Glen Eyrie

Glen Eyrie Castle
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Coordinates	38°53′30″N 104°53′04″W
Built	1871
Architect	Frederick Sterner
Architectural style	Tudor Revival
Website	gleneyrie.org
NRHP reference No.	75000519  (original) 16000866 (increase)
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	April 21, 1975
Boundary increase	December 20, 2016

Glen Eyrie Castle, Colorado Springs

Glen Eyrie is an English Tudor-style castle built in 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs. The castle is owned today by The Navigators, a worldwide Christian organization. It is open for public tours and events and can be rented for private programs.

History

Founded in 1871, Glen Eyrie was the home of William Jackson Palmer. Palmer was a Brigadier General in the Union Army during the Civil War, president of The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and founder of Colorado Springs. Palmer and his wife Mary “Queen” Mellen made Glen Eyrie their home. They had three daughters, Elsie, Dorothy, and Marjorie.

General Palmer died in 1909, and the Palmer sisters left the estate untouched for several years before finally selling it. The estate changed hands several times. In 1938 the property was purchased by an oil baron from Texas, George Strake.

The Strake family turned Glen Eyrie into their summer home, repairing and building up the property. It was not to last, however. The flood of 1949 wreaked havoc on the land, and with their children now grown, they determined to put Glen Eyrie back on the market (gleneyrie.org/about).

Glen Eyrie was purchased as the headquarters of The Navigators in 1953, following an ambitious and miraculous campaign to raise the down payment of $100,000 dollars in only six weeks.

The castle has several features that were advanced for its time, including a primitive intercom system and a two chimney system operated by a lever that would direct the smoke depending on what direction the wind was blowing to take the smoke out of the valley. And in case of fires there also were fire hose stations places throughout the castle. Glen Eyrie is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today

Glen Eyrie Castle Music Room, where afternoon tea is served.

Today the Navigators still maintain Glen Eyrie as their headquarters as they live out their mission “To know Christ and make Him known, and help others do the same.”

Glen Eyrie Castle fireplace

The Castle is available for tours, events, and overnight stays. There are 17 guest rooms in the castle, as well as 7 meeting rooms including the Castle Great Hall (2200-square-foot room that can hold up to 240 people) and 2 dining rooms (the Castle King James Hall has seating for 180 people and the Castle Music & Library rooms for seating for up to 58 people). There are 24 fireplaces.

The Castle boasts an award-winning afternoon tea service in the Music Room, as well as an annual Christmas Madrigal Banquet in the Great Hall.

Bighorn sheep on Glen Eyrie Castle lawn

There are six lodges on the 723-acre property in addition to the Castle available for overnight stays. Common wildlife sightings include the largest bighorn sheep herd in the state of Colorado, wild turkeys, deer, and a variety of birds of prey. The name “Eyrie” means “eagle’s nest.”

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in El Paso County, Colorado

External links

• Official website
• Media related to Glen Eyrie at Wikimedia Commons