Italian immigrant Alessio Carraro dreamed of building a resort hotel as the centerpiece of his high-end subdivision, Carrarro Heights. He and his son constructed the hotel over just fourteen months, between 1928 and 1930. The building was a thing of beauty, based on Italian architecture and tiered like a wedding cake.

However, perhaps because of the stench from the nearby Tovrea meatpacking stockyards, or because of the Great Depression, it never opened. Carraro sold his castle and its 42 acres to Edward Ambrose Tovrea, magnate of the stockyards, who transformed the massive hotel into a private residence. Tovrea died after less than a year living in the castle, and is memorialized by a giant steel pyramid on the property. His widow Della lived there until her death in 1969.