SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — You don't have to be royalty to own your own castle in San Diego County.
A custom-built castle, which sits in the middle of 58 acres of land, is up for sale in Jamul for $1.25 million.
The 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 3,800 square foot castle sits on top of a mountain in Jamul. To get here, you drive down a dusty dirt road which is blocked by a large, locked gate. The listing agent on the property, Patti Roesch, unlocked the gate to allow the CBS 8 team to follow her car another mile to safely arrive at the castle.
CBS 8’s Heather Myers knocked on the large, 750-pound wooden door, which is just past the portcullis drop-down gate at the front porch.
Roesch opened that door, plus another set of large wooden doors inside the foyer. Inside, you instantly notice the stonework and the unique medieval décor.
“We have a bar, a suit of armor, a few swords and then there’s Jack,” Roesch said.
Jack is the man whose portraits still hang on the walls of the castle. Jack Laminack lived in the castle with his wife. We are told he built the castle in the mid 1990’s, cutting and laying 11,000 stones with the help of just one worker. The entire project took over 8 years.
“His dream from the time he was 10 was to build this exact castle. He had drafted it in elementary school when he was 10, so this is what he built,” said Roesch.
A large stone fireplace with a gargoyle on top is the source of heat in the castle. There is no air conditioning system, instead only steel-framed windows and only a few of them open.
In the primary bedroom, there is a large wooden and metal bed that had to be welded together inside this room for it to fit.
“This was to duplicate a bed from one of the kings a long time ago in Germany,” said Roesch.
After walking through a closet, you will find yourself in the bathroom. It's all medieval-style with stonework leading up a short flight of stairs and then down into a large stone shower.
There is no dungeon. However, there is a secret passageway under the stairs where we are told Jack once stored gold bars.
Walking up those same stone stairs will take you to the main living area. There is a kitchen which does have a gas stove, a dishwasher and a refrigerator.
The cabinets, counters, appliances and large furniture were all placed upstairs using giant hooks and a pully system to hoist them up.
“We unlatch and open it up and now we get to go up the spiral staircase to the princess suite,” said Roesch as she unlocked another wooden door and pointed across a metal catwalk to a narrow metal spiral staircase. The staircase takes you up to the princess suite, which is the room Jack's wife called her own.
It has a window that opens and allows you to, very carefully, crawl out onto the roof, to check out amazing 360-degree views of San Diego County’s rural backcountry. On a clear day you can see all the way out to the Pacific Ocean.
Roesch said there were two fires that came through this area but the castle never burned because it’s made of stone.
The asking price for this castle and the 58-acres of land is a royal $1.25 million dollars. Roesch said she has had several showings and is expecting an offer soon.
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