Language of Material: Album contain clippings, correspondence, memorabilia, and captions in German and English.
Biographical Note
Alfredo Guido Castles (nee Schloesser) was born in Chicago in 1851. He received his education at Rush Medical College, after
which he took graduate courses at various European universities, namely Heidelberg, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London. In
1874, he married Emma Marie Rose McDonell. The couple had four children. In 1849, Castles purchased a mining prospect in Lassen
Country on the border of California and Nevada that produced significant profits for him. In 1909, he moved to Los Angeles,
where he built two enormous mansions, Sans Souci and Glengarry Castles, that dominated the hills of Hollywood at a time in
which the area was very little developed. Castles worked as a doctor for an affluent clientele looking for rejuvenation. He
held licenses to practice in Illinois and California and specialized in new methods of endocrinology that were not necessarily
based on science. It was not until 1918 that he changed his last name from Schloesser to Castles (Castles is a literal translation
of Schloesser).
Castles was known for his eccentricity and his interests in orientalism and mysticism, which was not uncommon in Hollywood's
social circles of the 1920s. He was a fixture in the growing city's social life, and regularly entertained friends, royalty,
and LA society. Guests included Clark Gable, Howard Hughes, Ronald Reagan and Cecil B. DeMille. Castles also became involved
in the real estate business.
In 1928, Castle decided to demolish Sans Souci and build a seven-story luxury apartment complex instead, which stands to this
day and still bears his name. Castles died in 1933.
Scope and Content
This scrapbook, spanning the years 1921-1930, features interior and exterior shots of Castle's Hollywood mansion, Sans Souci.
Built in 1912, it became a Hollywood landmark, surrounded mostly by citrus groves and undeveloped plots, which dominated the
area in the 1910s. The major film studios began setting up production in Hollywood around the same time. Photographs also
show other residences presumably built in the same area.
Newspaper clippings in this album regard Castles himself, Sans Souci, as well as miscellaneous other topics reflecting Castle's
personal interests (such as architecture, entertainment, history, and world news). Advertisements and programs in the scrapbook
provide evidence for the various events Castles organized for his guests. Programming included, among other things, Edmund
Russel's talks on orientalism; a Spanish-language program under the auspices of the Order of the Amaranth to raise funds for
their Masonic Temple; and musical performances by Geneve Johnston-Bishop, a soprano from Chicago. Additionally, the album
contains some postcards (from Rome, Ceylon, San Francisco, and Alaska) and portrait photographs of Castles and his wife, as
well as photos of various other unnamed individuals. The last third of the album mostly contains letters, written in German,
from Castle's friend Erich Graf von Klinkowstroem, a count who lived in Freiburg (Southern Germany) at the time.