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Hudson Valley Demolition Alert 2018 DEMO
ALERTS
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2004-Part II · 2004
Part I |
December 31, 2018
On Monday
November 26, 2018, a fire tore through this c. 1853 villa, designed by
Alexander Jackson Davis and listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. Davis designed the house for New York lawyer Cyrus Lawton and his
wife Sarah Marie Davenport whose family owned the land on which the house
was built. In the 1860s, Davis designed additions which blended seamlessly
into the original house. Wildcliff's last private owner donated the house
to the City of New Rochelle in 1940. Over the following decades Wildcliff
served a variety of functions as several organizations operated out of the
home, but it was largely disused in the 21st century. The Journal News reported on Tuesday that city Department of Public Works employees were at
the house on Monday morning to board it up. A neighbor reported the fire
shortly before 4:30pm Monday. There was no active gas or electricity in
the building. New Rochelle police later announced that four 13-yeard old
boys were arrested in relation to the fire at Wildcliff.
The Metropolitan
Transportation Agency is in negotiation with St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic
Church to purchase the congregation's property at Croton Falls which
closed in 2013 when a new church opened in Somers.
The Croton Falls location , including the church, rectory, convent, and
school will be razed entirely by the MTA which will create a commuter
parking lot for its nearby train station.
A
developer, TRG Property Management, has proposed the demolition of the
Joseph Farrand House in Greenport for the construction of a retail outlet
that would include an Aldi supermarket. Joseph
Farrand purchased land and an existing house here in 1861 - the Farrand
dwelling may date to the 1850s or earlier, with Gothic Revival details
added to the house later. In the 1930s the building was known as the Hotel
Glendale. In 1940 it was sold and converted to an apartment house. In July
2018, the New York State Historic Preservation Office declared the Farrand
House to be eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of
Historic Places. SHPO asked TRG to include the house in its development
plan, or to make a very strong case for the demolition of the house.
A proposal
to redevelop 25 acres in the Town of Marlborough includes the proposed
demolition of the World War I-era Farmerettes
Dormitory of Camp Young. Camp Young was one of hundreds if not thousands
of such farms operated as part of the national civilian Woman’s
Land Army of America movement in
which women, who became known as "Farmerettes," worked in agriculture
in place of men who served in the armed forces. In August 2017 the New
York State Historic Preservation Office declared that the proposed
demolition of the Farmerettes dormitory would be an adverse impact to a cultural
resource. In late 2018 a facebook page "Help
Save Marlborough’s “Farmerettes” Building" was created to
advocate for the preservation, including potential relocation, of the
dormitory.
Lombardo's Restraurant, known for its spectacular
neon sign outside and paintings of manatees, seals, lakes, and waterfalls
inside, as well as for its Italian food, closed following dinner on
December 31, 2018. The restaurant opened in 1919. A 1933
expansion/renovation saw the addition of a barroom and the commission of
paintings above booths in the main dining room. The Lombardo family sold
the restaurant to Rose and Paul Mancino in 1991. As early as 2011 the
Mancino family listed the restaurant for sale as part of a package
including five buildings and eight parking lots. The future of the site
remains unknown, so this is not a typical "demolition alert" per
se, but those with an interest in historic neon signs may wish to take
photographs as restaurant closings often lead to the loss of such
veritable old treasures. July 20, 2018
In late May, the Times-Herald Record
reported on the proposed demolition of the AME Zion Church of Newburgh. In
video posted by the newspaper, the church appears to be maintained and in
well-preserved condition but the church Reverend Milton Stubbs spoke of
wanting to "bring the congregation up to the 21st century and make
our building more feasible for the community of which we serve."
Stubbs also referred to an elderly population which is challenged getting
into the church. So the church has proposed a new building that would be
"user-friendly" to the congregants. The 1905 church building is
located within Newburgh's East End Historic District.
On Monday June 18, the
Cleveland Building, constructed in 1911 as Poughkeepsie's first
"skyscraper", suffered a collapse of its upper floors. The seven
story, 150-foot long building was demolished over the following week. The
long-vacant structure was planned
for renovations as residential/commercial space.
Mount Vernon's c. 1931 Memorial Field grandstand
was demolished in May 2018 as plans for the field's "rebirth"
appear to be underway, again. Demolition began at Memorial Field in late
2011 but work was halted shortly thereafter and it seemed that the
grandstand would be restored rather than demolished following a change in
political administrations. Debate and controversy continues to surround
Memorial Field, as current Mayor Richard Thomas's administration declared
an "emergency situation" and ordered the demolition of the brick
and limestone grandstand without approval from the City Council and
without putting the project out for public bidding.
Demolition is underway on more than 30 buildings
at the Rockland State Hospital (Rockland Psychiatric Center) property in
Orangeburg. In 2017 the Town of Orangetown sold 61 acres to JP Morgan
Chase which will construct a 150,000 square-foot data center on the site.
The 60 acres are a portion of the 348 acres acquired by the Town of
Orangetown from New York State in 2002, out of the total 550 acres that
comprised the extent of the hospital grounds. Construction of the hospital
buildings began c. 1927 and continued through the 1930s. Rockland
Psychiatric Center continues to operate inpatient and outpatient services
in more-modern facilities the state-owned portion of the property.
The Church of St. John the Evangelist in Stockport is being dismantled. The church building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is thought to be the oldest Episcopal Church building in Columbia County. The wooden church was built c. 1846, according to its National Register form, and closed in 2014. The Episcopal Church sold the church building - but not the land it stands on - to a "private company" in 2017. It is reported that the church will be rebuilt elsewhere but a newspaper article does not identify the new owner nor specific plans for the rebuilding of the church. On December 21, 2017, the Town of Stockport posted a stop-work order on the church, stating that no demolition permits were pulled for this project. |
