Sam's Castle overlooked the railroad

San Francisco architect Charles McDougal designed the building. The "stone" walls are really 90-pound concrete blocks reinforced with steel rods. The building sports four towers and turrets. It has around 24 rooms, including five bathrooms. John McLaren, famous head gardener of Golden Gate Park, did the original landscaping.

Henry died in 1914, and after that the castle was sold. Interesting stories have always been associated with this unusual building. In 1916, it was used as a convalescent hospital, but all of the patients were young single women. A Dr. Galen Hitchcock who specialized in abortions, which were then illegal, ran it. After he was sent to San Quentin, his son took over the family business for a while until he joined his father in prison.

It was owned by a jeweler from Los Angeles named Mr. Hard. After that a Montana mining industrialist, Mr. Hewitt, bought it. It became the Chateau Lafayette, a popular restaurant.

The place was a speakeasy and a signaling station for rumrunners during prohibition. It was used during World War II as a military lookout for coastal security, housing over 100 service men. Anne and Holly Eakin had bought the building in 1928. According to reports, Holly died of alcoholism and their son went insane. Reportedly, a woman lived there for a while who kept dozens of cats. A sculptor and his family rented the house for about five years during the 1950s. Some former occupants like to tell of strange sounds and ghost sightings.

Around 1968, this white elephant of a building was bought by Sam Mazza for $29,000. Sam said it had been on the market for 10 years by then with no takers. Sam was Italian born, and worked for the Fox Theater chain. His job for them was to refurbish classic old theaters. In the course of doing this, Sam collected cast-off items and movie memorabilia. He also visited garage sales, junk stores and estate liquidation sales.

Sam kept the house as a weekend getaway and a place to display his eclectic collection of stuff. He had stained glass windows, statuaries, ornate furniture, Tiffany lamps, oriental rugs, a suit of armor and even a cape that had once been worn by Clark Gable. One could think of this as Sam's version of the Hearst Castle. Sam referred to his collection of antiques and memorabilia as "junk."

The house, often called Sam's Castle in recent years, is not open to the public, although Sam used to make it available for charitable events at times. Sam Mazza died recently. His estate now owns the castle and there are no plans to make any changes.

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 777 Hamilton St., Redwood City.