Sleeping Giant Reveals Hidden Treasures as Project Team Prepares to Renovate Rutherford ’s Castle

Rutherford , NJ —A team of engineers, architects and historians recently descended on Felician College ’s 19^th century castle to begin plans for an estimated five-year, $5 million renovation project that will restore the landmark to its former glory and prepare it for a new life as a campus center.  The recent flurry of activity within the walls of the 132-year old castle was the result of a $50,000 Historic Sites Management planning grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust that will fund the first stage of the massive renovation project. 

As the project team walked through the castle poking through paneled walls and prying up pieces of drop ceilings installed during Fairleigh Dickinson’s use of the building from 1942 to 1984, they uncovered a myriad of hidden treasures which drew gasps of delight. Domed ceilings, a working dumbwaiter, ebony cornice moldings, wainscoting, and original plaster moldings were uncovered throughout the day.  But perhaps the most astonishing find was a wall sculpture depicting a scene resembling 14^th-century Florentine artwork found high above what was once a lavish music room complete with a vaulted ceiling, velvet curtains and an ornate pipe organ.  Other treasures included opalescent stained glass windows that hint at the possibility of being made by Tiffany, an original red clay tile roof, and ornate wrought iron railings that grace upper-level balconies. 

During the first part of the renovation, targeted to begin in January, the renovation project team will work with original drawings to identify and remove all non-original materials installed during the last 50 years.  Utilizing an international theory of reconstruction, Preservation Architect Annabelle Radcliffe-Trenner’s goal is to “breathe new life into the building while maintaining historic aspects” so that the castle tells the story of time and respects the timeline of change from the turn-of-the-century through the 1940s.  According to this international theory, original fabrics will be retained, preserved and reused where possible, but the castle will not be restored back to one particular period of time.  “We want our preservation of these buildings to be sustainable throughout the years,” said Radcliffe-Trenner.  The original plaster walls, for example, will be restored since they will last longer than modern walls made of sheet rock.  A second-floor swimming pool installed in the early 1900s may also have second life as a lecture hall.  The most visible example of adaptive restoration will be on the first floor where a number of non-original paneled walls will be removed to reveal the original beauty and grandeur of the spacious rooms which will be restored to resemble what they looked like during the late 1800s when the castle was constructed.

Built in 1886 with brownstone from the Belleville quarries and modeled after a French chateau, the castle was built on the foundation of a modest two-story home built by newspaperman Lloyd Tomkins in 1869.  In 1887, David Ivison, president of the American Book Company, purchased the house, hired architect William Henry Miller to transform it into the castle-like structure it is today, and named it “Iviswold.”  Following Ivison’s death in 1903, the castle was sold several times.  In 1906, it became home to the Schatzkins family who made major alterations in 1915, including a two-story addition and an indoor swimming pool on the second floor.  The Union Club of Rutherford bought the castle in 1925 and used it as a social clubhouse until the 1930s when the Great Depression led to the club’s sale to satisfy a debt.  The castle was taken over by the Rutherford National Bank, which, at the time, was headed by Col. Fairleigh S. Dickinson.  Dickinson ’s family helped to establish the Fairleigh Dickinson Junior College in the castle when Dr. Peter Sammartino and his wife, Sylvia, founded the college in 1942.  Fairleigh Dickinson’s campus was built around the castle and it was used as the college’s administrative offices until 1994 when Fairleigh Dickinson University left Rutherford and consolidated on other campuses.  Felician College acquired the castle in 1997 when it purchased the 10.5-acre campus.

When renovation is complete the castle will serve as a campus center to meet the needs of a student body that has more than doubled in the last decade and has more than tripled in the last 15 years.  As a campus center, the castle will house the college’s chapel, the Falcon’s Nest eatery, and administrative offices of admissions, student services, alumni relations and institutional advancement.  Its first-floor parlors and meeting rooms will also be available for use by the public.