Henry Chapman Mercer (1856–1930)
525 East Court Street, Doylestown, PA 18901
215-348-9461
![22_HAHS_ch22_Mercer_001[1B]](https://i0.wp.com/artistshomes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/22_HAHS_ch22_Mercer_0011B.jpg?fit=806%2C1024&ssl=1)
ABOUT
Fonthill Castle, built between 1908 and 1912, was the home of Henry Mercer and served as a showplace for his collection of tiles and prints. The castle features forty-four rooms, over two hundred windows, and eighteen fireplaces. Fonthill Castle’s interior features Mercer’s renowned, handcrafted ceramic tiles designed at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement. This historic site is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles, and is significant as an early example of poured reinforced concrete. Fonthill Castle is open for guided one-hour tours and advanced online tickets are recommended.
SPECIAL RESOURCES
“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”
— Henry Chapman Mercer
Henry Mercer (1856–1930)
Henry Chapman Mercer, born in Doylestown, PA, was an American archaeologist, anthropologist, tilemaker, collector, and scholar. Mercer’s passions included architecture, art, archaeology, and history. Mercer built Fonthill Castle as his home and showplace for his famed Moravian tiles produced during the height of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. He later constructed the Mercer Museum to preserve and display a vast collection of everyday objects from pre-Industrial America.
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The castle serves as an early example of reinforced concrete and features forty-four rooms, over two hundred windows, and eighteen fireplaces. Fonthill Castle’s interior features Mercer’s renowned, handcrafted ceramic tiles designed at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement.
In 1856, Henry Chapman Mercer was born in Doylestown, PA, where he lived his whole life until his passing in 1930. He is known today for his legacy as an archaeologist, tile maker and collector.
Even as a boy, Mercer had an interest in collecting, stuffing his pockets with birds’ eggs and Indian arrowheads. After graduating from Harvard in 1879, he seemed destined by family tradition for a career in law, but soon found that history and art were his true callings.
In 1907, Mercer decided to build his dream home, using part of the inheritance his aunt had left him. The building was planned from the interior, he later explained, with little thought given to the exterior until all forty-four rooms had been “imaged and sketched.” Blocks of clay representing the rooms were piled up on a table, much like toy building blocks. All aspects of the castle were aligned, and then realigned until Mercer was satisfied with the silhouette of his home. He then made a plaster-of-Paris model to scale and used it as a reference throughout the construction.
Eight (sometimes ten) laborers, unfamiliar with concrete construction, were hired under Mercer’s “constant direction.” They learned his special techniques with poured concrete and built Fonthill Castle in four years. Mercer chose to use concrete for his castle because of its plasticity and its fire resistance.
Fonthill Castle was the first of three Mercer buildings in Doylestown and served as a showplace for Mercer’s famed Moravian tiles, which were produced during the American Arts & Crafts Movement. The Castle is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles.
Today, Fonthill Castle is operated by the Bucks County Historical Society and is a designated National Historic Landmark. It is accredited by the American Alliance of is Museums and is open for daily one-hour guided tours.
