November 25, 2011
MEMORIAL FIELD UPDATE:
The redevelopment of Memorial Field in Mount Vernon has been in progress since the end of August. The stadium has been stripped of benches and railings, and its light towers have been removed. A date has not yet been set for the demolition of the grandstand.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2012:
The demolition of Memorial Field Stadium has been suspended by Mount Vernon's new/old mayor, Ernie Davis. Mayor Davis wants to restore/renovate the stadium as part of the overall reconstruction of Memorial Field.
Links: The Journal News, January 31, 2012, Just My Show.


GEDNEY FARMHOUSE, MAMARONECK:
The Rye Neck School District plans to demolish a house built in 1790. The school board will schedule the demolition of the home at a meeting on December 7. The house is located on Boston Post Road at North Barry Avenue in Mamaroneck.
Source Article: "Rye Neck preservationists face deadline to save 1790 house on school property." By Ned P. Rauch. The Journal news, November 23, 2011.

November 4, 2011

Tioronda Hat Works,  Beacon, NY

The Tioronda Hat Works on the Fishikill Creek in Beacon has been undergoing demolition since September  2011 (or earlier). Begun in 1879, the mill, like many in the area, expanded with new construction in the following decades. The last mill to occupy the brick buildings was the Merrimac Hat Company. In 1949, Merrimac sold the property to Beacon Terminals Corporation, which used the buildings for warehousing. In 1997, real estate developer William S. Ehrlich formed a different company under the name of Beacon Terminal Associates and acquired the former Tioronda Mill and about 20 other properties in Beacon, NY, many of which have remained vacant.

Visible in the foreground is the Tioronda Bridge, a National Register-listed site that was demolished in 2006. Its trusses lie in a pile at the City of Beacon Waste Transfer  Station. Scroll mouse over image for an updated view of the Tioronda Hat Works, taken by Matthew Kierstead.

Also in Beacon, two buildings were demolished last month on the Tioronda estate, a carriage house and a workshop.

More Tioronda Hat Works:
Hudson Valley Ruins - Rob Yasinsac
Hudson Valley Ruins (Beacon Mills) - Tom Rinaldi

UPDATE: FEBRUARY 2012
Only a small portion of the Tioronda Hat Factory was demolished in September 2012. A later visit seemed to indicate that further work was not immediately forthcoming.

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#tioronda

October 4, 2011

Meads Mountain House Woodstock, NY DEMOLISHED ~SEPTEMBER 2011~

Last month the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, the North American seat of "His Holiness the Gyalwa Karampa," demolished the historic Meads Mountain House. Located on Meads Mountain Road, at the foot of the trail to the Overlook Mountain House, the 1863 hotel predated the Overlook by seven years, and outlasted it too. This demolition seems most needless as the building was in active use and still retained much of its original appearance including broad gables and dormer windows. 

Source Article: "KTD Takes Down meads Mountain House." By Paul Smart, the Woodstock Times, September 23, 2011. 

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#meads

New York Central - Putnam Division Railroad Station Millwood, NY

The Town of New Castle's Building Inspector, in June 2011, sent sent a letter to the owner of the Millwood station of the "Putnam Division" to restore or remove the currently abandoned station. The owner responded with his intention to demolish it. The train station was originally built in Briarcliff Manor but was moved to Millwood, a few miles north, when a new station was built at Briarcliff in 1909.

Source Article: "Teardown Likely For Old Millwood Station." By Tom Auchterlonie, the Chappaqua-Mount Kisco Patch, September 13, 2011. 

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#millwood

August 25, 2011
MEMORIAL FIELD UPDATE:
The City of Mount Vernon accepted a bid for the demolition of Memorial Field stadium. A ceremonial groundbreaking will occur Monday August 29, at 11:00 am. See entry at:
http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#Memorial

Source Article: "Mount Vernon OKs $1.7M site prep bid for Memorial Field project." By Ernie Garcia, The Journal News, August 24, 2011.

August 21, 2011

Strang-Melbourne House Yorktown, NY DEMOLISHED ~AUGUST 2011~

The Yorktown Central School District demolished the Strang-Melbourne House last Friday, despite community interest in the preservation of c. 1812 farmhouse. The school district used the house as an office until 2004, when it vacated the structure. The school district ignored all requests to examine the preservation potential of the house, even calling in police officers in July to prevent  a representative of the Preservation League of New York State from looking at the building.

Source Article: "Demolition of Yorktown's historic Melbourne Farmhouse stuns preservationists." By Brian J. Howard. The Journal News, August 20, 2011.

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#yorktown

June 7, 2011

Texaco Beacon  Research Laboratory Beacon, NY

Demolition of the Texaco Beacon Research Laboratory is expected to begin immediately and will continue through the end of 2011 when 43 of 64 of the site's buildings are expected to be razed. The remaining structures will be razed in 2014. The first structures to be demolished include a historic textile mill. Development of the site began in the 1820s, when the Glenham Woolen Mill began operations here. AT Stewart owned the mills in the late 1800s, and Texaco acquired the site on 1931. Texaco reused some of the existing mill buildings, and constructed newer buildings, including the 1950s administration building, pictured here. Chevron, which squired Texaco in 2000, closed the facility in 2003.

Source Article: "Clean closure sought at Texaco." By Susan Campriello. The Poughkeepsie Journal, May 31, 2011.

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#texaco

April 9, 2011

Malloy's Pharmacy, Stony Point, NY DEMOLISHED ~March 2011~

The Malloy Building, acquired by New York State as part of a road improvement project, was demolished on March 30, 2011. The Supervisor of this Hudson River village in Rockland County touted the improved (read: faster) traffic flow that will occur when Route 9W is widened here. Part of the building site will become a town park with several benches and a clock. One an speculate how popular a small park will be so close to a flow of heavy, fast traffic. 

Source Article:
"Historic Malloy building demolished in Stony Point for safer intersection, new park." The Journal News, March 31, 2011.

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#Malloy2

Memorial Field, Mount Vernon, NY

The City of Mount Vernon recently approved borrowing of 1.4 million dollars towards the estimated 15 million dollars needed for the redevelopment of Memorial Field. The existing stadium will be demolished and replaced by a new stadium. Memorial Field's brick grandstand with Romanesque arches and limestone trim was dedicated in 1931, and has seating for 3,900 spectators. It seems that the primary goal of the project is to improve the playing area moreso than the stadium, which appears to be in good physical condition, perhaps worthy of minor renovations, but not outright demolition. 

Source Article: "Mount Vernon borrowing will advance Memorial Field redevelopment." By Ernie Garcia. The Journal News, March 25, 2011.

More Memorial Field:
Hudson Valley Ruins - Rob Yasinsac

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#Memorial


March 7, 2011

Green Island Shop,  Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad, Green Island, NY DEMOLISHED ~March 2011~

Fire tore through the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad's Green Island shop on March 3, 2011. Built 1871-1872, the building primarily served the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, which took over the Rensselaer and Saratoga company soon after this shop was built. The building is currently owned, and was occupied, by the R.K. Freedman and Sons Company, a scrap metal business. Green Island (now connected to the mainland)  is located in Albany County, south of the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

UPDATE: The surprisingly intact ruins of the Green Island shop were demolished the week after the fire.

Source Article:
"Fire at R.K. Freedman & Son in Green Island destroys historic building." By Cecelia Martinez. The Troy Record, March 4, 2011.

More Green Island Shop, Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad:
Historic American Engineering Record

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#greenisland

February 28, 2011
The Yorktown Central School District recently announced plans to demolish an early 19th-century farmhouse. The Strang-Melbourne House was built about 1812 by John Hazzard Strang. Additions were made in 1895, and the house became part of the Yorktown High School / Middle School campus in 1960. The school district abandoned the house in 2004.

Source Article: "Yorktown to raze historic farmhouse." By Brian J. Howard, The Journal News. January 31, 2011. 

February 16, 2011

Dutchess County Alms House, Millbrook, NY Photograph courtesy of Virginia Buechele.

A recent roof collapse at the former Dutchess County Alms House in Millbrook has led to its condemnation by Dutchess County Legislature. Development of the alms house, or poor house, began about 1863, and the buildings continued in use as an infirmary until 1998 or 1999. The site is still actively occupied by the Eastern Dutchess Government Center. In 2004, the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation declared the alms house buildings eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Designation would have made the building eligible for grants that could have gone toward preservation of the alms house, but Dutchess County legislators declined to act toward the stewardship of this site.

Source Article: "County OKs demolition of part of former infirmary." By Larry Hertz, the Poughkeepsie Journal. February 15, 2011.

More Dutchess County Almshouse:
Dutchess County Poorhouse / Infirmary Website - By Virginia Buechele.

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#almshouse

Brick Tavern, Brick Tavern (Claverack), NY DEMOLISHED ~MaY 2011~

Another recent roof collapse occurred at the inn that gave the Claverack (Columbia County) hamlet of Brick Tavern its name. Located at the intersection of Route 66 (Union Turnpike) and Route 9H (Albany Post Road), the Brick Tavern is believed to have been built about 1812, likely replacing an earlier stagecoach tavern. The building is privately owned, and the property is occupied by Columbia Tractor.

Source Article: "Brick Tavern roof caves in." By David Lee and John Mason. Hudson-Catskill Newspapers, February 11, 2011.

Link to this entry: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/alert/2011.html#bricktavern

UPDATE: Brick Tavern was demolished in late May, 2011