LUCERNE, Calif. – History, fate and misfortune had kept the grand old Lucerne Hotel waiting for more than 80 years, but its glory finally returned Tuesday.
Dr. Michael Brophy, president of Marymount College, stood before more than 100 community members in the lobby of the building, and said, “Good evening, and welcome to Marymount College … and The Castle,” receiving an enthusiastic round of applause.
On Tuesday evening Marymount College and the county of Lake hosted a celebration of the signing of the 15-year lease for the building, unanimously approved by both the Board of Supervisors and the college’s board of trustees.
The lease’s signing formalizes the partnership between the college and county that has been more than a year in the making, following the county’s 2010 purchase of the building from a church group that owned it.
The words “unique,” “historic” and “transformational” would be used throughout the evening by a number of county and college officials, but as Board of Supervisors Chair Rob Brown pointed out, those sentiments can’t be overused when it comes to the importance of Marymount’s arrival.
The building may not have had much of a future had it not been for the college. “To be able to save this building and use it for this purpose is an amazing commitment by our county,” said Brown.
The evening also would highlight the vision of the two men who made the partnership possible – Brophy and retired County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox.
Both Cox and Brophy were hailed for seeing an opportunity to educate, inspire and help others.
Cox and his staff – including Matt Perry, Eric Seely, Alan Flora and Debra Sommerfield – conducted outreach, made trips and oversaw the building’s restoration, and worked alongside the Marymount College team to bring the vision to life.
The Lucerne Hotel and the seven acres it sits on in the heart of the lakeside town will be Marymount’s third campus.
At 75,000 square feet, it is one of the county’s largest buildings. Its seven story tower also gives it the distinction of being Lake County’s tallest building, according to Seely, a county deputy administrative officer for special projects, with one of those projects being The Castle. As a result, he’s become an expert on the building and its fascinating history.
The building’s grandeur has been restored thanks to the county’s painstaking restorations, from new roofing to new stucco, paint and the extensive interior renovations.
“Isn’t this just an awesome building?” asked Perry, Cox’s successor as county administrative officer, who opened the Tuesday evening ceremony.
A new purpose
The Lucerne Hotel has had a history filled with interrupted promise.
The construction of the building began in 1927, as the optimistic and ebullient 1920s neared their end.
Just weeks before the stock market crash in October 1929, the Hotel Lucerne Corp. secured a $25,000 mortgage to continue work on the property, but only two $1,000 payments were made, according to a history compiled by the county.
The Great Depression hit the hotel and its owners hard, and by January 1931 the Hotel Lucerne Corp. had defaulted on its loans. That May the property was in foreclosure and ordered to be sold to cover the nearly $61,000 that was owed.
Two months later, Louis Becker, one of Lucerne’s founders, was killed in a plane crash at the town airport in July 1931.
The building would repeatedly change hands over the decades to come. For the 20 years before its sale to the county it was owned by Castlepoint Ministries, which used it mostly for religious gatherings, retreats and camps.
In December 2008 Castlepoint Ministries put the hotel up for sale in the midst of uncertain financial times, with the Board of Supervisors voting a year and a half later to buy the building for $1.35 million.
Its newest, and perhaps greatest, incarnation is as a college campus. Transforming it into such a facility was a process that required hard work and vision.
Brophy, who has been Marymount College’s president since 2006, knows about transformations.
In his time with Marymount, he’s taken the Catholic liberal arts institution from a two-year, single-campus college to three campuses and four-year accreditation. Master’s degrees are now being added, and he led a $15 million campus investment project.
As he stood before the group on Tuesday, he noted, “We all feel so at home.”
Fifteen months ago a request for proposals from the county of Lake landed on Brophy’s desk. The county was seeking educational institutions interested in utilizing the hotel as a campus.
Brophy credited Cox with writing an RFP that was both inspiring and compelling.
He also recognized Perry, Brown and board colleague Denise Rushing, who traveled to Rancho Palos Verdes, Marymount’s base, to meet with college officials and make the case for the college to the community there.
“All of us are celebrating this opportunity,” said Brophy.
He said Marymount College will be able to help Lake County move from a kindergarten through grade 14 community to one that has offerings from kindergarten through a full four years of college.
In the fall of 2013, the first students will arrive in Lucerne, coming for research and internships. The following fall, undergraduate programs will be offered at the hotel, he said. Locally, degree programs initially will be offered in business and psychology, complementing the offerings at the local community colleges.
The college’s mission, he said, is to serve others so that all may have life.
Also speaking on Tuesday was Burt Arnold, Marymount College’s Board of Trustees chair.
Arnold has a connection to Lake County – his grandparents had a vacation trailer in Clearlake Oaks, and brought him to the county for summer vacations when he was a child. He caught his first fish in Clear Lake, and recalled looking for Lake County diamonds and finding obsidian arrowheads.
He said it was great to be back. “I eagerly anticipated this day,” said Arnold. “It’s a historic moment for all of us today.”
Arnold said he brought with him the trustees’ greetings and wholehearted support.
Marymount College’s mission, he said, is to serve the underserved. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Arnold said he was impressed by The Castle’s beauty and history, noting it had been restored to a “brilliance that is unsurpassed.”
Following Arnold, Supervisor Brown said that while the Board of Supervisors is a very diverse group, there was not a moment when it was not unanimous on the building’s possibilities.
The project was moving at “lightning speed” considering the bureaucracy involved, with Brown joking that he was glad it was happening while they were all still in office. He said he was happy to be part of it.
Rushing said the project started with a dream. “The dream was for all people to be able to step into the economy” and help turn it around.
To do that, she said the veil of darkness obscuring the lives of many had to be removed. In Rushing’s experience, that can happen either through art or education.
“I believe the work has just begun,” she said.
Dreams for The Castle
Cox, who had worked for the county for 32 years, said that for decades he had longed for The Castle to be publicly available.
He recalled driving with Seely to meet Castlepoint Ministries after the group decided to sell the building. Very quickly opportunities began to fall into place.
However, he said the support wasn’t unanimous. Cox heard from some community members who thought the proposal to purchase the building was a poor idea.
When he received Brophy’s proposal for the building, Cox was delighted. He noted that, from day one, Marymount College and its staff made clear their desire to help Lake County.
Cox called Brophy a visionary leader, with whom the county can be proud to be associated.
Brophy’s vision and the resulting agreement is the beginning of something big for Lake County, said Cox, who acknowledged the courage of the Board of Supervisors in purchasing the building. It had likewise required courage to purchase the land on Mt. Konocti, he said.
On Cox’s last day with the county in June, he said the Board of Supervisors approved the memorandum of understanding with Marymount College. After three decades with the county, Cox said it was one of the very best things that could have happened.
With Marymount’s connection to faith-based communities, the evening also included blessings by Father Ron Serban and Thomas Leon Brown, a member of the Pomo community.
Serban thanked those who built The Castle decades ago and those who continued to work on it. He also asked for blessings for those who are yet to come through its doors – students, staff and faculty.
Before the gathering, Thomas Brown said he had blessed the building’s grounds. As he stood before the group, he sang a song of blessing, his voice lifting through the hall, the timbers of which had been harvested from the hills above the town and handhewn by laborers eight decades ago.
“Bless this house and the land,” he said.
The last remarks of the evening were offered by Lake County Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Melissa Fulton, who said that the hotel was not just going to be a college. “It is an opportunity in many forms for all of us.”
She said no one can know just how far reaching the new campus’ impacts will be for Lake County.
The new opportunities are manifesting in a unique place. As Fulton pointed out, where else can you find a county that bought both a mountain and a castle?
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.