Grey Towers | |
Location | Glenside, Pennsylvania |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°5′27″N75°9′53″W / 40.09083°N 75.16472°W |
Built | 1893 |
Architect | Horace Trumbauer |
Architectural style | Gothic Revival & others |
NRHP reference No. | 80003578 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | February 14, 1980 [1] |
Designated NHL | February 4, 1985 [2] |
The Grey Towers Castle is a building on the campus of Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania, which is located in Cheltenham Township, a suburb of Philadelphia, United States. The castle was designed by Horace Trumbauer and built starting in 1893 on the estate of William Welsh Harrison.
The university (then known as Beaver College and located in nearby Jenkintown) purchased the estate in 1929 for $712,500, equal to $12,142,878 today. [3] Classes were split between the two locations until 1962, when the school moved all of its operations to the Glenside area. The castle was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 for its architecture.
In 1881, William Welsh Harrison, co-owner of the Franklin Sugar Refinery, purchased Rosedale Hall from J. Thomas Audenreid. By 1891, Harrison had expanded his estate to 138 acres (0.56 km2) and decided to expand the house and add a gate house and more adequate stables. He employed the skills of 23-year-old architect Horace Trumbauer, who completed the stables and gate house in 1892.
In 1893, the main house of Rosedale Hall burned to the ground in a raging fire, during which the Harrison family fled to the stables for safety. Afterward, the family moved into the gatehouse, while Trumbauer was again employed to build a new home on the site. By March 1893, Trumbauer presented Harrison with plans for a grandiose mansion, inspired by Alnwick Castle, the medieval seat of the Dukes of Northumberland. The new house would include all the most modern conveniences of the time, and the cost was estimated at $250,000, equal to $8,142,593 today. Work was underway by the end of 1893. The construction took five years.
Grey Towers Castle is designed in a highly eclectic yet elegant fashion, taking inspiration from a variety of styles, periods, and buildings. The house is built of grey stone quarried at nearby Chestnut Hill, and Indiana limestone is used for exterior door and window trim, and other elements, such as the various gargoyles.
The interiors of the castle reflect various French styles ranging from Renaissance through Louis XV. The massive twin mantles in the Great Hall are interpretations of a Renaissance mantle in the Salle des Gardes, in the Francis I wing of Château de Blois. The Library, now the President's office, and the Dining room, both on the south side of the Great Hall, contain many elements reminiscent of French Renaissance decoration. The walnut cabinetry and plaster friezes in the Library and the columns and caryatids and strapwork ceiling in the Dining room are inspired by interiors of the Château de Fontainebleau.
On the north side of the Great Hall lay the Mirror Room and the Drawing Room, now known as the Rose Room. It is thought that the entirety of the Mirror Room was ordered at the New York office of a French firm, then crafted in France and shipped to Glenside, along with workers, to be installed. The ceiling was painted by François Lafon, and depicts the four seasons as women, accompanied by cupids, with the path of the Zodiac behind them.
In the Great Hall, which rises three stories to a grand barrel vaulted and gilded ceiling, the Grand Staircase leads to a large landing, which contains the Music Room. The ceiling was originally painted in a Renaissance style, but all that remains is the painting in the spaces of the archway, through which the room is accessed. Above the wainscoting of the Music Room, large tapestries depict Euterpe, the Muse of Music. All the tapestries in Grey Towers were provided by William Baumgarten & Co, Inc. of New York City. On each floor there is a balcony which rings the Great Hall, and tapestries line all of these spaces.
Upon completion, Grey Towers was one of the largest homes in the country, with forty rooms. The eclectic and grandiose style attracted attention to the young Horace Trumbauer, who began a successful career, which included the construction of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and many other houses and buildings in the Philadelphia area.
William Welsh Harrison died in 1927, and in 1929 Beaver College (now Arcadia University), then located in Jenkintown, purchased the estate from his widow for $712,500. Classes were split between the two locations until 1962, when the college moved permanently to the Grey Towers property. The castle currently houses the Offices of Admissions, Enrollment Management, and Financial Aid, and the office of the president. The vast bedrooms on the second and third floors are used as housing for students.
The castle, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, is much-loved by the students and staff of the university. The student group "Society for Castle Restoration" is dedicated to preserving the landmark and its history.
There are many stories and myths surrounding the building and the Harrison family. According to legend, Mr. Harrison and his wife did not get along well and eventually each lived in separate areas of the house. Mr. Harrison was thought to have had relations with many different male servants. In one of the third-floor bedrooms, a mirror above the fireplace mantle had to be replaced because of a large crack. Yet, when it is replaced it cracks soon afterward.
The castle is also rumored to have been built entirely without the use of nails. There is a series of tunnels connecting the main home to the former powerhouse of the estate, now Spruance Hall. These Castle-Spruance Hall tunnels became obstructed in 2010 during construction of a new commons. There remains one tunnel between the stables (Murphy) and the powerhouse (Spruance Hall).
From the time that the castle was built, there have been other buildings on the estate. These historic buildings (the ones that existed before Beaver College purchased the estate) that are still standing include Murphy Hall (previously the stables on the Harrison Estate), Blankley Hall (previously Blake Hall, so named by Beaver College, and the gatehouse on the Harrison Estate) and Spruance Hall (previously the engineer's building on the Harrison Estate).
Murphy Hall was once the stables, where the Harrison family kept their horses. After the initial purchase of the land by Beaver College, science labs were put in this building as well as a chapel in which the chorus sang. Murphy Memorial Hall was presented by Jane M. Murphy in memory of her husband William M. Murphy in 1929. At the time an organ was also donated and installed in chapel. The organ is now gone as it was damaged during renovations to the building in the 1980s. The building also included a gymnasium with a shooting range for the school's rifle team. Over the years, metalworking and ceramics studios were added, the gymnasium was removed and the science labs were moved elsewhere on campus. Currently, music and art classes are taught in Murphy Hall.
Blankley Hall was originally known as the gatehouse, where guests were greeted before taking the path (now the Alumni Walk of Pride) up to the Harrison's castle. After Beaver College purchased the estate, it was briefly used as student housing, and then as office space for university employees. It was named Blake Hall for a time, before being renamed Blankley Hall in 2005 in honor of one of Arcadia's alumni. It is currently the location of Arcadia's Alumni Relations office.
Spruance Hall was used as a maintenance building for the Harrison estate. It was known as the engineer's building, and there were many tunnels leading from this building to other places on the estate. Its most notable feature is a large smokestack. After Beaver College purchased the estate, the building was used for fashion and art classes. The building currently houses Arcadia University's theater, as well as an art studio and painting classroom.
Peckforton Castle is a Victorian country house built in the style of a medieval castle. It stands in woodland at the north end of Peckforton Hills one mile (2 km) northwest of the village of Peckforton, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The house was built in the middle of the 19th century as a family home for John Tollemache, a wealthy Cheshire landowner, estate manager, and Member of Parliament. It was designed by Anthony Salvin in the Gothic style. During the Second World War it was used as a hostel for physically disabled children.
Robert Adam was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of Ordnance, after William's death.
Harlaxton Manor is a Victorian country house in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, England. It was built for Gregory Gregory, a local squire and businessman. Gregory employed two of the leading architects of Victorian England, Anthony Salvin and William Burn and consulted a third, Edward Blore, during its construction. Its architecture, which combines elements of Jacobean and Elizabethan styles with Baroque decoration, makes it unique among England's Jacobethan houses. Harlaxton is a Grade I listed building on the National Heritage List for England, and many other structures on the estate are also listed. The surrounding park and gardens are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It is now the British campus of the University of Evansville.
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 sq ft (16,622.8 m2) of floor space and 135,280 sq ft (12,568 m2) of living area. Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions.
Whitemarsh Hall was a large estate located on 300 acres (1.2 km2) of land in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, United States, and owned by banking executive Edward T. Stotesbury and his wife, Eva. Designed by the Gilded Age architect Horace Trumbauer, it was built in 1921 and demolished in 1980. Before its destruction, the mansion was the third-largest private residence in the United States.
Arcadia University is a private university in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, with a Glenside mailing address. The university enrolls approximately 3,200 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. The 94-acre Glenside campus features Grey Towers Castle, a National Historic Landmark; the university also includes a campus in Christiana, Del., as well as several centers around the world.
Kellie Castle is a castle just outside Arncroach and below the dominant hill in the area, Kellie Law. It is about 4 kilometres north of Pittenweem in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.
Bramshill House, in Bramshill, northeast Hampshire, England, is one of the largest and most important Jacobean prodigy house mansions in England. It was built in the early 17th century by the 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth but was partly destroyed by fire a few years later. The design shows the influence of the Italian Renaissance, which became popular in England during the late 16th century. The house was designated a Grade I listed building in 1952.
Horace Trumbauer was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of the campus of Duke University.
Brougham Castle is a medieval building about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Penrith, Cumbria, England. The castle was founded by Robert I de Vieuxpont in the early 13th century. The site, near the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther, had been chosen by the Romans for a Roman fort called Brocavum. The castle, along with the fort, is a scheduled monument: "Brougham Roman fort and Brougham Castle".
Dean Castle is a 14th century castle located in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. It was the stronghold for the Boyd Family, who were lords of Kilmarnock for over 400 years, and is situated in a 200 acre site situated within the Dean Castle Country Park.
Croome Court is a mid-18th-century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Upton-upon-Severn in south Worcestershire, England. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for the 6th Earl of Coventry, and they were Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the mansion's rooms were designed by Robert Adam. St Mary Magdalene's Church, Croome D'Abitot that sits within the grounds of the park is now owned and cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.
Hempstead House, also known as the Gould-Guggenheim Estate or Sands Point Preserve, is a large American estate that was built for Howard Gould and completed for Daniel Guggenheim in 1912. It is located in Sands Point on the North Shore of Long Island in Nassau County, New York.
The Elkins Estate is an American 42-acre (170,000 m2) estate located in Elkins Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The estate contains seven buildings, the most notable being Elstowe Manor and Chelten House, mansions designed by Horace Trumbauer.
Ashton Hall is a largely rebuilt 14th-century mansion in the civil parish of Thurnham, Lancashire, England. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the city of Lancaster and is on the east bank of the River Lune. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building, and is now owned by Lancaster Golf Club.
Rockwood Hall was a Gilded Age mansion in Mount Pleasant, New York, on the Hudson River. It was best known as the home of William Rockefeller, brother of John D. Rockefeller. Both brothers were co-founders of the Standard Oil Company. Other owners of the house or property included Alexander Slidell MacKenzie, William Henry Aspinwall, and Lloyd Aspinwall. The property was once up to 1,000 acres (400 ha) in size; the mansion at its height had 204 rooms, making it the second-largest private house in the U.S. at the time, only behind the Biltmore mansion in North Carolina. The estate is currently an 88-acre (36 ha) section of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve.
Sleepy Hollow Country Club is a historic country club in Scarborough-on-Hudson in Briarcliff Manor, New York. The club was founded in 1911, and its clubhouse was known as Woodlea, a 140-room Vanderbilt mansion owned by Colonel Elliott Fitch Shepard and his wife Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard. It was built in 1892–95 at a cost of $2 million and was designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White; the estate became a contributing property to the Scarborough Historic District in 1984.
Cheltenham Township is a home rule municipality and Township of the First Class located in the southeast corner of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It borders Philadelphia to the south and east, Abington Township and Jenkintown to the north, and Springfield Township to the west.
William Welsh Harrison was an American businessman best known for building Grey Towers Castle.