Squire’s Castle Willoughby Hills, OH

Fargus B. Squire was an executive with the Standard Oil Company and former mayor of Wickliffe, Ohio. Squire’s earliest known residence was at 1729 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. In 1905, Squire moved to 7809 Euclid Avenue.[1] Squire completed work in 1902 on Cobblestone Garth, a Victorian mansion located in Wickliffe, Ohio. The Squires moved from their Euclid Avenue home into Cobblestone Garth in 1910. About 1890, Squire purchased 525 acres ( km2) of forest land near what is now Willoughby Hills, Ohio, east of Cleveland. He called it River Farm Estate, and planned to turn it into an English country estate complete with manor house. About 1895, Squire began construction on a gatekeeper’s house in the Romanesque Revival style. The structure, which was exceedingly rustic (lacking electricity, natural gas, running water, or sewer) was completed about 1897. The outer walls are of locally-quarried Euclid bluestone, a form of bluish-colored sandstone found throughout the greater Cleveland structure originally had a ground floor, two upper floors, and a basement. Its windows were of leaded glass.