Castle Office Building Completed in 1870 Is Up for Grabs in Silver Spring

The turreted structure is listing for $ 3.3 million

The Castle at Forest Glen Via Coakley Realty

At different points in its long and checkered past, The Castle at Forest Glen has furnished workspace for a brothel and for a senior living publication.

The 150-year history of the crenelated office building is colorful, even if it’s not a fairytale. And there’s no telling what the next chapter will be, with the 12,090-square-foot edifice at 10 Post Office Road landing on the market in late April.

The Castle was constructed in 1870 and went through a $2 million renovation project in 2004 to modernize it and install elevators. Coakley Realty, which is handling marketing, is listing the building at $3.3 million.

Patrick Dunn, one of the building’s owners, bought it in 2002 because of its attention-grabbing architecture, according to a press release. The building is located just off Forest Glen Road, adjacent to train tracks.

The three-story building’s current tenants include a law firm, a chiropractor, a physical therapy practice and a hair salon, according to the Coakley Realty marketing brochure.

In the 1940s, the castle’s second story was occupied by a bordello that catered to soldiers recovering at the Walter Reed Medical Center on Georgia Avenue in Washington, D.C., according to a Washington Post article from 1982. A Hungarian restaurant moved in during the late 1950s and operated there until a fire put it out of business, the Post reported.

The Castle was later converted into an office building, at one point accommodating employees of the Beacon, a publication geared toward people 50 and older.