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The Searles School and Chapel are part of the legacy of Edward F. Searles, an interior decorator and antique collector, left to the Town of Windham and the greater Salem, NH-Methuen, MA area.
Mr. Searles engaged the Boston architect Henry Vaughan to design a castle in the style of Stanton Harcourt Manor in Oxon County, England. The building, which is located on Searles Road in Windham, was completed in 1915. The castle and its associated complex of impressive stone walls, have been hallmarks of the Town's landscape ever since.
The Searles School and Chapel was built and donated to the Town of Windham by Mr. Searles in exchange for a piece of property on which originally stood "school house Number 1." Because the school land was completely surrounded by Searles-owned property, Mr. Searles proposed the exchange, which would include a Tudor style school with stained glass windows, cypress paneling, and a tower holding twelve carillons. The building opened in 1909 and is, today, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.