INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Long before today's jet set discovered Lake Tahoe, the strange doings at George Whittell's "castle" were the stuff of legend.
Old-timers still tell stories about the all-night poker games with baseball great Ty Cobb, the weeklong parties with showgirls, and the lion and tiger that strolled among partygoers.
The Thunderbird Lodge was the flamboyant real estate magnate's summer playpen until he died in 1969 at age 87.
The granite-faced, lakeside retreat had never been open to the public until April, when a land deal transferred ownership to the nonprofit Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society. Docent-led tours are now available every Wednesday and Thursday through Oct. 31. Sunday tours will be offered in the summer.
Whittell, heir to a pioneer San Francisco family's banking and real estate fortune, would have been a billionaire by today's standards, historian Ron James says.
"Whittell's motto was, 'I won't work a day of my life,' and he did a good job of living up to that. I have the impression he reveled in being the subject of folklore," says James, co-author of "Castle in the Sky," a book on the lodge, due out this summer.
"There have been a lot of rich, spoiled brats who led throwaway lives, but he did save a large swath of land at Tahoe and built a great lodge."
The Thunderbird Lodge is five miles south of Incline Village, which was once also part of Whittell's Lake Tahoe holdings. They totaled more than 40,000 acres and covered virtually all of the lakeshore on the Nevada side.
The lodge ranks among the most luxurious, historic homes at Lake Tahoe, including Vikingsholm at Emerald Bay and the Ehrman Mansion at Sugar Pine Point State Park, historians say. The homes are reminders of a bygone era when prominent San Francisco Bay area families spent summers at opulent Tahoe estates.
Whittell, based in Woodside, Calif., spared no expense. About 100 workers built his three-story, French chateau and other stone structures from 1936 to 1939 at a cost of $300,000. Today it's worth $3.6 million.
Designed by Reno architect Frederic DeLongchamps, the Castle — as it also was known — features masonry and iron and woodwork by top Italian-American, Norwegian and American Indian craftsmen.
From its perch on a forested, rocky promontory on the northeast shore, it offers a spectacular panorama of the lake famous for its clear blue waters.
"It's the most fabulous view of Lake Tahoe," says Harriet Burgess, president of the San Francisco-based American Land Conservancy, which helped arrange the lodge's transfer to public ownership.
"The Thunderbird Lodge has it all: an unparalleled view, stunning architecture and George Whittell's legendary history. I'll bet it becomes one of the top tourist attractions at Lake Tahoe."
Tours include the 6,000-square-foot main lodge with its steep-pitched roof, and the 600-foot underground tunnel that leads to the boathouse where Whittell kept his speedy, torpedo-shaped "Thunderbird" yacht.
The living room features a two-story beamed ceiling, massive fireplaces at both ends and huge windows that overlook the lake.
At opposite ends of the second story are bedrooms, one for Whittell and the other supposedly for his French-born wife of 50 years, Elia.
Actually, James says, Whittell shared the place more with a longtime mistress who was a housekeeper. Whittell had no children.
"Absolutely, he was a womanizer," James says. "I think Elia probably accepted it as much as one can. She spent summers in France, and he spent summers at Tahoe."
Visitors also will see the infamous "Card House," where Whittell played poker with Ty Cobb and others, and reportedly lost $100,000 in a single night. Cobb had a home on Tahoe's east shore.
Tours also will visit "The Dungeon," a cell-like area off the tunnel where rowdy guests were confined.
Whittell was an animal lover who brought wilder guests, including a lion named Bill and a baby elephant named Mingo, to the Thunderbird Lodge each summer. Some were even allowed to roam free on the estate.
"We have heard stories of guests waking up in The Dungeon with Bill licking them," Caterino says. When he died, Whittell left most of his estate to animal-rights groups.
He is credited with preserving what today is the largest chunk of unspoiled land at Tahoe. Most of his original holdings on Tahoe's east shore are now owned by the U.S. Forest Service and Nevada park system.
"It's a good thing for the environment that he owned it, because it would all be developed like the California side if he didn't," says Don Robb of Reno, a pallbearer at his funeral.
The Thunderbird Lodge is little changed since Whittell's days, except for a 10,000-square-foot addition built in 1985 by mutual fund tycoon Jack Dreyfus, 89.
Dreyfus, who bought the property as an investment in 1972, agreed to the public buyout of the property. It seems he found the lodge dreary and never spent a night there.