History

The property's history dates back as far as December 29, 1634, when a group of Ipswich town selectmen unanimously voted "That the Neck of Land wheareuppon the great Hill standeth, which is known by the name of the Castle Hill, lyeinge on the other side of this River towards the Sea, shall remayne unto the common use of the Towne forever."

In June 1637, John Winthrop, Jr., the town's founder and son of Governor John Winthrop, threatened to leave Ipswich, and Castle Hill was deeded to him as an enticement to stay. In 1644, he deeded Castle Hill to Samuel Symonds, Deputy Governor, who in turn deeded it to his son-in-law, Daniel Epps, in 1660. By 1745, it belonged to the Brown family.

After John Burnham Brown died, the property was purchased by Richard Teller Crane, Jr., on January 10, 1910. Crane was the son of wealthy industrialist Richard Teller Crane, who had founded the Crane Co. of Chicago in 1855.

The Crane Estate was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

Design

Crane hired the famous Olmsted Brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted (creator of New York's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace and others), to design the landscaping. By 1912, they had fashioned a series of ornate terraced gardens, and had begun work on a magnificent grass mall, 160 feet (49 m) wide and lined with evergreens cascading from the top of the hill straight down to the water nearly half a mile away. Classical-style statuary flank at regular intervals this "Grande Allée", the design of which was taken over in 1913 and finished in 1915 by Arthur Asahel Shurcliff after Crane dismissed the Olmsted Brothers. An opulent "casino" was built at its midpoint, replete with saltwater swimming pool, bathhouse, guest cabanas and a sizable indoor ballroom. Two main gardens, the "Italian Garden" and the "Rose Garden," once contained ornate plantings, landscaped walkways and Italianate fountains.

Atop Castle Hill, Crane built an Italian Renaissance-style villa, with stucco walls and red tiled roof. Designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston, the edifice was set upon the highest promontory overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Although local rumors postulate that Mrs. Crane’s displeasure with the villa led to its eventual destruction, recent evidence has proven otherwise. The villa’s stucco construction simply couldn’t handle the harsh wind, rain, and snow of New England, especially due to its exposed location on the top of the hill. It was razed in 1924 to make way for a new, stronger home.

"Upon the summit Mr. Crane has erected his splendid summer home, with a beautiful sunken garden, rose garden, lawns and terraces, commanding a marvelous view of land and sea, of Agamenticus and Boar's Head and the low-lying Isles of Shoals on the distant horizon, Bar Island and the long bar with its many lines of white breakers, sand dunes and the level beach near at hand. Mr. Crane has purchased as well, Wigwam Hill and the great tract of picturesque dunes, the old Castle Neck, with the exception of the small tract owned by the United States, on which the light house was built in 1837. He has acquired also the Sagamore Hill farm." (Thomas Franklin Waters, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol. 2, 1917.)

As previously stated, the Italian Renaissance Villa was demolished in 1924 due to structural issues, and a new mansion took its place four years later. Designed by architect David Adler of Chicago, the new fifty-nine-room mansion included a main facade in the 17th-century Stuart style, a library with Grinling Gibbons carvings imported from an English country manor (Cassiobury House), parquet wood flooring, and paneled interior rooms from an 18th-century townhouse at 75 Dean Street in London. Adler's sister Frances Elkins collaborated with him on the interior of the Great House. The rear aspect of the house, with its octagonal towers and inset roundels, was modeled on Ham House. Completed in 1928, this splendid mansion still stands, and the Olmsted Brothers' landscaping also remains largely unchanged. A pair of immense seated griffin statues by renowned sculptor Paul Manship grace the entrance to the north terrace overlooking the sea. These were a gift from employees of Crane Co. to Richard Crane in 1928, upon completion of his new home.

Trust

After the death of Richard Crane in 1931 on his 58th birthday, the estate passed to his wife, Florence. In 1945, the Crane family donated much of their private beach and dunes to The Trustees of Reservations, a private, non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization, with 112 properties throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. When Florence Crane died in 1949, the rest of the property, including the mansion, was given to The Trustees, who maintain the property to this day and offer tours of the historic mansion seasonally.

The property was used as a forum for outdoor concerts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, featuring such jazz legends as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dave Brubeck, and as part of a Castle Hill Art Center and music camp run by the New England Conservatory. Laid out just above the casino and pool, the stage faced the "Great House" so that audiences could sit on the lawn of the Grande Allée, facing the ocean. The Trustees continue to offer a number of public programs throughout the year, including outdoor picnic concerts on the Allée, and Christmas events. All part of the Crane Estate, Castle Hill's once-private beaches are now open to the public as Crane Beach. Since 1996, The Trustees have hosted outdoor picnic concerts each week in the summer. The groups that play at the concerts tend to be from a wide variety of musical genres.