Edward Searles was born on July 4, 1841. He was an interior and architectural designer, but his vast wealth he inherited from his wife Mary Francis (Sherwood) Hopkins, more than 20 years his senior, who he married in 1887. The assets of Mary Hopkins included 25% ownership of the Central Pacific Railroad, a large amount of real estate holdings in San Francisco, New York and Great Barrington and $30 million, all of which Edward inherited when Mary died in 1891. Edward spent the remaining 30 years of his life devoted to pursuing his love of architecture during which he financed many structures in New England in collaboration with architect Henry Vaughn. Edward Searles traced his ancestry to the Oxfordshire Harcourt family in England, so the castle was originally called Stanton Harcourt Castle since the design was based on the Stanton-Harcourt manor which once stood in Oxfordshire County, England. Built from 1905 to 1915.