Imagine spending years building a magnificent castle for the woman you wanted to marry, only for her to still say NO.
This is Lord Egerton Castle, standing towering at Njoro, near Nakuru City in Kenya.
Some are proposing that, this historical castle with heartbreaking background should be converted into a hotel.
Behind its imposing stone walls, the castle remains one of Kenya’s most fascinating historical stories, a story involving love, heartbreak, wealth, ambition, architecture and one of the most extravagant attempts ever made to impress someone.
Lord Maurice Egerton was born in Britain in 1874 and became the 4th Baron Egerton of Tatton. He was an unusual aristocrat with interests beyond his title.
He was fascinated by aviation, automobiles, photography, farming, natural history and engineering. He eventually settled in Kenya, where he acquired large areas of land around Njoro and became involved in agriculture.
It was his love life that would give his name a place in Kenya’s popular history.
According to the long standing story associated with the castle, Lord Egerton fell in love with a European aristocratic woman. When she visited his first, much smaller home, she was unimpressed and described it as looking like a “chicken coop.”
Instead of accepting the rejection, Lord Egerton apparently decided that the solution was, if the house wasn’t good enough, he would build a better one.
And by “better,” he meant a castle.
Construction began in 1938, with architect Albert Brown involved in the design. The project took many years and continued through the difficult period of the Second World War before the castle was completed in 1954.
Lord Egerton spared little expense. Materials and fittings were brought from different parts of the world. British oak was extensively used inside the building, marble for fireplaces came from Italy and tiles were imported from China.
The result was an extraordinary four storey mansion that looked completely out of place in the Kenyan countryside of its time.
According to Egerton University, the castle contains 52 rooms, including a ballroom, library, reading room, photography room, guest rooms, kitchen and other elaborate spaces. It even had a wine cellar.
The most unusual feature is the enormous organ with 411 pipes, extending through two floors of the building. According to the university’s historical account, a musician would travel from England several times a year to play Lord Egerton’s favourite music.
Just imagine the scene. A huge castle in Njoro, an aristocratic owner, imported marble and oak, a ballroom, a wine cellar and a giant organ playing inside.
Surely, after all that, the lady would say yes.
Except…
She didn’t.
According to the established story, when the woman eventually saw the completed castle, she still rejected Lord Egerton’s proposal. She later left for Australia and married another man.
After years of building what was essentially a gigantic architectural love letter, Lord Egerton was left with something he apparently had not planned for, castle without the bride.
Traditional accounts say that after the rejection, Lord Egerton became reclusive and prohibited women from his estate. Some of the colourful stories surrounding the castle claim that women were not allowed onto the property at all.
He built the castle to win a woman, but the castle eventually became famous for keeping women away.
However, Lord Egerton’s legacy goes far beyond this romantic tragedy.
He was deeply involved in agriculture and education. In 1939, the institution that began as Egerton Farm School was established on land associated with him. It later developed into Egerton Agricultural College and eventually became Egerton University in 1987.
Lord Egerton died in 1958, aged 83, having never married.
Today, his magnificent castle remains standing as a remarkable piece of Kenya’s colonial-era architectural history.
It is associated with Egerton University and has become a popular historical and tourist attraction where visitors can explore the rooms, architecture and stories surrounding the man who built it.
The woman who wanted a grander house became part of the story but the castle itself became the real legacy.
More than seven decades later, people are still travelling to Njoro to see the house that was built because one woman supposedly thought the first one looked like a chicken coop.
A castle built for love, abandoned by love and remembered by history.