Searles Castle (Massachusetts)
Encyclopedia
The Searles Castle is a romantically imagined castle
-style house in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
. Built in the 1880s, and in the French chateau
-style, it has seven stories and includes a "dungeon" basement. There are 40 rooms containing over 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) of floor space, as well as 36 fireplaces.
It was commissioned in 1888 by Mary Hopkins, widow of railroad millionaire Mark Hopkins. She married Edward Francis Searles
, who had designed the interior, while the castle was being built. Hopkins died in 1891, but Searles maintained the castle until his death in 1920. After his death, the structure was used as a private girls' school for 30 years, then passed through various owners and was used as a storage area and conference center.
Since the mid-1980s it has housed John Dewey Academy
, a school for troubled teens, which put the castle on the market in 2007. The $15 million asking price, and the elaborate and romantic architecture, attracted some press coverage of the listing.
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
-style house in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,104 at the 2010 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van...
. Built in the 1880s, and in the French chateau
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
-style, it has seven stories and includes a "dungeon" basement. There are 40 rooms containing over 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) of floor space, as well as 36 fireplaces.
It was commissioned in 1888 by Mary Hopkins, widow of railroad millionaire Mark Hopkins. She married Edward Francis Searles
Edward Francis Searles
Edward Francis Searles was an interior and architectural designer.-Biography:Searles was born on July 4, 1841, in Methuen, Massachusetts, USA to Jesse Gould Searles and Sarah Searles...
, who had designed the interior, while the castle was being built. Hopkins died in 1891, but Searles maintained the castle until his death in 1920. After his death, the structure was used as a private girls' school for 30 years, then passed through various owners and was used as a storage area and conference center.
Since the mid-1980s it has housed John Dewey Academy
John Dewey Academy
The John Dewey Academy is a therapeutic college preparatory boarding school in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, housed in Searles Castle.It is coeducational and enrolls about 25 high school students, ages 15 to 21, typically in grades 10 to postgraduate...
, a school for troubled teens, which put the castle on the market in 2007. The $15 million asking price, and the elaborate and romantic architecture, attracted some press coverage of the listing.