The Irving and Edyth Usen Castle is one of the most well-known buildings on campus. Whether or not you've actually visited the Castle, you have probably heard rumors of its stairs that lead to nowhere, creaks and cracks on the floor, and the pie-shaped rooms.
The legend, often told on prospective student tours, begins with John Hall Smith, the quirky founder of the Middlesex College of Medicine and Surgery, and a visit to Scotland.
According to the tale, Smith came across a castle while in Scotland and decided he wanted to recreate the castle on the campus of his school. Smith approached the owners of the castle for blueprints, but they refused to give them to him because the castle was a family heirloom. Smith hired artists to draw the outside of the castle, with the intention of reconstructing it from the outside in. Once he approved the drawings the artists made, Smith hired architects to build the castle according to the pictures he gave them. The tour guide talking points go on to assert that the "architectural quirks" are a result of its construction based on images of the outside and not actual floor plans.
This legend, told on tour after tour, is not quite accurate, however. It blends history and myths to created a kind of "mythistory."
Middlesex University was an outgrowth of the smaller Middlesex College, which was absorbed into the larger university in 1914. Up until the late 1920's, it shared a campus with University of Massachusetts. When the shared campus got too crowded for both universities, John Hall Smith purchased 100 acres of land for the college in 1928. This land would eventually become the campus of Brandeis University.
An ambitious man, Smith "wanted to build a structure with a distinct architectural style that would assert a strong presence for the university at its new location," according to a 1998 senior thesis, "Unlocking Doors to the Past and the Future: An Architectural and Social Exploration of the Irving and Edyth Usen Castle", written by Amy Debra Finstein '98. Contrary to the myth told on tours, he did not choose one castle to replicate.
Instead, the castle combines a plethora of features from different buildings and castles throughout England and Ireland. Considering Smith was not a trained architect, his construction of the castle was extraordinary.
Historical records say little about the Castle as being devised from the outside in, but its construction is unique nonetheless. Instead of using stone-upon-stone construction as the exterior suggests, the building is actually reinforced with poured concrete.
The castle was completed over a period of 12 years, due to financial crises that impeded the building from being completed all at once. The oddly shaped rooms probably came about through renovations done over the years since Brandeis acquired it. During the years of World War II, the university suffered from severe financial crises and in the 1944-1945 school year, the university was forced to discontinue most of its courses. Middlesex University had its last graduating class in 1947, and Brandeis was founded in 1948.
As it is used today, the Castle houses sophomores in a variety of different living arrangements that range from singles to suites. However, when John Hall Smith first had the Castle built on his campus, it was used for many things. Among its uses were science lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, and administrative offices.
However, when Brandeis acquired the campus, most of it needed renovations, including the Castle. In fact, founding Brandeis president Abram Sachar claimed the Castle was an unacceptable location for labs due to its poor ventilation. As a result, it instead was home to an infirmary, dining hall, and at one point even a gymnasium.
Brandeis has made many renovations to the building in the past few decades. They've plastered over what were originally intricate ceilings, replaced ornate wooden doors and arches with metal panels, and painted the walls.
Josh Spiro '13 worked in the archives in the library and grew interested in how the Castle became what it is today. From his perspective, the way the castle is today is a result of these renovations. Spiro speculated that, "the complete Castle in the '40s, pre Brandeis, probably made perfect architectural sense. Everything connected inside and there were probably no stairs to nowhere or other bizarre features," he said.
The admissions office creates the script the tour guides use when giving their tours.
Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel addressed in an email to the Justice the frustration of never being able to know the whole story of how the Castle came to be with 100% certainty. "By definition, a myth is not incorrect. To my knowledge what is suggested to be minor discrepancies in the story seem to be either honest errors or misunderstanding, or they are, potentially, correct," he wrote.
Flagel also stated that "I was not aware [the castle myth] was an issue."
Despite the historically questionable story told on admissions tours, students enjoy living in the Castle, which, no matter how it was built, remains Brandeis' most iconic piece of architecture. Max Shpilman '16 said that "choosing the Castle for housing was a superb choice."

- Jaime Kaiser contributed reporting.