The Pythian Castle is a building in Arcata, northwestern California, that was built during 1884-85 for the North Star chapter of the Knights of Pythias fraternal order. It is notable for its commercial Queen Anne style architecture which features five projecting towers: two square towers projecting from the center of the two street-fronting sides of the building, and three round towers projecting from the street-side corners. Patterned shingles covered the tower roofs in the past. The corner ones have "witch hat"-shaped tops and used to sport tall finials. The side ones once had cresting.[2]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[1] Although many of its details have changed, the building was deemed significant as the "only remaining Victorian commercial building [in Arcata] that has not lost its architectural and historic character."[2]
