living on the farmland.