What looks like a medieval stone castle stands in the North Chagrin Reservation, which is part of the Cleveland, Ohio Metroparks. It was built as a gatehouse for a mansion that was never constructed. I can only imagine how large and opulent the mansion would have been considering how ornate the gate house was.
Feargus B. Squire was an executive with the Standard Oil Company and former mayor of Wickliffe, Ohio. Around 1890, he purchased about five hundred acres of land east of Cleveland. He planned to build a large English style country estate, and in 1895 he had this stone gatehouse constructed. Taking three years to build, the walls were quarried from local sandstone, and the building originally had three floors. Having difficulty in finding labor for the remote location at the time, Squire gave up building a mansion on the site. He used the gatehouse as a cottage, but his wife did not like staying there. The gatehouse-turned-cottage did not have electricity, natural gas, running water, or sewer. I can see why his wife, being accustomed to the modern conveniences of Cleveland, did not enjoy living in the cottage.
Squire rarely used the cottage, and he sold it and the property to developers in 1922. Shortly afterwards, the developers went bankrupt and the Cleveland Park Board purchased the property in 1925. The old gate house was vandalized over the years, and the structure was renovated in 1995. The upper floors were removed and the basement filled in. It was not what it used to be, but at least a portion of it was saved for park visitors to enjoy.
A false legend has it that Squire’s wife fell down the stairs and died in the old gatehouse. They say her spirit haunts the structure, but that is not true because she died at their family home in Wickliffe, Ohio in 1927.
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