The Castle

Felician College has begun a 2-year, multi-milion dollar interior renovation of Iviswold Castle on the Rutherford campus. They began with an exterior renovation several years ago and have also been removing the additions, mostly made by Fairleigh Dickinson College over the years. In the process they've found some amazing historic details, including a whole chandelier and renaissance-style frieze!!

Iviswold was built as a private residence in 1869, when it was called Hill House. David Brinkerhoff Ivison bought it in 1887 and hired William H. Miller to expanded it. It was then renamed Iviswold. Felician College bought it from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1997.

A little but about Miller and Ivison: Miller was the first graduate of the architecture school at Cornell University. He is best known for his buildings in Ithaca and at Cornell. Ivison was the president of the American Book Company, an educational book company founded in 1890 when several other publishers, including Iveson, Blakeman and Co consolidated. Ivison was born in 1835 in Auburn, NY where his father was in the book business (binding and selling).


The Castle c1942

From the FDU website:
"The Castle," as it was known to Rutherford, underwent complete remodeling before its official opening as a college in September, 1942. It was built in 1886 of brownstone hauled to Rutherford by horsepower from the stone quarries in Belleville, New Jersey.. Modeled after the French chateaux, Chaummont and Amboise, it cost $350,000 to complete and had 25 rooms, two portecocheres, and five tennis courts. The estate had several owners after the Ivison family, and in 1911 a swimming pool was added. In the late 1920s the building housed the Union Club.