Edward Francis Searles (July 4, 1841 – August 6, 1920) was an interior and architectural designer.

Biography

Searles was born on July 4, 1841, in

Methuen, Massachusetts Methuen () is a 23 square mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Middlesex County and just south of ...

, US to Jesse Gould Searles (1805–1844) and Sarah (Littlefield) Searles. His father worked in a local

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

and operated a small farm. On November 7, 1887, Searles married Mary Frances Hopkins ( Sherwood), a wealthy widow 22 years his senior. The widow of Mark Hopkins, her assets included 25% ownership of the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by Pacific Railroad Acts, U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in N ...

. Searles was the designer of Mary's new home in

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 7,172 at the 2020 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, ...

, which is now referred to as the Searles Castle, from the 1885

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...

, to its completion in 1888. After Mary's death in 1891, Searles was left with his wife's vast real estate holdings in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Great Barrington, and Methuen, and $21 million. He died August 6, 1920. 300px, the Searles Estate in Methuen circa 1890 During the remainder of his life, he satisfied his love of architecture by building a number of grand structures, frequently in collaboration with architect

Henry Vaughan Henry Vaughan (17 April 1621 – 23 April 1695) was a Welsh metaphysical poet, author and translator writing in English, and a medical physician. His religious poetry appeared in ''Silex Scintillans'' in 1650, with a second part in 1655.''Oxfo ...

. Collaborations with Vaughan include: * Serlo Organ Hall (completed 1909) and Pine Lodge Mansion in Methuen, MA * Stillwater Manor, a 24-room 3-story mansion in Salem, New Hampshire * Stanton Harcourt Castle, now known as Searles Castle, Windham, NH. 20 room castle completed in 1915 at a cost of approximately $1,250,000, modeled on the Stanton Harcourt Castle in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England. * Edward F. Searles Estate in Methuen, Massachusetts * Dream House, now known as Searles Mansion,

Block Island, Rhode Island Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...

Constructed 1886-1888 as a home for Searles and his wife, it had a "twin house" design with each of the Searles' having a separate identical side of the mansion. * Mary Francis Searles Science Building,

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

, Brunswick, Maine * Various schools and churches He was also an environmentalist and would alter the construction course of a major stone wall so as to preserve a tree that he deemed important. His surname (as well as that of fellow "Methuen city fathers"

Charles H. Tenney Charles Henry Tenney (July 9, 1842 – April 27, 1919) was proprietor of C. H. Tenney & Co., established 1868, and become one of the most successful commissioned merchant and hat dealers in the world. He was also a director of the Bank of the M ...

and David C. Nevins, Jr.) appears in the name of the "Searles Tenney Nevins Historic District" established by the City of Methuen in 1992 to preserve the "distinctive architecture and rich character of one of Massachusetts’ most unique neighborhoods". According to the City of Methuen:

''"Today, the trio’s collective vision can be seen in mills,
housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...
,
school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...
s,
mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...
s,
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...
es,
monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...
s,
playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...
s, the
library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
, and the architectural fantasies that resulted from their artistic rivalry. The historic district boundaries were established to include properties and buildings constructed or used by the Searles, Tenney and Nevins families and the people who worked for them."''Official Website of the City of Methuen
Accessed October 11, 2022.

References

External links

*
Genealogy of Edward Francis SEARLES & Mary Frances SHERWOODGenealogy of Mark HOPKINS & Mary Frances SHERWOOD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Searles, Edward Francis 1841 births 1920 deaths People from Methuen, Massachusetts Architects from Massachusetts