The Searles Castle is located in

Windham, New Hampshire Windham is a suburban town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population at the 2020 census was 15,817, up from 13,592 in 2010. History The area was initially home to the Pawtucket Native Americans. Scots-Irish immigran ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Edward Francis Searles 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, US to Jesse Gould Searles (1805–1844) and Sarah (Littlefield) Searles. ...

commissioned its design and construction. Construction began in 1905 and was completed in 1915. It was intended to be a 1/4-scale replica of the medieval Tudor manor of

Stanton Harcourt Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and about west of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Sutton, north of the village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 960. Arch ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, but since most of the manor had been torn down in the 18th century, the castle bears little resemblance to the historical structure.Headley, Gwyn (1996)
''Architectural Follies in America''
pp. 71–72. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

History and construction

Searles hired 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.''Oxfor ...

to design Searles Castle. It is built of cut

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 ...

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

, and dark red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, most of which came from Searles' own quarries in

Pelham, New Hampshire Pelham is a New England town, town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,222 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 12,897 at the 2010 United States Census ...

. The castle is situated high atop the Searles estate. The cost of construction was about $1,250,000. The castle consists of an entrance, a reception hall, a foyer, a dining room, a music room, a sun porch, a library, a grand stairway, a second floor guest suite, a third floor guest suite, a second floor rotunda (or balcony), servants' rooms, a kitchen, a butler's pantry, butlers' rooms, and a master bedroom suite which consists of a master bedroom, a sitting room, a bathroom, and a sun room.

Later ownership

When Searles died on August 6, 1920, he left the castle to his executive secretary, Arthur T. Walker. When Mr. Walker died seven years later, he left the castle to his niece, Iva C. McEachern, who sold it to real estate broker Frank M. Andrew in 1930 for $2,000,000. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew lived in the castle from 1943 to 1952, at which time it was sold to the Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy. For a while, they used it as a

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

for young women who were entering the Sisters of Mercy. From 1962 to the mid-1980s, Castle Junior College held classes in the castle. Due to water damage and other problems, the castle was closed for about five years. The roof was replaced, and in 1990 the decision was made to reopen the castle.

Current uses

In 1991, in an effort to restore the interior of the castle, a "Decorators' Showcase" was held. Through the generosity of those interior designers and contributions received over the years from many benefactors, the interior of the building has been refurbished. Since that time, the castle has been available to the public for social, cultural, religious, and business events. In November 2001, the Sisters of Mercy contracted David and Linda Kolifrath of

Salem, New Hampshire Salem is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 30,089 at the 2020 census. Being located on Interstate 93 as the first town in New Hampshire, which lacks any state sales tax, Salem has grown into a commer ...

, to organize and manage events held at the castle. At this time it was decided that operations would be expanded to include

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

s and receptions in the castle courtyard in an effort to better utilize the facility, better serve the needs of the public, and to raise additional funds to further the charitable programs of the Sisters of Mercy. The property, along with several surrounding properties, sold in February 2019 to a

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

pharmaceutical company owner for $3.4 million.

References

{{Reflist Castles in the United States Houses in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Windham, New Hampshire This is a view of the south-facing side of Searles Castle.