Nestled in adorable Doylestown, PA is an enchanted castle. Ok, maybe thats only the first impression, but this fabulously eccentric building in the heart of a small town feels as if it was picked up from the German countryside and dropped into Bucks County.
Henry Chapman Mercer completed the museum in 1915 to house his collection of pre-industrial tools and relics which were largely disposed of in the whirl of early 20th century technology. Many pieces were rescued from the trash or bought for pennies at auction. In essence, Mercer created a museum to show how life was lived in the 18th & 19th centuries before industrialization took over.
Henry Chapman Mercer completed the museum in 1915 to house his collection of pre-industrial tools and relics which were largely disposed of in the whirl of early 20th century technology. Many pieces were rescued from the trash or bought for pennies at auction. In essence, Mercer created a museum to show how life was lived in the 18th & 19th centuries before industrialization took over. This interest of Mercer's made sense: while a renaissance man of epic proportions, he was by trade an arts and crafts tile master who founded the Moravian Tile and Pottery Company. These tiles were (and are) made by hand -a craft that the industrial revolution was quickly stamping out.
Examples of Mercer's tilework are found throughout the museum. I loved this 2 story fireplace (above) in a sacred feeling space devoted to his hundreds of beloved stove plates.
Why concrete? Besides the fact that it was fireproof (a great concern of the time period) it was incredibly inexpensive and able to be formed into any shape or form imaginable. Mercer developed many interesting concrete techniques in his experimentations in building that amaze to this day. Above - his signature high on the exterior walls.
Admittedly, I came for the building. Can you blame me? Most of the interior is open to an incredible atrium, flooded with natural light and full to the brim with all nature of antique objects.
Objects as diverse as a whaling boat hung from a railing (seen above on the right), baby cradles attached to the ceiling and pre-industrial tools in stalls surrounding the walkways educate the viewer in 'how did they used to do that?'.
Examples of Mercer's tilework are found throughout the museum. I loved this 2 story fireplace (above) in a sacred feeling space devoted to his hundreds of beloved stove plates.
Why concrete? Besides the fact that it was fireproof (a great concern of the time period) it was incredibly inexpensive and able to be formed into any shape or form imaginable. Mercer developed many interesting concrete techniques in his experimentations in building that amaze to this day. Above - his signature high on the exterior walls.
Admittedly, I came for the building. Can you blame me? Most of the interior is open to an incredible atrium, flooded with natural light and full to the brim with all nature of antique objects.Objects as diverse as a whaling boat hung from a railing (seen above on the right), baby cradles attached to the ceiling and pre-industrial tools in stalls surrounding the walkways educate the viewer in 'how did they used to do that?'. The building is essentially a fascinating maze. I'm not sure if Chapman was a madman or a genius, but I like the results. He built without formal plans and the spaces are higgly piggly with little rhyme or reason. This shows in the exterior, which in many ways, ties it back to the ancient castles Mercer so loved. Above - dormers (yes - EVERYTHING is concrete!) were completed, then another roof built over them enclosing the space. Tim Burton would LOVE these buildings.
A view over the roof shows the extensive use of concrete. The very window frames were poured concrete which were built from forms molded on traditional wood windows. These were inexpensive, fireproof and low maintenance. There isn't a single piece of flamable material in the entire building except for the collections.
Please visit and support this fantastic museum, heralded as a masterpiece from its opening. As a side note, one of the quirks that Mercer loved to include in his buildings were the pawprints of his beloved dogs. Rollo was around while building his 2 castles (Fonthill and this museum) and his prints are proudly displayed. One of many inventive and ingenius ideas to be found!
A view over the roof shows the extensive use of concrete. The very window frames were poured concrete which were built from forms molded on traditional wood windows. These were inexpensive, fireproof and low maintenance. There isn't a single piece of flamable material in the entire building except for the collections.Please visit and support this fantastic museum, heralded as a masterpiece from its opening. As a side note, one of the quirks that Mercer loved to include in his buildings were the pawprints of his beloved dogs. Rollo was around while building his 2 castles (Fonthill and this museum) and his prints are proudly displayed. One of many inventive and ingenius ideas to be found!Visit the Mercer Museum website.
Many of you have probably heard of Fonthill and the Mercer Museum outside of Philadelphia -the eccentric concrete buildings by Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930). One of the things he was best known for was his tile work.
The tiles are in prominent buildings all around the world -but the largest collection of them is at the Pennsylvania state Capitol building in Harrisburg ( even the Casino in Monte Carlo has Mercer tiles!)
Here you can see a large selection of tiles adorning a fireplace in the Mercer Museum. I think you can see the strong similarity between these unique tiles and the German stove plates which he collected. There are a large number of these (seen below) still in the Mercer collection.
Below is the Mercer Museum ( too beautiful to not post!).
Today the parlor and terrace are used for cocktail parties, weddings, birthday parties or business meetings; Rentals are the mainstay of many house museums anymore. Blogger convention anyone?
The garage itself now houses bathrooms, a kitchenette and a craft room for children’s programs. This downstairs is very plain and unornamented as a garage should be. Curiously, Mercer never actually owned a car or even buggy but still built this garage which he ended up using for storage. 
This window into the garage shows a typical wood sash window, painted red, with an arched transom of poured concrete above. Who thinks of these things? So unique!
The punched openings in the exterior stairwalls are an unexpected place for a bit of color: Moravian tiles of course!
In addition to preserving antique tools and artifacts, Mercer was also interested in preserving natural history. Concrete bird houses were constructed on the roof of the garage, seen above, that he hoped would become a bird sanctuary. He planted 80 different species of trees native to Pennsylvania throughout the grounds and encouraged people to visit and explore: even creating tags for the trees at his tile factory (which are still available for purchase).
Down an allee of ancient trees in Bucks County lies a ancient looking fairytale arts and crafts castle. This is the last thing you would expect to find in rural Pennsylvania, more fitted to the English countryside perhaps.
More bizarre however is the material: concrete. Much like his museum, the 
Light was Mercer's key concern. Over 200 windows were incorporated into the facade in all shapes and sizes: Most are operable. As a testament to the design, even on cloudy days candlelight (or electric lights) are barely needed unlike the castle's European precedents.
The house is truly quirky and enchanting. As it's the brainchild of Mercer, I would expect him to be a fascinating character as well: I'd love to pick his brain over a meal!
Color is greatly incorporated into the building, unlike his later museum. While most of the interior pastel colors have faded over the years (another testament to the amount of light received) the window sills and doors are still vibrant shades of red and yellow.
The house is truely an amalgamation of styles and shapes - a working dictionary of forms. From one angle it may appear one way and then after turning the corner, the structure takes on an entirely different shape.
Here you can see some examples of the concrete windows - inoperable of course. They were created from the moulds of operable antique wood windows, with the glass set into wet concrete. An unusual technique and one which works well obviously as the windows are original to the structure.
Mercer was lucky to have passed away at his beloved home in 1930. His housekeepers lived in the house till their deaths many years later at which point it became a museum. Of course, stories are passed around about the castle being haunted, but I had no such experience as I did at the nearby 
Don't miss the interiors tomorrow!
I've already blogged about 
It is a museum, essentially, to the 'hand-made' everyday items that industrialization was pulling us away from. Before we had cars, stereos, ipods and mass-produced clothing and furniture, society had the items displayed here.
The building is even more striking than his house. Constructed between 1913 and 1916, the museum reaches 7 stories. An open center atrium was designed to suspend large items and float them for guests to view. Small rooms and alcoves are off the main space with smaller exhibits. Where to look?! Interesting things everywhere! You could spend days here.
Of course the building is built entirely of reinforced concrete, same as his other projects and contains over 50,000 artifacts!! The building was created a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
Here is a fireplace in the museum covered with the famous Mercer tiles.
Unlike his home, these windows are framed RIGHT into the concrete, not into wood!
Last week I wrote about Mercer Tiles (read the post 
Fonthill was built between 1908 and 1912 as a realization of Mercer's dream. It took 8 workers and a horse named Lucy to finish the house of reinforced concrete. You can see the arts & crafts movement very strongly in the design. It is stepping away from industrialization and towards a simpler time when everything was made by hand. If you came upon this house, you would think you had stepped into the english countryside and found a home that was built and added upon for generations. It has 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, 32 stairwells and over 200 windows; Big dream house!
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