In New York: - Ward's Castle - built in 1870 by architect Robert Mook, as the first house in the United States to use reinforced concrete, it has an octagonal crenellated tower, located in Port Chester.
Later, I received E-Mail that said:
I am a third year Architectural Technology student at Fanshawe College, London, Ontario. According to a book I'm using it states "After the fall of the Roman Empire, this elementary knowledge [of reinforcing concrete] was lost until W.B.Wilkenson received a patent in 1854 in England and is therefore considered the inventor of reinforced concrete. Soon after, reinforced concrete was used for buildings, and the first recorded reinforced concrete building in the United States was erected by Ward in 1875 in Port Chester, New York. This is from the book Construction Materials: Types, Uses and Applications 2nd edition.
"Reinforced concrete in the United States dates from 1860, when S.T. Fowler obtained a patent for a reinforced concrete wall. In the early 1870s William E. Ward built his own house in Port Chester, New York, using concrete reinforced with iron rods for all structural elements.
Later, I received E-Mail that said:
I work for an established forming company in the United States, EFCO Corp. in Des Moines, Iowa. While searching the Internet to find photos of Ward Castle and/or William Ward, I ran across you site. Here is the in formation I have on Ward Castle for use in our timeline on the History of Concrete:
1875 Ward's Castle - William Ward, a mechanical engineer living in Port Chester, New York, chose to build an all concrete house. It was the first reinforced concrete structure to be built in the United States. When it was completed, neighbors expecting it's imminent collapse called it "Ward's Folly", but after years of little wear and much comfort, it earned a new, well-deserved appellation, "Ward's Castle".
Later, I received E-Mail that said:
Wards castle used to be the home of the cartoon museum for years. Till the museum moved to florida. They might have more info on the castle.
Later, I received E-Mail that said:
There is a chapter on Ward's Castle (Port Chester, NY) in the book Yesterday's Houses of Tomorrow by H. Ward Jandl, 1991 Preservation Press.
Later, I received E-Mail that said:
Ward's castle is for me an emotionally charged image; my early life was dominated by the silhouette of the castle high upon the hill of Comly Avenue above the "village" of Pemberwick, Greenwich, Connecticut. Our family would take visitors up to the grounds to be photographed with the castle in the background.
I suggest you check the morgues of the Port Chester, NY, Daily Item and the Greenwich (CT) Time newspapers for more on the building's construction and history. I recall one (long ago) article which detailed the construction's motivation. Working from memory; Ward had the building consturcted to respect his mother's phobia of fire. And, as I recall, according to this piece, upon completion Ward had deliberately set a huge fire in the main hall to show his mother that the building was, indeed, "fire proof" before she took occupancy. (This may, of course, be aprcryphal...).
My last visit to the site, '02, it appeared as if the building was occupied by tenants.
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