Hello! Welcome, welcome. My, it’s chilly for this early in September, isn’t it? As
soon as the rest of our group arrives, we’ll be heading inside. I apologize, I know the
group tour is unusual, but the owner, Mr. Holmes is eager to sell. I’ll tell you a
little about the building while we wait.
The property was constructed in 1887. The third floor was actually an extension to the
original structure--it was added in 1892-1893. Locals affectionately refer to the building
as The Castle because the building nearly takes up a full city block. The address is:
611 W 63rd St, Chicago, IL 60621. If you’re interested in buying, the property is about
a 3 miles’ walk west from where they held the World Fair last year. I visited the fair
4 times, even saw those Hula dancers from the Hawaii’in Isle. Quite the spectacle!
The Castle is 3 stories tall. I’m not aware of the exact footage, but the Castle is 162
feet long and 50 feet wide. The ground floor is slated for business--currently there’s
a drugstore, a barbershop, a candy store, a restaurant, a tinsmith and a jewelry store.
Potential to bring a lot of customers to the area. The other 2 floors are mainly living
space.
Note the brick facade, decorative battlements--I believe the iron used is from a local company
Aetna Iron and Steel. The wooden bay windows are quite lovely. Right now the bay windows
are covered with sheet iron--I’ve heard that Mr. Holmes is a very private man, however
you could easily rip them out and have sunlight drenched window seating overlooking the street.
Wouldn’t that be cozy?
It’s said the roof used to have a turret, perhaps Mr. Holmes fancied himself a chivalrous
knight of old? Last summer the 3rd floor caught fire. No, I don’t know how it started, but
they put it out before it spread. Mr. Holmes rebuilt, but created a flat roof. It’s a
shame, I believe he’s still fighting with the insurance company. They’re trying to
claim fraud. Companies these days, eh?
No, I’ve never met Mr. Holmes, my real estate company was hired--Great! It looks like everyone
has arrived. Ladies and gentleman right this way. Ah! It’s nice and toasty inside. This
is the reception area.
As I was saying, Mr. Holmes is a prominent doctor. He’s been called out of town on
urgent business, I think to Fort Worth or was it Boston? Anyway, you’ll find that
the Castle is competitively priced to sell, all reasonable offers will be considered.
Step this way please to the waiting room. Some rooms have already been emptied, in anticipation
of the sale.
The castle is considered a bit of a fixer-upper, but the foundation is sound. Both the foundation
and the basement are made out of stone. I’m told the basement is larger than the Castle
itself and extends under the sidewalks. A bonus 4th floor for the price of 3! More on
the basement when we visit it.
In general, the property might need some work because Mr Holmes...well he had some odd decorating
tastes. In fact, he was very exacting and switched construction companies several times
during building. He had a certain vision that he was intent on achieving, which admittedly
many people found off putting. So as we walk through the Castle, you should picture how
it could look, rather than how it looks now.
Let’s go into the hallway and we’ll take the stairs up to the third floor. Sir, don’t
lag behind please, we don’t want you to get lost. Yes, you totally could get lost.
The second floor has close to forty rooms and some of them are quite unusual. We’re
starting at the top floor though, we’ll see the rest of the second floor next. Mind
the third step on the stairs, it has a pressure plate. It’s wired somehow, it’s electric,
I think. Throughout the house and in the drugstore, there’s a system of alarms which ring a
buzzer in Mr. Holmes’ personal rooms. Quite ingenious really. Makes it hard for guests
to sneak out without paying.
So this is Mr. Holmes’ personal office, yes the sheeting could come off that window
too and since it’s in the Northeast corner of the building, you’d get some nice morning
sunlight. Please don’t touch the items on his desk. Once the place sells, he’ll be
sending for the rest of his belongings. No, I don’t think that skull is real, it’s
just a paperweight. In addition to being a businessman, Mr. Holmes is a doctor you know,
I suppose doctors have rather morbid senses of humor.
Those switches on the wall? Those are another modern innovation by the owner, they control
the heat, gas and electricity for some of the guest rooms on the second floor. With
a flick of his finger, Mr. Holmes could override the settings in individual guest rooms giving
or depriving them of heat and light. Sounds a bit stingy to me, but I guess it’s a last
resort when dealing with ill tempered guests.
As you can see, also on the top floor are several empty guest rooms, some are set up
as apartments. Lots of space, but plenty of privacy, perfect for if you want to live with
extended family. You could live up here and continue to rent out rooms on the second floor.
This room is actually a large steel vault, yes, you can walk into it. No, don’t close
the door though! You’ll suffocate! I don’t have keys to open the lock! The walls are
completely made out of steel, lined with asbestos--it’s soundproof and air tight. No, I don’t know
what was kept in here. Maybe the valuables of guests...and other items? It’s been well
used though. Lots of scuff marks on the walls, but they should buff out, no problem.
One of the other amenities on the top floor is this dumbwaiter; it goes straight to the
basement. No, it doesn’t stop on the second floor. It’s big enough that a man could
ride it down. Maybe for escape in case of fire?
Now that we’ve seen the third floor, let’s go back down to the second…..
Follow me down the hallway. As you can see, this room doesn’t have any windows. But
the right lamps will totally cheer it up.
This room is actually quite spacious once you get inside, it just has an unusually small
doorway. Next to the bathroom is a room called the
Five Door Room because...you guessed it, it has five doors. I suppose you could keep some
of the doors locked for privacy.….Yes, that’s a tight little space, I’ve not sure what
was stored there, maybe laundry? The chute in the bathroom, it goes to a mini room in
between floors, in that room is a chute to the basement.
Your eyes don’t deceive you, there should be another room in this space, but there’s
no door. Mr Holmes is storing a lot of valuable furniture--I heard it was purchased from somewhere
fancy like the Tobey Furniture Co.-- he doesn’t want it to get messed up so he walled that
room shut for safety.
So we’re in the middle of the Castle, lots of small dark rooms here, quite cozy, especially
if you brighten them up with a light colored paint. Maybe a sunny yellow or ivory? Some
of the rooms are really tiny though, hardly space enough for a person to lie down in,
I think they are supposed to be extra storage.
Mind where you walk though, there’s a trap door to a steep staircase which leads to the
basement in one of these rooms, but I’m not exactly sure where. Yes, I agree, the
place is kind of like a maze. There’s a door or two that open to brick walls--I think
Mr. Holmes changed his mind during the building process and those were an easy way to fix
mistakes.
The design on the gas fixtures in this bedroom is quite unusual, of course the valves have
a way to be turned off; no unfortunately I don’t know how they work. No, I’m not
sure where they were purchased either. Ye,s some of the rooms are metal plated, it’s
to help retain heat in during winter. This laboratory is tiny, but fully functioning.
I suspect Mr. Holmes compounds the more expensive and complicated drugs in here rather than
in the back room of the drug store. I think he had a problem with competitors trying to
steal his formulas? He created this great tonic for hangovers, I’ve used it myself.
Nasty and hard to swallow, but works marvelously. Those stairs go outside down to the alley
behind the Castle. These bolts on the wall are odd, no I don’t know what they are used
for. Yes, I guess you could attach chains or handcuffs to them….
So that’s actually the extent of the notes I have on the second floor. You can wander
through those back rooms freely, but be careful, don’t close any doors! Some of the doors
can only be opened from the outside. Much of the second floor is also sound proofed,
for guest comfort and privacy, of course.
Let’s meet at this staircase in few minutes so we can go down to the basement. You can
only use these stairs to get to the basement, don’t use the other staircase, that leads
to a dead end, another construction error I’m afraid….
Is everyone here? Great! Sir, if you could take this lantern, I’ll carry one too. Even
with the lamps lit, it’s quite dark down here. Carefully on the stairs, they’re steep.
Ladies, be sure to watch the hems of your skirts, the basement floor’s very dirty.
Yes, it does stink down here--Miss, please don’t wander away, there are two large quicklime
pits that are used for getting rid of animal remains, you wouldn’t want to fall into
one. I do apologize for the stench, Mr. Holmes occasionally taught a dissection class in
his basement where medical students practiced on animal remains. He was experimenting to
find new techniques for butchering and storing meat too. I’m sure you can get rid of the
dissection table and all the medical instruments, that is if Mr. Holmes no longer wants them….
Clear the space, give it a good airing out, sprinkle some lavender oil or burn some aromatic
wood, that should fix the smell.
Oh, the gas tank in the corner? I was told that it was for bending glass. Mr. Holmes
also owns a glass bending factory on the North side. He tends to send boxes and trunks over
to the factory from here. Very particular man, very private, didn’t like people touching
his stuff. He was always worried that someone was out to learn his secrets or steal his
creations.
Sir, I’m going to have to ask you not to open the jars and sniff the powder inside.
Remember Mr. Holmes has a drugstore, many of his medicines and compounding agents are
kept down here. You wouldn’t want to accidentally poison yourself, would you?
The stove was used for heating medicines and tonics, I believe.
The crematorium? Probably for burning trash or disposing of old medicine. I don’t think
it was used for people...why would it? I don’t know what to say, that’s a really disturbing
suggestion...
Ahem. This concludes our tour of the Castle; if you would follow me back to the reception
room. You can contact me at the address on my card if you’re interested in making an
offer. No, sorry no time for anymore questions, I have another appointment, I really must
be going...
(VO and Animation Note - change from Real Estate Agent character back to normal narration)
With insurance companies trying to prosecute him for arson, H. H. Homes fled Chicago in
July of 1894, heading to Fort Worth, Texas. Several months previously, he and a business/fraud
partner Benjamin F. Pitzel had begun building another Castle there, even larger than the
one in Chicago. However, locals were suspicious and creditors started breathing down his neck
so Holmes left Fort Worth, the new Castle abandoned and unfinished. While there’s
no proof that Holmes tried to sell the Chicago Castle, as always he was eager to make money,
so it’s not entirely outside of the realm of possibility.
Within a few months of leaving Fort Worth, Holmes was arrested in Boston for the murder
of Pitzel, whom he had killed during an insurance fraud scheme. In the summer of 1895, as Holmes
sat in jail, Chicago police investigated Holmes’ unusual building. The Castle was found to
contain oddly angled hallways, deadends and small soundproof, airtight windowless rooms
designed for suffocation. The police also found bones, although they were mainly animal,
scraps of women’s clothing, a blood splattered dissection table and other suspect items,
however there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Holmes with any other murders.
It’s hard to know exactly what happened at the Castle; no known pictures of the interior
exists, although some architecture plans and newspaper sketches have survived. Many of
the lurid details about the place and the evidence found there was made up or enhanced
by newspapers of the time. The public was endlessly fascinated by this charming, yet
diabolical man and lapped up any information they could get, no matter how questionable.
By the time Holmes’ trial got underway, it was evident that in addition to Pitzel,
Holmes had also killed 3 of the Pitzel children. During the proceedings, Holmes confessed to
27 murders. However, Holmes was a consummate liar, a bigamist and a con artist--plausibility
points to him killing 9 people. Whatever the body count, Holmes was convicted and hanged
in 1896.
In 1895 while Holmes sat in jail, the Castle mysteriously caught fire and was gutted. There
are a couple of theories as to who set it alight. Locals sick of all the curiosity seekers
making pilgrimages to the area, revenge by a family member who suspected Holmes of killing
a loved one, etc.
After the fire, the building was refurbished and used for a while before falling into disrepair.
In the 1930’s, the US government bought the property and tore it down. In 1938, a
US post office was built on the site. The Post Office shares part of its foundation
with the original basement space of the Castle. There’s an old narrow tunnel accessible
from the Post Office’s basement which leads to a part of what used to be the Murder Castle’s
basement; the tunnel’s believed to have been part of an escape route made by H. H.
Holmes.
There are rumors of the property being haunted or cursed; a few people associated with the
Holmes investigation or case died suddenly, mysterious or tragically. Only once has the
US government allowed a ghost hunting crew from the History Channel to explore under
the Post Office, since then they have denied all other requests.
If you liked this video then we’ve got two more great episodes of The Infographics Show
that we picked out just for you so click on the one over here or over here. We’ll leave
the final decision to you but you have to pick now before it’s too late!