Usen Castle
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The Castle, also known as Usen Castle, is a historic building at 415 South Street in
Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...
. The Medieval style structure, built in the style of a Norman castle in 1928, stands on the campus of
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...
, where it served as a dormitory until 2017. The building, the design of which is unlike any other on the campus or in the city, was listed on 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 ...
in 1979.


Description and history

Usen Castle is located atop Boston Rock, one of the highest points on the Brandeis campus. It consists of a series of six sections, connected to form an enclosed courtyard. Its exterior, apparently inspired by
Lismore Castle Lismore Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Lios Mhóir) is a castle located in the town of Lismore, County Waterford in the Republic of Ireland. It belonged to the Earls of Desmond, and subsequently to the Cavendish family from 1753. It is currently the ...
in
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, features a wide variety of turrets, towers, crenellations, and pinnacles. A variety of unusual materials were used in its construction, including colored concrete and ceramic inlays. The interior retains Gothic features, giving the current student residential users a distinctive feel not found in other residences on the campus. The Castle was built in 1928 by Dr. John Hall Smith, founder of the Middlesex College of Medicine and Surgery, on whose campus it stood until the school closed in 1945. The campus and school charter were acquired by the founders of Brandeis. The building at first housed administrative offices as well as a dormitory and dining hall, but was converted to exclusively residential use in the 1950s. The building is one of two to survive on the campus from its Middlesex College days, and is a sharp contrast to the otherwise modern buildings there. In Summer 2017, after much of the building was condemned as unsafe by the city of Waltham, the University demolished Castle Towers C, D and E, and Schwartz Castle to make way for the new Skyline residence hall. Castle Towers A and B remained as student residences through the end of the 2016 fall semester.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Waltham, Massachusetts This is a list of properties and historic districts in Waltham, Massachusetts, that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The locations of National Register properties and districts (at least for all showing latitude and longit ...


References


External links


Brandeis - Usen Castle
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts School buildings completed in 1928 Buildings and structures in Waltham, Massachusetts Castles in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Waltham, Massachusetts Brandeis University University and college residential buildings