Babs Young has been exploring the old Loeb property in Charlevoix, and was taken with the farmhouse. She writes, It was a great weekend. I had the opportunity to photograph the Loeb farm house in Charlevoix. This lovely house and the rest of the farm was built about 1918 by Albert Loeb, the acting President of Sears, Roebuck and Company according to the Castle Farms website. This house sits about a mile back in the woods behind the current Castle Farms and is still a private residence. I took over 300 pictures and will try to put some up on Flickr in the near future. This is indeed a real gem.
Every week photographer Babs Young captures moments in northern Michigan, and every week she sends one to Torch Lake Views just for you. You can find more of her photos at the Babs Young Photo Archives and on her Blue Heaven Flickr photostream.
Torch Lake Views 
Gerry
November 9, 2009
The property is a gem, as Babs says, but somehow I can’t get past the history. Besides being the Vice President of Sears, Albert Loeb was the father of Richard Loeb, an intellectually gifted but morally bankrupt youth who, with his friend Nathan Leopold, murdered Bobby Franks in 1924. The “Leopold-Loeb thrill killing” is the part of the story that isn’t repeated on the Castle Farms website. I won’t argue that it should be–but whenever I’m over there I wonder what on earth life was like in the Loeb household that it could produce Richard. Albert anguished over that himself. He died in 1924, shortly after Nathan and Richard were convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Deepak Dhotre
November 3, 2010
Question ?
Since you have visited the Castle Farms do you any pictures of the parents of Richard Loeb ?
I cant seem to find any pictures of Anna and Albert Loeb.
Thats all
Deepak Dhotre
Gerry
November 3, 2010
No. The history of the Loeb family and Castle Farms diverged many years ago.
Babs Young
November 9, 2009
Oh Gerry you are right on. I wonder the same thing. The gentleman who showed us around is a relative and spends summers there with his sister and family. There are 14 or 15 bedrooms in this place which is now closed up for winter. The out buildings are architecturally wonderful as well. The red barns beyond Castle Farm belongs to the that family too. I have photos from there as well. More to come.
flandrumhill
November 9, 2009
That’s quite a history Gerry. The place is nevertheless quite stunning. Babs’ shot makes the most of the architecture.
Babs Young
November 10, 2009
I’ve put some more Loeb photos on Flickr (Blue Heaven1: Loeb Farm, Charlevoix set).
p.j. grath
November 10, 2009
I cannot imagine any worse fate for a parent.
J. Stanley
August 31, 2015
As a child reared in Northern Michigan, I was told of this opulently constructed castle farm owned by the Loeb family. I learned that there was a dairy farm on the grounds and that the men who milked the cows did so in neatly pressed white jackets inside whitewashed and spotless barns. Servants labored in weedless gardens which produced most of the fruit and vegetables consumed by the Loeb family as well as for the multiple staff living on the grounds.
Gerry
January 24, 2016
It’s interesting, the narratives that develop about such places. Spotless dairy barns, weedless gardens . . . my my.