Eccentric is a word frequently associated with Crispin Glover. From his quirky on-screen roles—including Back to the Future's George McFly and the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels—to his unorthodox appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, nothing the actor and director does is, well, conventional. So we weren't sure what to expect when we sent a crew to photograph Glover's 17-bedroom, 20-acre estate in Konarovice, Czech Republic, just 45 minutes outside of Prague. What we discovered was nothing short of fantastical. Like, Wes Anderson-should-be-jealous fantastical.
It was almost too much to take in: There were dozens of peacocks strutting around the well-kept grounds, mysterious locked rooms we were instructed not to venture into, and the tale of the former owner who disappeared one day.
The 17th-century Renaissance-style chateau, dubbed Zamek Konarovice, which translates to Konarovice Chateau or Konarovice Castle ("but I don't generally call it a castle," Glover says), is not a vacation home or a real estate investment for the 53-year-old bachelor, whose main house is in Silver Lake, California. Glover, who currently plays Mr. World on STARZ's American Gods, purchased the property 14 years ago as a place to build permanent sets for his future productions.
He had just finished directing his second independent drama, It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine., when he had the idea to purchase a place to build his own sets for future films. "I had been talking to a producer about it, and he said he had read an article about Czech chateaus that were going for a good price. I knew immediately that was what I was going to do," he says. "I had considered purchasing a farm in upstate New York to shoot productions, and a Manhattan apartment. Purchasing the chateau ended up making more sense and working out."
Although buying and restoring a Czech castle in order to construct film sets for your own film productions seems like a lofty and perhaps guileless ambition, Glover made it work. When he first purchased the manor, sprawling and nearly dilapidated, a master apartment was the only livable space. He eventually acquired the surrounding structures, including horse stables that were converted to two atelier shooting stages, for a total of 18,000 square feet that he tailored specifically to the movie he is currently working on, Untitled Crispin Hellion Glover Project. Whenever he is in production, Glover invites his film crew to stay in the chateau. "I could never afford to do this in the United States," he says earnestly.
Glover would also never find a property with such a remarkable history in the United States. In the process of bringing the walls back to their former glory, he uncovered a number of frescos—the oldest dating back to the 18th century. "I had them all restored," Glover says.
This includes frescos from the Baroque era in the office, where Czech composer Bedrich Smetana wrote the opera The Bartered Bride. Count Jan von Harrach—a former owner of the chateau and a patron of the arts in the 19th-century—put money up for a contest to create the first Czech language opera, which Smetana won.
"I've also been told they did ethical studies on polio and other illnesses here," he says, with an emphasis on the word "ethical." During the country's Communist era, the manse was allowed to be utilized by a medical corporation that painted the interiors a sterile and uniform white. Glover is only the second owner since that time. And the one before him didn't stay long: "She only owned it for a few years and then she disappeared. There's still a missing person's case open for her."
A limited number of antiques came with the purchase of the property. "That just wasn't enough though," Glover says. "I needed linens. All the lights had been pulled out. During the Communist era, the entire chateau was pillaged. I've seen pictures—there was actually just a chandelier and one piece of furniture left."
When it came to decorating an unfurnished 17-bedroom castle, Glover was at a loss. Even a professional interior designer would balk at that task. "I had read in an article somewhere to splurge on bathrooms," he chuckles.
So he took to the internet: "I went on eBay and found different vintage Sherle Wagner faucets and sinks. Because I was buying so many I would buy them almost in bulk, and sometimes they weren't perfectly matching, but the plumbers were able to put them together, and it was a good way to do it relatively inexpensive and to make it look opulent."
I don't generally call it a castle
Many of the larger pieces of furniture were acquired locally at bazaars, and Glover used a movable property contract purchased after he bought the chateau to acquire other items: These included certain pieces of furniture that had belonged to Count Harrach at a different property which he owned. "The chateau is registered with the Czech government as a historical monument, and it has protective elements," Glover explains.
As if adding the roles of landlord, set developer, and interior designer to his resume was not enough, Glover tacked on two more: gardener and zookeeper. He focused on resurrecting the parterre—or formal garden—by installing a significant amount of decorative stonework and tending to the flowers that had been left to their own devices over the years.
Glover's final addition to the property? Peacocks, a species not native to the area, in case you were wondering. "I was surprised at how well they've done here. I started out with three or four, and then I added a few more, and there's somewhere between 25 or 30 of them now," he says proudly as they coo so loud that his voice is barely audible. "I also have swans in the two ponds. . . . The swanlings never survived to adulthood. But peacocks—the peacocks keep on breeding."
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