FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 01, 2005 "Singer Castle's Squash Court Skylights Repaired"

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A beautiful little building on Singer Castle's Dark Island is being brought back to its original glory after several years of neglect. Marjorie Bourne as a birthday present built the squash court, a granite outbuilding with a maple-lined exterior, in 1928 for her husband Alexander Dallas Thayer. Frederick G. Bourne, the original owner of Singer Castle, located in Chippewa Bay, fourth president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company and also Marjorie's father, died in 1919. Miss Bourne, an athletic young woman, took possession of the castle and following her marriage in 1926 to Thayer, a Pennsylvania stockbroker and former outstanding quarterback and center field at the University of Pennsylvania had the lovely building built for him. It was designed by Ernest Flagg, an important Beaux-Art architect who designed the castle and also the Singer Building in New York City in 1908, the world's tallest building at the time. A unique architectural feature of Flagg's Singer Castle was his use of skylights, something relatively unheard of when the castle was completed in 1905. He utilized this feature in the squash court, where 20 glass panels were installed at the roof's peak to provide plentiful natural light for the players below. There was also an observation deck for spectators. Over the years the weather has not been kind to the squash court building, especially the skylights. According to David Lack, Dark Island construction supervisor, the original glass panes were clear with wire mesh and that particular type could not be replaced, "for safety reasons." Many of the original glass panes were cracked and damaged. In the fall of 2004, the construction crew, composed of Mr. Lack, Lenny Bickelhaupt of Hammond and caretaker Scott Garris began the arduous process of removing the panels and reinstalling the current panels, which are frosted safety glass. Mr. Bickelhaupt said, "The hardest part in replacing the glass panels was that it was very time consuming. We had to try hard not to damage the new panels in the process." Kyle Marshall of Hammond, the youngest member of the construction crew, joined them in completing the repair. The only item lacking is the capping that holds the glass in that rainwater runs off, according to Mr. Lack. Singer Castle on Dark Island has been owned by Dark Island Tours, Inc, an international consortium of private island owners since 2002. Guided 45-minute tours are given daily from 10:00AM to 5:00PM. For more information, call 324-3275 or visit the castle website at http://www.singercastle.com/ .