National Register of Historic Places
Rubel Castle Historic District
Glendora, Los Angeles County, California
The record
- Listed
- October 7, 2013
- Type
- Historic district
- Address
- 844 N. Live Oak Ave., Glendora
- County
- Los Angeles
- State
- California
- Contributing resources
- 11 buildings, 3 structures
- Coordinates
- 34.15189, -117.85528
- Reference number
- 13000810
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The Rubel Castle Historic District is a historic district at 844 N. Live Oak Ave. in Glendora, Los Angeles County, listed in the National Register in 2013. Its buildings went up in stages from 1910 to 1986, in a style the nomination classifies as a folk art environment.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria A and C, with Criteria Consideration G, carrying local-level significance in agriculture, architecture and art. Its period of significance runs from 1910 to 1986, spanning the citrus ranch's early buildings and Michael Clarke Rubel's later castle work.
Physical character
The walls combine recycled granite, stream rocks, concrete and wood, set in cement mortar with found objects and recycled bottles; roofs are composition shingle, corrugated metal, clay tile and wood, over concrete foundations. The walled, 22,000-square-foot Castle Complex rises within walls twelve feet high, with battlements, turrets, a Clock Tower, a Water Tower and a Portcullis flanked by stream-rock walls built around 1970.
Historical context
George D. Whitcomb bought 200 acres in 1885 and founded Glendora in 1887; Arthur K. Bourne bought it in 1926 and commissioned architect Wallace Neff to design his family home in 1932, before the citrus operation ended in 1949. Bourne sold a parcel to Rubel in 1959; serving as its architect and builder, Rubel bored a car-sized passageway through the walls in 1965 and completed the Castle's final segment in 1986, before dying in Glendora in 2007.