Exhibit A: Gingerbread Castle

04Apr07

One of the reasons that I started this blog was to serve as a place to record inspiring and unusual places. Today’s place of wonder and curiosity is the Gingerbread Castle; situated off of a rural highway in Hamburg, New Jersey. I have been acquainted with the castle since I was a child. Along with my nostalgia, I am also very interested in eccentric forms of architecture and art environments.In 1928, F.H. Bennett, created the Gingerbread Castle, with the idea of capturing the magic of fairy tales. It is said that he had a particular fascination with Grimms Brothers fairytales. Bennett was the owner of Wheatsworth Mills, which is on the same property as the Gingerbread Castle, and unfortuantely in an equal (perhaps greater) state of disrepair as the castle. Bennett is also known for creating the Milk Bone dog biscuit.Bennett hired a well known Austrian architect and set designer by the name of Joseph Urban to build his vision. Urban designed sets for the Ziegfeld Follies and Metropolitan Opera, among other notable accomplishments. The castle opened in 1930 and became a popular tourist attraction. By the 1980’s, the castle began its journey into abandoned despair. Throughout the years the castle and its surrounding property have gone through many transformations from its original state of enchanted theme park. At seperate times, I believe it has served as a night club and haunted house.In 2004, a man named Frank Hinger purchased the property and began to revive it through fundraising and a grant from Hampton Inns. Despite his noble efforts, the property became too costly to fully revitalize. Fortunately, recent news indicates that the Gingerbread Castle is being considered for historical preservation. It seems to me that it is worthy of preservation; there are so few records of personal vision and eccentric dreams in America.In addition to art environments, I am also interested in flexidiscs. These two interests are beautifully combined in a Look N Listen postcard record, which can be viewed and listened to here. Flexidiscs and postcard records became popular in the 1950s as marketing tools for tourism, politics, bands, etc. Michael Cumella shares his impressive collection and knowledge at The Internet Museum of Flexi/Cardboard/Oddity Records. This is a subject I would love to go on about, but his website will be much more informative and fun.