Cottonland Castle
Text
Near the turn of the twentieth century, a booming cotton industry was quickly establishing Waco as one of the major urban centers of the South, encouraging many residents to more readily invest and spend their money locally. In 1890, local stone contractor John Tennant decided to build himself a new home after striking a deal with banker J. W. Mann. The deal provided Tennant with a plot of land in exchange for a stone obelisk to mark the Mann plot in Oakwood Cemetery. Tennant took leftover stone from his latest construction job, the Provident Building at the corner of Fourth Street and Franklin Avenue, in order to begin construction on the basement and foundation of his new home, situated at the outskirts of the city.
The reality of Tennant’s financial situation did not quite match up to his grandiose dreams. After struggling to make ends meet, he sold the unframed house to cotton broker Ripley Hanrick in 1906 under the agreement that Tennant could continue to do the stone work on the house. However, when financial difficulties continued, the pair abandoned the house in 1908.
A few years later, local investors employed Roy E. Lane to construct the elite Huaco Club in the same area as the castle. Some expressed concern over the abandoned and unfinished home, but Lane saw the building as a blank slate of potential. He convinced notable Wacoan and Civil War veteran Capt. Alfred Abeel to purchase the home in 1913. Abeel employed Lane to complete the frame. Lane transformed the frame into a castle complete with three stories and a basement, eight fireplaces, servants’ quarters, and a tower. Modeled after a small German castle along the Rhine River, white sandstone and small amounts of limestone composed the exterior of the house. The interior accents varied by room and floor, including imported materials such as Caen stone from France, Carrara marble from Italy, and Honduran mahogany paneling.
In 1941, Irene Pipkin, whose family owned the Pipkin Drugstores, purchased the home and moved in with her daughter and son-in-law. When she passed away, the castle passed to her daughter, Pauline Pipkin Garrett, Waco’s first female pharmacist. Pauline and her husband Barney Garrett resided in the home for many years.
After Pauline passed away, her will stated that Garrett could retain the home until he no longer wished to reside in it. When Garrett decided to move out, the home entered its only period of public use when it passed to the Austin Avenue Methodist Church. The church found the home to be an ideal place to host youth events, but the expense of keeping up the home soon became too great. The church sold the home to Jack Schwan in 1969 for $50,000.
The Schwan family fixed many of the issues in the home arising from age and disuse, and also renovated the second floor, following a tropical fantasy theme. In 1977, the Schwans applied for and received a historical marker for the home. The family attempted to sell the castle in 1982, believing it to be worth close to $1.25 million after the renovations. However, the high price frightened away many interested buyers.
Jack Schwan finally found a buyer in 1991 after cutting the price of the castle drastically. Over the next two decades, the home passed through various owners’ hands and fell into disrepair. Many owners found the castle too large and in need of too much maintenance to be a financially feasible home. In 2014, the home sold again and a new group—led by Oxford scholar Dirk Obbink, contractor Tom Lupfer Jr., and architect Sterling Thompson—has begun the process of renovating the castle.
In 2019 Cottonland Castle was purchased by Chip and Joanna Gaines of the famous retail empire Magnolia Market and they finished rennovation of the structure in summer 2022.
The castle will always be a striking hallmark of the Castle Heights neighborhood, and the impressive home continues to stand as a quiet reminder of the importance of the cotton industry which once brought prosperity to Waco.
Files
A Valuable Investment
Despite the worries of the Huaco Club's investors, the Cottonland Castle quickly developed into a hallmark of the Castle Heights neighborhood. Though perhaps a bit worn down today, the castle remains an iconic piece of Waco's history. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Eclectic Style
Although the front door stood ten feet tall and eight inches thick, weighing around four hundred pounds, it was reportedly so well balanced that even a small child could move it with ease. A prospective buyer for the home once noted that the "door sets the style for the [entire] house, which is eclectic." | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Luxury Home
Imported materials such as Carrara marble adorned each floor, adding to the castle’s luxuriousness. This grand archway greeted guests as they entered the home, setting the tone for the entire home. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Age of Romance
Reflecting design aesthetics of the early twentieth century, the home was constructed in the Romantic mode. This loosely structured form allowed for a great deal of variance throughout the house, including an entrance hall constructed of oak and reflecting the Tudor period and a dining hall designed in an Austrian style. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Styled Decor
Although this well functioned simply as a decorative feature on the exterior of the home, the castle received its water from the local artesian wells which supplied the entire Castle Heights neighborhood. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Music Room
The Pipkin and Garrett family held the longest tenure in the castle, residing there between 1941 and 1969. Nevertheless, they changed little about the design that Captain Abeel and Roy E. Lane created other than designing a music room on the second floor in order to pursue one of Pauline’s passions. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Fantasy Remodel
During the 1970s, the Schwans remodeled the second floor to reflect a tropical fantasy theme. Nevertheless, they left the hallmark details of the home such as the mahogany and marble embellishments intact. This fireplace was designed to hold a mounted stag head, and contains the inscribed words “The divine guidance of God sustains me” in Latin. A zebra replaced the stag after the Schwans's renovations. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
A Bid for Reuse
In 1996, Bruce and Dorothy Dyer attempted to buy the castle and transition it back into public use as a bed and breakfast. However, after members of the neighborhood protested, the Waco City Council denied the Dyer's petition. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
A Nod to the Past
When the Schwans applied for a historical marker for the castle in 1977, the home received its original name. When the marker was granted, it was dubbed Cottonland Castle in order to distinguish it from other historic castles while serving as a nod to Waco’s agricultural past. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
The Abeel's Air-Conditioning
Charles Armstrong explains how he helped operate the air-condition in the Cottonland Castle. | Source: Armstrong, Charles Herman and L. Ruth, interviewed by Sandra Denise Harvey, January 8, 1995, in Waco, Texas. Baylor University Institute for Oral History, Waco, TX. View the full interview