In 1975 the Tri-City Herald wrote that Victor Moore believed that a man's junk is his castle. 'The Pullman High School teacher is still adding to the strange castle he's welded from bedsteads. rusty car doors and less identifiable American castoffs. The weird structure, rising two and a half storeys above the wheat fields of Whitman county, is somewhat of a tourist attraction for motorists driving by on U.S. 195 near here. And that's why Moore is reluctant to discuss the building, which he started constructing in 1968 as a thesis for his master's degree in fine arts from Washington State University. "Look, I'm flattered by the interest and all," he said, "but every time I'm interviewed about it, I get overrun with tourists. I really have a lot of people picking up things out there." Moore says he constructed the castle, which he is still adding to, from items scavenged lrom the county dump and about $50 worth of acetylene and oxygen to weld the pieces. Whitman County authorities were powerless to object, he said, because no permit was needed at that time to build a structure costing under $500. The Watts Tower in Los Angeles and a similar structure constructed in Woodstock, N.Y., influenced his design, Moore said. But at present [in 1975], only a robin and a meadowlark contend for control of the Whitman County castle.'
 
The stunning photo above is by David Patterson, a photographer who was mentored when a student by Vic Moore in Pullman, and who was permitted to do a photo essay of Junk Castle by the owner in 2010. In his blog David Patterson writes, 'Although found pieces and assemblages of various sorts are pleasantly scattered about the property, the hulking mass of the junk castle stands vigil above the rest. The Junk Castle is constructed from so many different items, including sheet metal, tin, washing machine parts, dryer doors, miscellaneous housings, bedsteads, and even the door from a 1952 Oldsmobile. The castle is featured in several books including "Strange Sites" by Jim Christy, "Fantasy Worlds" by John Maizels, and "Fantastic Architecture" published by Abrams, Inc. Vic Moore taught art in the Pullman, Washington public schools and mentored thousands of students, including myself.'