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Media: Grey Towers Tops List of '12 Awe-inspiring American Castles'
August 15, 2012
Fox News featured Arcadia University's Grey Towers Castle in "12 Awe-inspiring American Castles," an article that explores the most impressive turrets, passageways and moats in the nation and the fascinating stories behind them.
Most colleges contend to be fortresses of learning, but Arcadia University in the suburbs north of Philadelphia can back it up with battlements acquired in 1929. Grey Towers was built by eclectic sugar refiner William Welsh Harrison between 1893 and 1898 and modeled after Northumberland's Alnwick Castle (a.k.a. the most archetypal expression of the medieval style). The 40 rooms wowed with gilded ceilings, tapestries, ornamental paintings, and hand-carved walnut and mahogany woodwork in styles from French Renaissance to Louis XV—and of course a Mirror Room—while secret passages behind fireplaces and underground tunnels. Self-guided tours of public areas are possible while classes are in session (the building now contains dorm rooms and administration offices).
CNN Travel also featured Arcadia University's Grey Towers Castle as among the top 'Awe-inspiring American castles ' on Sept 13. [Read more.]
Photo by Hoffer Photography