Castle Green will welcome visitors for its Annual Spring Summer Tour on Sunday, June 8 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., offering a rare glimpse inside one of Pasadena’s most cherished historic landmarks.
“What we have left, we have to take care of,” declares Susan Futterman, highlighting the urgent need for preservation efforts that protect irreplaceable architectural heritage from both natural disasters and time.
The tour grants access to uniquely decorated private apartments where modern residents live within 126-year-old spaces at 99 S. Raymond Ave., in Old Pasadena. From tiny studios to grand tower apartments, each unit showcases contemporary life within historic walls. Unlike typical historic home tours, visitors can sit on furniture, enjoy lemonade in the parlors, and experience the building as a lived-in space rather than a museum.
A special exhibition titled “Community from Ashes” will feature watercolor paintings by Kenny Art, whose home and four decades of artwork were lost in the Altadena blaze. The tour will also unveil a massive 3x6x3 foot architectural model created as a USC master’s thesis project in 1965, recently donated following the artist’s death.
Visitors will see the dramatic transformation from 30 years ago when every ornate room had been painted stark white. Today, the grand salon, Turkish room, and Moorish chambers appear in their full polychromatic glory.
California Art Club painters will be working on-site, adding to the immersive experience.
Preservation achievements will be highlighted, including the recently completed $30,000+ bridge dome restoration funded entirely through previous tour proceeds. The meticulous project removed deteriorating paint to reveal original copper beneath before applying period-appropriate techniques and colors.
Built in 1898 as a fireproof response to the twice-burned Raymond Hotel, Castle Green’s innovative steel frame and concrete construction has weathered earthquakes, fires, and urban development. Its forward-thinking engineering includes a still-operating 1898 elevator. The building has created multi-generational connections, with many visitors sharing stories like “My mother got married at the Castle Green.”
Castle Green, 99 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105. (626) 793-0359. https://www.castlegreen.com/
