Lauderdale Local and the "Coral Castle"

Chances are if you were raised in Fort Lauderdale you have seen or partied at the "Castle House" on the New River, just minutes from downtown. I remember riding bikes past this house as a kid and thinking it was haunted and much bigger than it is now.

I had been planning a styled shoot to showcase a bit of "home" AKA Fort Lauderdale and reached out to my florist friend & side therapist (lol) Aynsley with Palm Trees to Peonies to see if she'd be willing to collaborate. As creatives it is so important to create for yourself once in a while to keep inspired. Fast forward a few weeks later she had the awesome idea to track down the owner of said "Castle House".

With some extra hard Facebook stalking and help of other Fort Lauderdale locals we did indeed track down the owner, Richard Joyner. A local himself, attending Stranahan High School, Richard would tell all of his buddies that one day he would own the castle and indeed he did! He's owned the castle since 2005 and since has held many parties and even weddings! It has been used as a family vacation home and they are about to list it on Air BNB.

The castle was originally a concrete garage with a one bedroom apartment upstairs, later bought by a local contractor and turned into a legitimate mini castle and party pad! I was fortunate to get to check out the inside and all I could think was "Man, if these walls could talk". The history of the property and not to mention the Game of Thrones feel cannot be beat!

A big thank you to Richard for being so awesome and sharing his little piece of historical, true Fort Lauderdale, paradise with us!

Check out the pictures below to get a feel for the property itself.

Location: The New River Coral Castle

Florals: Palm Trees to Peonies

Model: Jessie Goodwin

Styling: Katie Doyle