Noz has relied on his own masonry and metalworking skills to produce many of the details | Facebook/Castle Noz
Dutch-born contractor Casper Noz began building a medieval-style castle in 1991, and more than three decades later, Castle Noz, near Snelling, has two completed four-storey towers at its entrance, and the property hosts weddings and other private events while construction continues. The Merced County Times said that he drew up seven designs before settling on a medieval style based on Dutch castles from roughly AD 600 to 1400. He bought the land with Diane in 1987 and planted more than 500 oak trees on the property. A 2008 report by The New York Times, republished by SFGATE, described him mixing mortar, making wooden doors and staircases, and forging iron hardware by hand, with an estimate of about 500 hours a year spent on the project.
Noz grew up in the Netherlands and wanted to recreate the look of the castles that he remembered from home. The Merced County Times described the two towers as four levels tall, with wooden spiral staircases that lead to lookout terraces, while the interiors combine medieval-style details with practical facilities, including rooms for guests and bathrooms. Noz has also planned a moat and drawbridges for the expanded complex. Noz worked on the castle around his contracting jobs, and often used weekends to build the structure brick by brick. Noz wanted a grand entrance, and memories of the castles in his Dutch hometown of ’s-Hertogenbosch pushed him toward a different design. The castle was intended as a future retirement home for Noz and Diane, rather than a building that was designed from the outset for public events.
The castle’s construction began in 1991, and the couple started hosting events in the late 1990s, according to the venue’s website .
Noz’s own history of the property says that he and his wife, Diane, bought the land for a family home. He had initially worked on high-rise buildings in San Francisco and later established himself as a contractor in the Central Valley.