Copenhaver Castle sold

Copenhaver Castle sold, Even with some home prices at historic lows, $1.45 million is not typically enough to buy a mansion. In Arizona, however, it is apparently enough to buy a castle  Robert Pazderka, owner of this company, has purchased the 7,900-square-foot Copenhaver Castle on Phoenix's Camelback Mountain (map it) for a paltry $1.45 million, 27 years after it was first put on the market for $7 millionThis abandoned, medieval castle, which sits in the hills above Phoenix, was constructed by Dr. Mort Copenhaver as a private residence during the 1970s. The exterior was constructed of stone blasted from the nearby mountainside, making it blend seamlessly into the environs.

Although the castle was purchased in 1989 after Copenhaver declared bankruptcy, it has sat vacant for many years awaiting a buyer as the price continues to plummet.
This 7900 square foot private residence in the shape of a Moorish castle was built in the 1970's by Dr. Mort Copenhaver, and was known at that time as Copenhaver Castle. The exterior is rock that was blasted from the surrounding mountainside. The property was purchased in 1989 by Jerry Mitchell, a millionaire from Texas who refurnished the interior in western style and renamed it Camelback Castle. In May 2012, it was purchased for $1.45 million by Robert Pazderka, who plans to spend an additional $3 million to $5 million to renovate the castle.

5050 E. Red Rock Drive (on the side of Camelback Mountain, north of Camelback Road). Private property; do not disturb the occupants.

Although mock castles have been built in Phoenix to market everything from amusement parks to adult stores, they are merely wood-and-stucco facsimiles without any true royal aspirations. The city does, however, boast a true regal fortress featuring impenetrable rock walls and towers, a drawbridge and a dungeon reached by secret passageways. The castle is the brainchild not of a king but of retired Phoenix orthodontist Dr. Mort Copenhaver.

Almost single-handedly, the high-energy dentist brought a childhood dream to fruition by designing and constructing, over a 12-year period, what is perhaps the city’s most unique residence, Copenhaver Castle.

“My dream growing up was to build something overlooking a lake, but that was tough to do in the desert,” Copenhaver says. “Instead, I built the castle overlooking a sea of lights.”

Copenhaver began his odyssey in 1967 by purchasing an unlikely mountain lair for his castle: an almost vertical 2.5-acre lot on the south side of Camelback Mountain. Although the parcel was prized for being the highest private lot on those slopes, building on such steep terrain seemed impossible. Then 34, Copenhaver, who was raised on a Colorado ranch, was undaunted by the Herculean task.

In a nod toward both his profession and his newly acquired site near the jaw of the camel, Copenhaver named the site Alveolar Ridge – a dental term for a jaw ridge in the mouth – and set to work. Assisted by laborers and friends, he blasted into the granite rock of Camelback Mountain to excavate a narrow, steep, 25-degree-grade driveway up to a site he would level for his castle.

Legal battles with a neighbor and the city, plus a month spent in the hospital as a result of his bulldozer exploding, netted Copenhaver all of 18 inches of driveway after one year of work. Undeterred, he finally completed the driveway after three years at a reported cost of $500,000.
A castle on Camelback Mountain that has secret passages, a dungeon and a drawbridge has sold for $1.45 million.

The 7,900-square-foot Copenhaver Castle had been a financial nightmare for its owners.

Robert Pazderka says he bought the unusual fortress to get some publicity for his company, which makes armored trucks and cars in Detroit.

Pazderka says he plans on spending up to $5 million to renovate the castle before moving in and trying to get it designated as a historical landmark.

The castle was built by Dr. Mort Copenhaver, an orthodontist, over the course of a decade starting in 1967.

He tried to sell it for $7 million in 1985 but lost the property in a bankruptcy when no buyer emerged and his business collapsed.

It has changed hands a few times, with each one owner ending up in bankruptcy and foreclosure.