Hammond Castle: Exterior & Exhibits

Each year in September, Essex National Heritage Area hosts Trails & Sails, an opportunity to “[b]e guided through unique landscapes on land and sea, explore historic properties, and take in cultural experiences of all kinds”. I attended locations and programs affiliated with this event for the second time in 2024. My first stop on this three-day adventure was Hammond Castle, a 20^th century home that takes inspiration from European Medieval architecture. This property was filled with history and artifacts, along with two great tours, so I am breaking this visit into two parts. As for national recognition, the house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.

John Hays Hammond Jr. was an eccentric inventor with hundreds of patents and known as “The Father of Radio Control”. His own father was John Hays Hammond, Sr., a mining engineer who worked for Cecil John Rhodes for whom the Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University was named, while his mother was author and activist Natalie Harris Hammond. The multi-millionaire Hammond parents tried to be supportive of their son, allowing him to found Hammond Radio Research Laboratory at their home estate, but they eventually told him to get his own place, which he built between 1926 and 1929.

Hammond was inspired by European castles along with the mansions of his equally eccentric friends: Stillington Hall of actor and soldier Leslie Buswell, Red Roof of sporty politician A. Piatt Andrew, and Beauport of interior designer Henry Davis Sleeper. The friends called their group B.A.S.H., using the first letter of their last names to make the acronym. As noted in last season’s exhibit “The Importance of Being Furnished” on the contributions of gay men to New England interior design, the group was well-known to be part of what we would now call the LGBTQIA+ community; Hammond married artist-spiritualist Irene Fenton and Buswell married four times, while Andrew and Sleeper were considered “confirmed bachelors”.

Hammond Castle has an eclectic architectural style designed by Hammond himself with help from Allen & Collens, a firm specializing in Neoclassical and Gothic Revival architecture. The main castle and cathedral were inspired by 13^th Century French Gothic architecture, while an addition on the end appears more like a 15^th century French Chateau. The castle even includes a drawbridge, which visitors walk across when going on a guided tour. Other details of note include a bell tower and cloisters or series of columns often found on a Medieval monastery or cathedral. Tucked between these ancient elements was Hammond’s at-home research laboratory where he made many of his inventions.

Upon entering under the bell tower, visitors must walk into the gift shop to purchase their tickets. This gift shop is full of a wide variety of excellent memorabilia, including postcards, pins, books, and toys for all ages. The view through this window is a stunning seascape, especially on a sunny day. Visitors then watch a brief introductory video describing the life, family, friends, and accomplishments of Hammond. This video only has a few seats and is located near the bathrooms, so visitors may be interrupted by flushing and talking. However, the women’s bathroom affords another phenomenal view of the water; if you do not identify as a woman but would like to check it out, you can glance from the doorway when the bathroom is empty.

Temporary exhibits on display during my visit included a text-heavy display on codebreakers during World War II with a special focus on Hollywood actress and military technology inventor Hedy Lamarr; some people really can do it all. Other panels discussed the work of Hammond’s sister, Natalie Hays Hammond, who was a poet, artist, inventor, and leader. She specialized in needlepoint based on Medieval illustrations, and her designs showed a striking similarity to early computer graphics. During World War II, she founded the Massachusetts Women’s Defense Corps to train women to defend their country, but the organization fell apart when the Massachusetts State Legislature refused to provide adequate funding. She now has her own museum, Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in North Salem, NY, which I have added to my ever-growing list of places to visit.

Hammond Castle had so much amazing history, architecture, and design that it could not be fit into a single article. While this wraps up the construction history, exterior, and temporary exhibits, I also took a guided and self-guided tour of the building. Details from that part of the adventure, along with costs, schedule, and accessibility information, will appear in the second post on Friday.