Woodstock Castle on Sale for $45M Doesn't Have a Fairytale Past

By Feroze Dhanoa

A real life castle is on sale in Woodstock for a whopping $45 million, but it comes with a troubled history.

The 18,000 square foot property features 9 bedrooms and 10 baths overlooking a 30 acre lake, according to the property listing. The house itself sits on 75 acres of land and is complete with turrets and moats giving it a real medieval feel.

The six-year-old castle was built by Christopher Mark, 51, the great-grandson of a Chicago steel tycoon, according to the New York Post.

Mark is selling the property just three years after a controversy that landed him in the papers. In 2011, Mark threw out his girlfriend Marina Isakova, a Russian immigrant, and their newborn baby from the castle, telling Isakova in a text message that he was facing a bad financial situation and didn’t want to add to her stress.

According to the New York Post, Mark refused to pay more than the bare minimum in child support for his daughter forcing Isakova to go on food stamps.

At one point, Mark ran an exotic animal refuge on the property called Wilderness Kingdom Inc. Curbed.com reports that during divorce proceeding with his first wife Mary Galt, Mark and Galt both alleged that the other’s neglect led to the death of a camel at the refuge.

It doesn’t end there, the castle was once advertised as an international modeling agency, landing Mark in trouble with town planning officials who said he didn’t have a permit to conduct business on the property, according to Curbed.

Described as a single-family home in the property listing, the castle has massage rooms and a shower that accommodates multiple people.

Image via Realtor.com