Leland Castle (also known as Castle View) is a building in
New Rochelle
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...
, New York. It was constructed during the years in 1855 - 1859 in the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style, and was the country residence of
Simeon Leland
Simeon Leland was a prominent New York businessman and hotelier during the late 1800s. He made his wealth while operating the Metropolitan Hotel located on fashionable Broadway in lower Manhattan. Opened in 1852 to cater to travelers and residents ...
, a wealthy
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
hotel proprietor. Leland began to assemble an estate as early as 1848, and in 1855, began the erection of this palatial 60-room mansion. The home was designed by New York City
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
William Thomas Beers. A north and south wing were added to the castle in 1899 and 1902 respectively.
[ (includes map) an]
''Accompanying three photos, exterior and interior, from 1967, 1975, and 1970s''
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Leland Castle and the surrounding property have since been incorporated as part of the campus of the College of New Rochelle
The College of New Rochelle (CNR) was a private Catholic college with its main campus in New Rochelle, New York, but also in Australia, England, and Germany. It was founded as the College of St. Angela by Mother Irene Gill, OSU of the Ursuline ...
.[ MUSEUMS;Art Studies Without the Homework](_blank)
The New York Times, 2006 The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
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 or "great artistic v ...
in 1976 and the New York State Register in 1980.[
]
Architecture
The main structure is a -story, Gothic Revival home constructed of coarse granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
stone. The exterior is enhanced on the southeast corner by a tall square tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
, by an hexagonal tower on the northeast, and a round tower on the northwest. The main entrance on the eastern facade is framed by a Gothic pointed arch. Tall, black-walnut
A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''.
Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
doors ornamented with lion's heads are flanked by slender sidelights crowned with Gothic details. All windows are decorated with Gothic tracery and topped with heavily molded labels. As late as 1890, a wooden ''porte cochere
Porte may refer to:
*Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire
*Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy
*John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator
*Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...
'' with an open balcony above it stood before the main entrance. Two wooden veranda
A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure.
Although the form ''veran ...
s also opened out from the original building, as did a greenhouse
A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...
on the south end. All these had disappeared before 1900. The greenhouse was replaced by a veranda, which in turn was replaced in 1897 by a room that followed the outlines of the original greenhouse.[
The entrance hall features walnut paneling and a blue and gold Minton tiled floor. The gothic style library contains a bay window with stained- and etched-glass borders, original interior shutters and bookcases, and one of the three original ]fireplace
A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.
...
s in the mansion. Some of the first floor rooms are in the Renaissance style, with round arched doorways. The music room arches are crowned with rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
crests bearing busts of English sovereigns. In the dining room, a Renaissance-style sideboard
A sideboard, also called a buffet, is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers ...
and mantel, originally designed for this room, contrast with the Gothic diamond-paned windows with etched, amber-colored, stained-glass borders. The sliding doors between the dining and drawing rooms retain their panels of etched glass.[
In 1902, a large wing was built onto the north side adjoining the former billiard room and picture gallery extension followed the Gothic style of the original castle. The attic rooms have been subdivided, and a small chapel was installed in a former bedroom on the second floor. In 1926, the wooden parapet of the rear north tower was destroyed by lightning. During the middle part of the 20th century, the wooden gables, turrets, and crenellations over the bay windows were replaced by galvanized iron copies.][
In 1974, an interior staircase was installed in the square tower. The castle has three multiflue chimneys, which were originally used to heat the interior. The ornate fixtures of the original gas lighting system remain throughout. A ]chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, not original to the building, is attached to the south elevation and a dormitory wing, with a larger chapel which was added in 1902.[Sister Martha Counihan O.S.U. "Simeon Leland's Castle at New Rochelle." Unpublished Masters Thesis. University of Delaware. 1973]
Historical background
In 1848, Leland purchased a 40-acre site in New Rochelle overlooking Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
. Like many successful New York businessmen, he took advantage of the railroads' development into the rural areas around New York and carefully planned a suburban enclave designed for graceful and stylish living. Famous for his well-run and fashionable Metropolitan Hotel in New York's theatre district, Leland's home became equally famous as he entertained there regularly.
Leland retired in 1872 when his lease on the Metropolitan Hotel expired and was given to William A. "Boss" Tweed. He died later that same year deeply in debt and the mortgage on Castleview was foreclosed. The castle's new owner, the Manhattan Life Insurance Company, allowed Mrs. Leland and her children to continue living there until 1880. The home was then leased by the Queens County Hunt Club for use as an inn
Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
, and thus became known as "Castle Inn" for two years.[
In 1884, Adrian Iselin, Jr., a member of one of the Hunt Club families from ]Davenport Neck
Davenport Neck is a peninsula in New Rochelle, New York, extending southwesterly from the mainland into Long Island Sound, and running parallel to the main shore. It divides the city's waterfront into two, with New Rochelle Harbor to the south an ...
, purchased the castle and its surrounding acreage for the purpose of developing the land into a residential park. He paved surrounding streets, including Castle Place, put in gas lines and planted many trees, and soon the 40-acre original estate was diminished to just 2 1⁄2 acres, as Iselin's Residence Park {{Unreferenced, date=June 2010
Residence Parks were residential developments that were built around the early 1900s in North America. Most were built prior to World War I and those that had not already sold most of their lots suffered considerable f ...
came to occupy much of the former grounds of Leland's estate.[Sister Martha Counihan O.S.U. "Simeon Leland's Castle at New
Rochelle." Unpublished Masters Thesis. University of Delaware. 1973]
The castle temporarily housed the New Rochelle Collegiate Institute, a boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
for young boys, from 1889 - 1892, and later to Miss Morse's Academy for young ladies. In 1897, the castle was further damaged by a fire that broke out in the chimney and caused extensive damage to the roof, plaster, and second-floor woodwork. Uninsured, Miss Morse was forced to leave the castle, and with the promise by Iselin of repairs to the smoke and water damage, it was then purchased by Mother Irene Gill for her Ursuline Seminary.
Today, the residence survives in a suburban area more densely settled than the original grand country estate, and serves as a symbol of the fashion, taste, and lifestyle that Americans idealized in the latter part of the 19th century. It is also the only surviving example of the work of William Thomas Beers.
The castle, until 2019, housed the administrative offices of the College of New Rochelle and the college's Castle Art Gallery.
Image gallery
Leland Castle, New Rochelle, NY (Front View).JPG
Leland Castle, New Rochelle, NY (Rear View Courtyard).JPG
See also
*
* New Rochelle Historic Sites
New Rochelle Historic Site is a designation of the Historical and Landmarks Review Board (HLRB), for buildings, structures, monuments and other historically significant properties in the city of New Rochelle, New York, New Rochelle in Westchester C ...
References
External links
National Register of Historic Places
Westchester County Tourism website
Castle Gallery website
{{New Rochelle, New York, collapsed
Buildings and structures in New Rochelle, New York
History of New Rochelle, New York
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
Gothic Revival architecture in New York (state)
Houses completed in 1855
Houses in Westchester County, New York
National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York