The Castle (Waltham, Massachusetts)

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The Castle
Brandeis-Usen Castle.JPG
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Location415 South St., Waltham, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°22′1″N71°15′21″W / 42.36694°N 71.25583°W / 42.36694; -71.25583 Coordinates: 42°22′1″N71°15′21″W / 42.36694°N 71.25583°W / 42.36694; -71.25583
Built1928
ArchitectSmith, John H.
NRHP reference # 79000359 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 09, 1979

The Castle, also known as Usen Castle, is a historic building at 415 South Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. The Medieval style structure, built in the style of a Norman castle in 1928, stands on the campus of Brandeis University, where it serves as a dormitory. The building, the design of which is unlike any other on the campus or in the city, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. [1]

Waltham, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning, spawning what became known as the Waltham-Lowell system of labor and production. The city is now a center for research and higher education, home to Brandeis University and Bentley University. The population was 60,636 at the census in 2010.

Brandeis University private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts

Brandeis University is an American private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, 9 miles (14 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1948 as a non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jewish community, Brandeis was established on the site of the former Middlesex University. The university is named after Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Justice of the U.S Supreme Court.

National Register of Historic Places Federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property.

Contents

Description and history

Usen Castle is located atop Boston Rock, one of the highest points on the Brandeis campus. It consists of a series of six sections, connected to form an enclosed courtyard. Its exterior, apparently inspired by Lismore Castle in Ireland, features a wide variety of turrets, towers, crenellations, and pinnacles. A variety of unusual materials were used in its construction, including colored concrete and ceramic inlays. The interior retains Gothic features, giving the current student residential users a distinctive feel not found in other residences on the campus. [2]

Lismore Castle

Lismore Castle is the Irish home of the Duke of Devonshire. Located in the town of Lismore in County Waterford in the Republic of Ireland, it belonged to the Earls of Desmond, and subsequently to the Cavendish family from 1753. It was largely re-built in the Gothic style during the mid-nineteenth century for The 6th Duke of Devonshire.

Ireland Island in north-west Europe, 20th largest in world, politically divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (a part of the UK)

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.

The Castle was built in 1928 by Dr. John Hall Smith, founder of the Middlesex College of Medicine and Surgery, on whose campus it stood until the school closed in 1945. The campus and school charter were acquired by the founders of Brandeis. The building at first housed administrative offices as well as a dormitory and dining hall, but was converted to exclusively residential use in the 1950s. The building is one of two to survive on the campus from its Middlesex College days, and is a sharp contrast to the otherwise modern buildings there. [2]

Middlesex University (Massachusetts) university in Massachusetts, United States

Middlesex University, known primarily for its medical and veterinary schools, operated from 1914 until 1947, first in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later in Waltham, Massachusetts.

In summer 2017, after much of the building was condemned as unsafe by the city of Waltham, the University demolished Castle Towers C, D and E, and Schwartz Castle to make way for the new Skyline residence hall. Castle Towers A and B remain as student residences. [3] [4]

See also

This is a list of properties and historic districts in Waltham, Massachusetts, that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for The Castle". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  3. "Letter to the Community - The Castle Project - Brandeis University". Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  4. "Partial demolition of Usen Castle continues after summer 2017". Brandeis Hoot. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2019.