Herreshoff Castle, formerly known as Castle Brattahlid, is an unusual residence located at 2 Crocker Park, Marblehead, Massachusetts

Marblehead, Massachusetts

Marblehead is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,808 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and Devereux Beach...

. As of 2006 it was a private residence offering bed-and-breakfast rentals.

The castle was built in the 1920s by Marblehead artist Waldo Ballard and his wife, who stated that they based their design on Erik the Red

Erik the Red

Erik Thorvaldsson , known as Erik the Red , is remembered in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Nordic settlement in Greenland. The Icelandic tradition indicates that he was born in the Jæren district of Rogaland, Norway, as the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson, he therefore...

's castle at Brattahlíð

Brattahlíð

Brattahlíð was Erik the Red's estate in the Eastern Settlement Viking colony he established in south-western Greenland toward the end of the 10th century. The present settlement of Qassiarsuk, approximately southwest from the Narsarsuaq settlement, is now located in its place...

 in Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

, although the structure is Gothic in nature and does not resemble buildings of the type that would have been constructed at Brattahlíð during the era of Erik the Red. It is said that Ballard painted an oriental rug design on the castle's great room floor, based on an actual carpet in the nearby Jeremiah Lee Mansion

Jeremiah Lee Mansion

The Jeremiah Lee Mansion is a nonprofit historic house museum located at 170 Washington Street, Marblehead, Massachusetts. It is open during the warmer months; an admission fee is charged....

.

In 1945 the Ballards sold the castle to L. Francis Herreshoff

Lewis Francis Herreshoff

Lewis Francis Herreshoff , was a boat designer, naval architect, editor and author of books and magazine articles. Early in his career he worked for the Herreshoff Manufacturing and for naval architect Starling Burgess....

, son of noted yacht designer Nathanael Herreshoff

Nathanael Herreshoff

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff I , was an American naval architect-mechanical engineer. "Captain Nat," as he was known, revolutionized yacht design, and produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893–1920....

. The younger Herreshoff died in 1972.
It is now owned by Mike and Chris Rubino of Marblehead.