Originally known as Kellogg Terrace, the castle was commissioned in 1875 for Mary Sherwood Hopkins by her husband Mark Hopkins, treasurer and one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad. Mark Hopkins died in 1878 and Mary Hopkins married Edward Francis Searles, who had designed the interior while the castle was being built.
Originally known as Kellogg Terrace, the castle was commissioned by Mark Hopkins in 1875 for his wife Mary Sherwood Hopkins. After Mark's death in 1878, Mary married Edward Francis Searles, who had worked on the castle's design during its construction.