Hearthstone Castle’s sad, final days
INSIDE CONNECTICUT’S LARGEST CITY PARK, A FANCIFUL STONE FORTRESS SITS IN RUINS, WAITING FOR DEMOLITION
Gregory Rotella spent much of his childhood with friends at the Hearthstone Castle, a large stone structure on a hill in southern Danbury.
The youngsters would dress up as knights and play under the porch, an area they called “the dungeon,” and sit in the extra-wide window nooks on upper floors and read books.
Rotella’s best friend was the grandson of the castle’s owners, the Rathmells, part of the Jennings family.
The castle was filled with “sumptuously luxurious rooms,” Rotella says, and had a knight-in-armor displayed on the second floor stairwell landing. “I spent many nights in the castle. It was cool,” he says.
Owned by the city of Danbury since 1985, the structure now sits abandoned and is scheduled to be mostly demolished soon. Reno
vation would cost too much so the goal is to save the castle walls and incorporate them into an open-air garden.
The castle is inside the 722-acre Tarrywile Park, Connecticut’s largest municipal park. The park also includes the Tarrywile Mansion that can be rented for weddings and other events, an environmental education center, three ponds and 21 miles of hiking trails.
Tarrywile Park is open from sunrise to sunset year-round and entry is free to the public, including nonDanbury residents.
The castle was built in the 1890s as a country estate for E. Starr Sanford, a wealthy New York society photographer and Danbury native. The three-story, 16-room home was designed in an early Norman architectural style, with two libraries, a music room, billiard room, tea room, entry hall with grand staircase, veranda and multiple outbuildings. It became known as Sanford Castle.
A small railroad was built to transport stone mined on the property so it could be used to construct the castle. Wood for the interior was imported from Italy. The site is 650 feet above sea level and offers views looking north and east.
Charles Darling Parks, president of American Hatters and Furriers Co. in Danbury and owner of the nearby mansion, bought the castle in 1918 as a wedding gift for his daughter. It was renamed Hearthstone Castle, presumably after its eight stone fireplaces.
The Jennings family, heirs of the Parks, owned the home until the city bought the castle, mansion and surrounding property to prevent a large residential development.
Visitors can walk up a steep gravel driveway — now gated to keep out non-emergency vehicles — to reach the castle, which isn’t visible from the road. A chain-link fence is supposed to surround the structure but has mostly fallen apart, and people often walk around the castle’s exterior.
Parts of the outer walls are covered by graffiti and the interior floors have collapsed, but it’s easy to envision the structure’s former ornate glory.
Mayor Mark Boughton says fixing up the castle isn’t a viable option anymore as the site has no public sewer or water source and making the structure handicapped-accessible as required would be a major challenge.
“We just don’t have $15 to $20 million to improve a building we can’t do anything with,” Boughton says.
The city’s plan is to remove environmental hazards such as asbestos and tainted soil from the castle, level off the immediate area by filling in the basement, preserve some walls and create an outdoor garden.
“It would be like some castles in Scotland and other places where you can walk the grounds,” Boughton says.
City Council member Paul Rotella, Gregory’s brother, wanted to renovate the castle and now supports doing whatever can be done to salvage its legacy.
“There are areas all over Europe with stabilized ruins that are quite a draw for tourists,” he says. While Paul Rotella doesn’t expect Danbury to become a tourist mecca for castle ruins, he says the site could be a nice place to have a picnic and enjoy the views.
The partial demolition should begin this winter or spring, said Danbury Public Works Director and City Engineer Antonio Iadarola.
Iadarola hopes as many walls can remain standing as structurally possible, and he hasn’t ruled out putting a steel frame on top that could support a roof. “I’m still not letting that idea go,” he says.
Becky Petro, Tarrywile Park and Mansion executive director, says up to 90,000 people visit the park annually, mostly for hiking, dog walking and to attend events. The park also is used for cross-country running and skiing, mountain biking, horseback riding, fishing, and camping with permits.
But the park, only a mile from downtown Danbury, still remains unknown to many people in the region. “It’s a hidden gem,” Petro says.