Go ahead and call it the wedding cake. The three-tiered Tovrea Castle, visible from the Loop 202, is a Phoenix icon that beckons like a desert mirage with an outer defense of saguaro cactuses. The castle's gardens and grounds are equally exotic, filled with more than 100 species of unique desert flora, including over 5,000 cactuses.
Completed in 1930, Tovrea Castle was the vision of Alessio Carraro, who oversaw the building of the structure and its gardens. It was intended to be a resort hotel surrounded by a deluxe housing subdivision called Carraro Heights. However, Carraro's dream didn't last. He sold the castle to Edward Ambrose Tovrea to use as a private residence.
Early on, Carraro was approached by designer M. Moktatchev, who planted more than 500 species of cactus from the Southwest as well as from Australia, Central America, South America, and Africa. Across 44 acres of grounds, the original grandeur is still apparent. Though many of the original plants did not survive, in 1998, the city of Phoenix began garden restorations. Archival photographs of the property and grounds were studied to verify which plants had been used in the original plans. Four hundred saguaros and 1,000 smaller cactuses have been planted as part of the restoration.
The Tovrea Carraro Society relies on volunteers to lead tours of the castle and gardens. There is no walking around the grounds without a tour guide. Tours must be booked in advance, are approximately two hours long, and include visiting the castle's main floor, extensive grounds, and cactus gardens. There are no tours in July or August. Admission is $15.