HVR News – May 11, 2012

I received a card a couple of days ago from Historic Hudson announcing tours of the Oliver Bronson House, May 19 and 20, 2012, 1pm and 3pm daily. This early 19th century home was remodeled by Alexander Jackson Davis in a style that later became quite popular and is referred to as “Hudson River Bracketed.” The Bronson house was one of the great ruins of the Hudson Valley, having been abandoned since the early 1970s until recently. Currently Historic Hudson has a lease to the house and is undertaking restoration work to this great house. I strongly urge any fans of Hudson Valley Ruins to sign up for one of these tours. For more information, follow this link.

October 2005
I took this photo a week before the Hudson Valley Ruins book went to the publisher. Two and a half years later, Tom Rinaldi and I returned and delivered a lecture at one of the first fund-raisers held at the Bronson House. It was also part of our unofficial “Lecture at a Former Ruin” series. Photos below are from that event, May 24, 2008.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Hudson River State Hospital is for sale. The Poughkeepsie Journal announced on April 28 that CPC Resources has dropped plans for Hudson Heritage Park and has placed the abandoned hospital on the market.

Although the severely dilapidated north and south wings of the Kirkbride building will have to be entirely gutted should restoration over occur (and many sections of the building have already taken care of that due to fire or decay), the time delay is just going to make renovation of the well-kept main portion of the building even more expensive.

It’s just peeling paint, not a structural issue, but look at what six years of abandonment will do to a building. The first photograph was taken in 2005, only a few years after the state closed the administration wing and sold the property. The second image was recorded in 2011.

____________________________________________________________________________________

I recently discovered that this fantastic mid-19th century brick house at Verplank’s Point in the Town of Cortlandt has been demolished. What a shame. It seems to have disappeared like a ghost in the night, but when another nearby house of similar vintage was razed in 2001, the story made the New York Times.

Photograph by Tom Rinaldi, perhaps 2004 or 2005. I took the following photographs November 23, 2009.

This building is Verplanck Point’s* lone mid-19th century brick house, next to the site of the razed Campbell House.

*(At the actual point, not on the entire peninsula of Verplanck.)

____________________________________________________________________________________

A group called the Galvan Foundation wants to move a historic home in the city of Hudson. The house, on Tanners Lane, doesn’t seem to be located on imperiled ground. They just want to move it to a “nicer location.” It is currently vacant and appears to have been stripped of interior finishes a few years ago.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Also in Hudson, a performance artist wants to convert a former theater into a performance space. I don’t know performance art, but apparently this is big news, of some kind.

____________________________________________________________________________________

As I was starting this blog entry Wednesday night I received word from a reader named Jared in New York that the New York Central Putnam Division Railroad Station at Millwood was demolished. Recently the owner of the building applied for a demolition permit. The building, moved once before from Briarcliff Manor, may be replaced by a replica to be built on Westchester County-owned land a short distance south. Why didn’t the county just move it one more time?!? Apparently the idea was considered. Now this is truly a shame and a loss that really did not have to occur. It seems that the path to demolition was sped up by some townsfolk who got tired of looking at the abandoned building.



June 9, 2006.

____________________________________________________________________________________

The Orange County Government Center is safe for now, as the County legislature voted not to fund its replacement.

____________________________________________________________________________________

RUPCO (Rural Ulster Preservation Company) is planning to renovate a vacant lace factory into apartments. The Kingston Times has some information.

This entry was posted in Columbia County, Demolition Alert, Dutchess County, Orange County, Tours Lectures and Events, Ulster County, Westchester County. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to HVR News – May 11, 2012

  1. Rebecca Elise says:

    I am saddened the Millwood former train station has been demolished. Thank you for including this in the news. I have seen that small red building for years from the bike trail, and as a child and even teenager (and adult!) always stopped off my bicycle to peer into the windows.

  2. HV-Rob says:

    Yeah, that’s a bummer for sure.

  3. SL says:

    That is so sad about the railroad station!!

    • HV-Rob says:

      Sad indeed. And I just found out today that the Middle Hope Drive-in Theater as razed, replaced by a humongous Quick-Check gas station.

Leave a Reply to Rebecca Elise Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.