West Michigan Stone Castle with Secret Passageway on the Market for $160K
Want to be king or queen of your own castle? There's one for sale in West Michigan for $160,000.
Well, if we're talking about fairy tales - 3,429 square feet with 5 bedrooms in this market at that price seems like one!
According to the listing, the "beautiful castle like setting" lies on 2.7 acres in the heart of Battle Creek. Built in 1906, the exterior of the home is entirely made of stone. According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, the property has gone by many names over the years: Penniman's Castle, The Castle on Main Street, The Kingman Castle.
The home was originally built for for Allen Penniman, whose family created the Penniman Block business area, which has since been replaced with the Heritage Tower.
The Battle Creek Enquirer reports,
The design was among a thousand dreamed up by architect Martin Chivers and built on land purchased from C.W. Post.
Yes, that C.W. Post who founded what is now Post Consumer Brands.
A 1914 Battle Creek Enquirer story about Penniman Castle had this to say,
"Few houses in Battle Creek have more elaborate and expensive interior finishings or more frenzied exteriors."
Penniman moved to California and sold the home to his mother-in-law. Since then, the home has changed hands many times.
From the Battle Creek Enquirer:
For a couple of years in the 1950s, the owners ran a fur store out of the house while they moved shop locations. With nobody living there in 1955, police discovered someone broke in and created a massive throne out of stacked furniture.
In the late 1960s, the Church of Christ briefly held meetings in the house.
Then, in 1994, Doug and Kathy Kidder bought the house. Doug loved the medieval feeling of the place, Ashley said, and renovated it with an eye towards decorations that period.
In 2001, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
What will happen to the Penniman Castle now? Well, we'll have to see who buys it!
It definitely has some unique interesting features, including an upper level with four oversized bedrooms with high ceilings that are all off of a circular hallway centered on a chandelier that hangs from the second floor to the first floor.
There's also a two-car garage and what appears to be a she-shed on the property.
Now, the listing doesn't mention it, but according to the Battle Creek Enquirer, there's also a secret passageway! A man who had explored the home with his friends said he discovered a small door in one of the closets:
"We roamed all over the house with goose bumps all over the place. When I opened a bedroom closet, I was surprised to find a small door at one end of the closet. I opened it, and my hair stood on end."
The door opened to a small curved staircase leading to the lower level, where the servant's quarters had once been. Now the basement is finished with an additional bedroom and family room. Unless one of the owners removed it, I'd assume the passageway is still there. It doesn't show up in the listing photos, unfortunately, but there's still a TON to see. Take a tour of Penniman Castle in the gallery below!