Just another day in paradise: Gillette Castle

Overlooking the CT River in the quite little town of East Haddam, is a castle known as Gillette Castle. It was built in 1919 on a hilltop with scenic views of the CT River and the picturesque Hadlyme Ferry below. The mansion consists of 23 rooms (as I recall) and was built by William Gillette, known for the role of Sherlock Holmes in the first movie. He was an actor who previously lived on a boat, the Aunt Polly, which burned, and he built his castle as a retirement home, although he moved in a while before he actually retired.

Gillette Castle is a building built with a steel frame which was surrounded by local fieldstone, which gave the castle its really castle like look. (although, in my opinion, it just made it really ugly, but you be the judge) The house has 40 intricately carved wooden doors with unique locking mechanisms. (But more about that later) The wood was sent up from Tennessee and Virginia, and there was carpeting on the walls. Yes, carpeting on the walls. Gillette saw what he ordered for his carpeting, and thought that it would look nicer on the walls, again, you be the judge.

Gillette Castle also had a 3 mile long miniature railway that ran from the river bank up to the castle, and all around the beautiful grounds. The castle has a tall tower at the top which provides 360 views of CT, and the castle also houses Gillette's extensive art collection, and two libraries along with a conservatory. The house is fully equipped with running water and electricity, and therefore some very out of date bathrooms.

And have I mentioned the light switches? Gillette was an INCREDIBLE carpenter, and built all forty of those intricate doors and many, many more light switches. All the light switches are wooden and function just like large wooden versions of modern day switches. Throughout the house, there are little hideaways and secret doors and mirrors that he used just to avoid people. Stories are that he used mirrors located in the ball room (with a 6 foot fireplace) to see who was entering through the main entrance and he could hide away if it were someone uninvited or he just didn't like.

There was also a (at the time) state of the art fire extinguishing system. Because he lived in such a remote location, he knew that the fire department wouldn't get to his house in time if a fire broke out, so he built his own prevention system. On the top floor, a large tank collects rainwater from the roof, and it is stored there until what is known as the "Wooden icicle" is pulled. That is a wooden lever that when pulled, releases water into hoses located on each floor of the house.

Enough chatter, and on to the pictures.

Here's the exterior of the castle. It looks very mid evil, doesn't it? The stones on the outside give it a very rough texture, which I think makes it sorta ugly. Like, what's up with the holes in the facade?

The inside parlor area. The pictures don't do the the justice of showing the size of this room

These are the wooden light switches. Imagine how many hours went into one of these, and then imagine how many of these are in the entire house.

This is one intricate lock on one of the 40 doors

Here's a look at another carpentry masterpiece, the windows. That key held the window shut, (in the middle) and on the right, you see a lever that was lifted to adjust the opening. (there were three options, here it's in the middle.)

Gillette's study

The great fireplace (Six feet wide) I think it looks like a pile of rocks mashed together with mortar, but that's just me.

A view from the second floor

One of the very outdated bathrooms.

Here you can see the carpeting on the walls. It's woven twine. This crazy wooden contraption is a light switch for the overhead lamp (located over the bed)

Here's Gillette's hand made 17 draw dresser, complete with hideaway compartments on the right side (very cool)

You can't see from this picture, but this is an innovative utilization of empty space located over a nook in the chimney. This is taken from the staircase which wrapped around the chimney, and this nook was cut in and used as storage.

Looking all the way up to the top of the tower (It was off limits....bummer)

Another one of those doors

Gillette's art collection

The tank that stores the emergency water

Gillette's library

An interesting hallway that led to the back staircase behind that door

A close up of the door lock

An interesting hideaway located over the radiator. This house is full of nooks and crannies that were utilized. I guess living on a boat makes you utilize all the space you are given.