Reid Hall, also known as "The Castle", is a historic academic building located on the campus of Manhattanville College at

Purchase Purchasing is the procurement process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary g ...

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

, New York, United States. The

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

structure was built in 1892 as a private home for publisher and diplomat

Whitelaw Reid Whitelaw Reid (October 27, 1837 – December 15, 1912) was an American politician, diplomat and newspaper editor, as well as the author of ''Ohio in the War'', a popular work of history. After assisting Horace Greeley as editor of the ''New-Yo ...

, with estate landscaping by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

History

The Castle was designed by

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses ...

and built in 1892 as a dwelling for

after he returned from Paris after serving as the 28th

United States Minister to France The United States ambassador to France is the official representative of the president of the United States to the president of France. The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with France since the American Revolution. Relations w ...

was hired to landscape his estate. Reid Hall occupies the footprint of the previous property owner Ben Holladay's Ophir Hall, which burned down and was rebuilt by Reid with the massive granite

crenellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

mansion. The building was expanded in 1912 by

McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm based in New York City. The firm came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in ''fin de siècle'' New York. The firm's founding partners, Cha ...

with a large library wing and guest cottage. Reid Hall was at one time a potential site for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. The property was purchased by Manhattanville College in 1951. ''See also:'' It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1974.

Features

It is a four-story, L-shaped building built of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

blocks in the

style. It features a five-story tower and a corbelled battlement parapet that conceals a flat roof.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Manhattanville University Harrison, New York School buildings completed in 1895 National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Renaissance Revival architecture in New York (state) Reid family 1892 establishments in New York (state)