Slonem on Searles

Some people collect hats; others, shoes. For some, it’s china or jewelry or books. But when it comes to collections, no one has more monumental goals that renowned artist Hunt Slonem.

Slonem collects houses—large houses—and the classic furniture and objets d’art with which he fills them. “I’m a complete space glutton,” he said this week. “I treasure every inch available and usually want more.”

Over the past two decades he has owned and restored seven historic buildings, rescuing them from neglect and decay. His acquisitions have included two gracious Louisiana plantation manors, an impressive three-story 19th-century mansion constructed for John Cordts in Kingston NY; the Charles Sumner Woolworth’s mansion and the 102,000-square-foot Scranton Armory, both in Scranton PA and the elegant Belle Terre mansion on the edge of the Catskills in South Kortright NY.

Perhaps his grandest acquisition came in 2021, however, when he bought a castle—the 1885 Searles Castle located in the center of Great Barrington. In the years since its purchase he has followed his usual pattern, restoring the building to its former glory and putting his own inimitable stamp on its interior design.

Slonem, who has termed himself a “glamorizer,” views each property as an art project but admits, “When I got the castle, I was little overwhelmed.”

“Right now, I only own five of the buildings but I don’t buy them to flip them. I like working with large spaces and I like acquiring large spaces. I do all the decorating myself—that’s the joy of it.”
Slonem said he got into the habit of acquiring estates almost by chance. “I had a lot of friends that started moving to Hudson NY, and who wanted me to come and look (for a property). I didn’t want to be outside the city so I told them if they saw something with tower I would be interested. They sent me a picture of a house (the Cordt property) and I wound up getting it just before 9/11. Then I bought a home in Louisiana where I went to school and then a second one there and then I got a third and just kept going. Each one has been a challenge to acquire and fix up.”

The Searles Castle had been on his radar for years “A friend, (antiques dealer) David Petrovsky, directed me to Searles Castle. He had told me about it years ago and then he heard the (John Dewey) school was going to move out.”

The building was originally listed at $15 million. “I was friends with the person who was handling the sale,” Slonem said. “Somehow he became convinced I would be the perfect person to own it.” Slonem did not reveal the ultimate sale price.

The castle is variously said to have 42 to 48 rooms and 60 to 80 acres and Slonem uses it all. “I have a lot going on in all my places,” he says. “I always have themes for my rooms. I have one room with all kinds of religious figures, another with sculptures, an oriental room, a plant room, a gilded parlor, a gothic room—all the rooms have a theme of some sort.”

And he has no difficulty furnishing them. “I probably have 200,000-square-feet of storage space filled to the brim with my collections of parian ware (a type of biscuit porcelain imitating marble), a lot of furniture, paintings, portraits ... I have thousands of sofas and chairs I have stored over years. I’ve been doing this so long that a lot of furniture goes from one to next with me.

When he bought the Scranton Armory, it is reported that 500 truckloads transported his collection there.

He personalizes his furniture and homes using fabrics with his own designs to upholster furniture and his own artwork to enliven the walls. “I’m an installation artist,” he said.

All of the buildings he has acquired—with the possible exception of the Armory—were created to reflect the gracious living of their time. But the turreted French chateau-style castle may have a head start on all the others. It was designed by Stanford White of the famed firm of McKim, Mead & White as an extravagant example of Gilded Age taste.

It’s first owner was Mark Hopkins, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, who had built it for his wife, Mary Sherwood Hopkins. Hopkins died before it was finished and Mary Hopkins married their interior designer, Edward Searles, who continued to design the castle and maintained it long after her death.

W.E.B. Dubois, one of Great Barrington’s most illustrious native sons, recalled working on the castle’s construction site, clocking in workers. DuBois went on to be an internationally famed activist and founder of the NAACP.

With the gilded age a fading memory, the property became too large for private ownership and was home to the John Dewey Academy, a boarding school for “troubled teens.” Maintenance of the extensive property became problematic and it was put on the market following the school’s closing. “It’s been a variety of things,” Slonem said adding that the number of areas needing his attention are “endless.”

Noting that old houses always reveal unexpected challenges for modern-day owners, he said, “This is an old house on steroids. The bathrooms had all been set up for the school’s use. We threw out 20 dumpsters of stuff but it’s nicely cleaned up now. All the important things were in fairly good order. I’ve replaced the carpets and railings—the original railing had been taken out but I had it copied and replaced. I got the elevator updated and have redone floors and changed the chandeliers. I have been repairing the stone walls around the house—I can’t even list the number of things that are needed. Fortunately, that is more of a pleasure than a burden.”

Slonem has a feel for the houses he acquires and the people who created them. “You inherit not just the house but its history,” he said. He has worked with psychic channelers for years to contact previous owners, even seeking to determine whether the spirits are friendly before purchasing a property.

He says the energy in Searles Castle is very good. “I am very aware of Mrs. Hopkins and Mr. Searles. They had seances there and the house has good energy. Different areas have different energy. I get reports that they are happy with what I am doing.”

At present, he uses the property for his own pleasure and has not entertained large gatherings for local fundraising purposes. “I have done one benefit for the Berkshire Botanical Garden where we had 170 people,” he reported. “That was mostly outdoors. The problem with all my houses is that there is lot of fragile period furniture. Mrs. Hopkins wasn’t a big socialite; she was interested in culture. The house was built for two people and not for entertaining.”

Even Slonem doesn’t get to enjoy it all the time. He preserves his studio in New York where he works five days a week. “I don’t’ spend huge blocks of time anywhere,” he said. “All my weekends are away going from one place to another. It’s like visiting an art form for me. Constantly growing and changing.