Be It Ever So Humble . . .

Hammond Castle, Gloucester, MA

There's no place like home. And, if your home resembles a castle, even better especially if it reigns majestic on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

An alternate title to this post could have been A Man's Castle is His Home especially if your name was John Hays Hammond, Jr., as the above photo shows his home designed as a castle in the 1920s. It's in New England, less than a 40-minute from our home in Nashua, NH.

During October and November, we took several day trips to see homes dubbed castles by their owners. In October, we trekked to a forest in West Chesterfield, NH to see the remains of Madame Sherri's Castle. In early November, we climbed a Groton, MA, hilltop to see what remains of Bancroft's Castle, a former cottage with a turret feature. Both of these sites had been ravaged by fires. All that remained at one was a famous arching staircase, at another, a turret, massive fireplaces and stonework.

Hammond Castle is entirely different. For starters, it was purposely built to look like a European castle, plus this one is fully intact with no fire or other damage and interior furnishings. This castle-home was built in the mid-1920s by John Hays Hammond, Jr., a scientist, inventor and art connoisseur on the New England shoreline overlooking the Gloucester, MA, harbor. 

We visited Hammond Castle on probably our last day trip for a while. Travel restrictions are now in place between MA and NH. Also, it's the holiday season and we're spending time at home, like so many others. (We're looking forward to it as it's the first holiday season home in years.)

Currently, the castle operates as the Hammond Castle Museum. It was formerly the personal residence of Hammond and his wife, the former Irene Fenton Reynolds. Upon their deaths, and without any heirs, the residence was transformed into a museum that's open to the public and is the site of special events. Unlike our previous castle visits, this one has an admission charge. Also, it's not handicap accessible with many a lot of steps and very narrow spiral stairways. 

The castle was built between 1926 to 1929 as a showplace for Hammond's collection of Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance artifacts. Appropriate to its contents, it consists of 15th to 18th century architectural elements such as curving steps, narrow doorways and arches. 

Daily News (NY) cover story on castle construction

The house was also Hammond's business office and home of the Hammond Research Corporation. Hammond, a pioneer in the study of remote control, is referred to as The Father of Radio Control. His pioneering developments in electronic remote control became the foundation for modern radio remote control devices, including modern missile guidance systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, and unmanned combat aerial vehicle. Hammond is credited with over 800 foreign and domestic patents on more than 400 inventions mostly in the fields of radio control and naval weaponry (the exact number is uncertain due to how credit was listed on the forms).

Hammond knew Thomas Edison personally. At age 12, he accompanied his wealthy father, John Hammond, Sr. on a business trip to Edison's West Orange, NJ, laboratory asking so many questions that Edison gave him a tour and later became his mentor. The two remained in contact for the rest of Edison’s life. In later years, while studying at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, Hammond became interested in the new study of radio waves and was mentored by Alexander Graham Bell. As with Edison, the two remained friends until Bell’s death.

Invention Room

After his 1910 graduation from Yale, Hammond took a job in the U.S. Patent Office. He had learned from Edison that inventing could be a money-making proposition, and he figured there was no better place to learn which scientific fields were on the cutting edge. Becoming proficient in the patent process, he founded his own research laboratory and, in time, became second only to Edison for the most invention patents filed.

Assorted castle doorways

A passionate traveler, Hammond loved all things European and historic having been exposed to the art and architecture of olden Europe thanks to his father's career as a mining engineer magnate. During our tour, we learned that, at an early age, he told his parents that he would live in a castle one day. 

Round library

Hammond called his medieval-style castle, Abbadia Mare, and, like any self-respecting castle, it included a drawbridge but no moat. It also featured a great hall, renaissance dining room, round library, a war room, secret passageways and an indoor courtyard and pool. 

Castle drawbridge

Because Hammond appreciated the eras spanning ancient times, he wanted his castle to be medieval in style with large stone archways, windows, wooden facades, and other architectural elements from the "Old World" bridging several periods through sixteenth century architectural elements. 

Coincidentally, his castle project came to the attention of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who had also purchased a large collection of medieval artifacts. Inspired by Hammond, Rockefeller launched a similar project on a site above Manhattan that would eventually include pieces from five different European abbeys. Today, that site is The Cloisters, an arm of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Courtyard doorways

His collection of 15th Century facades was housed in the courtyard to meet Hammond’s vision of what a medieval village might resemble. It was pieced together from buildings he collected on his travels including a meat market, wine merchant’s house, and an ancient church archway of carved lava from Mt. Vesusvius

Courtyard pool

Since the indoor courtyard included tropical plants, an indoor pool was added to ensure a suitable level of humidity and steam pipes were put around the bottom of the pool to control water temperature. A green dye, added as a decorative feature, hid the depth of the water, which was actually a swimming pool. Hammond could set a "weather control" system to water the vegetation and he was known to leap cannonball style from a second story window into the courtyard pool. 

Guest bedrooms on 2nd floor

The house was an expression of all things that Hammond treasured. It showcased his fabulous collection of antiques and his inventions, but some unusual additions, including a skull reportedly of a sailor who crewed with Christopher Columbus. (We missed seeing this treasure.)

Great Hall in Hammond Castle

The most impressive part of the house is the Great Hall, with its eight-story high, pipe organ and giant stained glass window. The gigantic pipe organ was designed and built by a collection of world-famous organ builders over 10 years.  

Pipe organ in Great Hall

Consisting of 8,400 pipes it was among the largest pipe organs in the world and included many features of Hammond’s 19 patents for pipe organ technology. As much as he enjoyed the organ, Hammond couldn't play it. He invented a device included within the console which could record what was being played, so it could be accurately replayed. The organ was a centerpiece of entertainment and renowned organists, such as Richard Ellsasser and Virgil Fox, performed and made commercial recordings on it. We learned that it's no longer in operating condition.

He is not the man who invented the organ of the same name. The inventor of that instrument, first manufactured in 1935, was Laurens Hammond (1895-1973). Coincidentally, Laurens Hammond was also an American engineer and inventor whose inventions also include the Hammond clock and the Novachord, the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizer. In the 1970s, the Hammond Organ Company abandoned tone wheels and switched to integrated circuits. These organs were less popular, and the company went out of business in 1985. The Hammond name is now owned by the Suziki Musical Instrument Corporation. 

John Hays Hammond, Jr. and statue

Hammond died in 1965, but castle visitors can come face to face with him – and with other parts as well during their visit. That's because he had a life-size statue of himself cast. Currently, it resides in the pool courtyard. Years ago it was outside the castle and we learned that Mrs. Hammond had the fig leaf added on.

Hammond Castle Museum is in its 45th consecutive season. In past years, it was visited by over 35,000 people from across the U.S. and foreign countries. 

The castle has appeared on the A&E network program, American Castles. Over the years, the castle has also been the location for the mid 1960s to 1970s TV show, Bewitched, and Otto Preminger’s film, Tell Me You Love Me Julie Moon. It has also been the setting for numerous television commercials and specials.

Access to all parts of the castle was limited during our tour, which was guided for the first part and unguided the rest of the 60-minute timed visit.

Precautions were in place and masks were required while we were inside the castle.

The vintage December 1932 magazine article below was in the lobby of Hammond Castle Museum. It states that visitors could see the castle in the mornings from June to October at a cost of 50 cents to view art and architecture gathered from all over Europe. The article said that in the afternoons, the castle marvelous was given back to its owner.

Times have changed as the admission charge for our timed visit was $15 each (senior discount). Regular adult rate is $18 and children 5 10 12 are $10, those under 4 years are admitted free.