HV-Rob

Building 52, Anaconda Wire and Cable Company

Posted on March 5, 2013 by HV-Rob

Building 52, Anaconda Wire and Cable Company
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

The last remaining building from the Anaconda Wire and Cable Company is again being considered for demolition. This weekend I was forwarded the following email which the mayor of Hastings-on-Hudson sent to village residents.

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This Tuesday’s (March 5, 2013) Board of Trustee meeting (7:30, Municipal Building) will focus discussion on two projects of some importance to our village. The first involves the future of the remaining structure on the waterfront (“Building 52”), and the second involves a proposed residential rental development on Saw Mill River Road (9A).

Building 52

The first item is a presentation by BP/Arco of their position on Building 52, the remaining large former industrial building located at the north end of the waterfront and right across from the bridge by the train station. This 110,000 square foot building, a classic sawtooth-roofed industrial space from the turn of the last century, covers two acres and has a long history in Hasting’s industrial past. A variety of industrial machines and items were manufactured there, including at least some of the wire insulation that is responsible for the severe PCB contamination of the waterfront property. This building is the last vestige of an industrial past that once covered the waterfront with a number of similar buildings that once provided jobs for thousands of workers.

Three years ago, when another rusted and compromised building, “Building 51”, was demolished as part of the beginning of the clean-up of the site, BP/Arco set aside $2,000,000 for the study and preservation of this remaining structure. In October 2012, the Board asked (here) that BP seek an estimate to the cost of what it would cost to safely “mothball” the building for the next eight years while the site was remediated with the hope that we could preserve it and possibly use it as part of the redevelopment of the waterfront. This cost estimate would be built on the basis of a engineering study done in 2010 that looked at the state of the building. There are a number of examples, ranging from the Dia Beacon museum to Fulton Street Seaport where large old buildings like this were beautifully restored and repurposed for modern use.

The cost estimate (here) stated that the required mothballing activities would run in excess of six million dollars, far more than the remaining monies from the original $2m set aside by BP/Arco. The study was sent with a cover letter from BP (here) indicating that they had no long-term plans for the building and that they were inclined to “…eliminate it to reduce liability, terminate ineffective annual maintenance, and to enhance effective remediation.” Building 52 (as well as the land under it, and the full responsibility for the clean-up), after all, belongs to BP/Arco. There’s no point for the Village to carry on dreaming future plans for a building whose full renovation costs the Village government does not intend to cover and which BP is inclined to demolish anyway. While we had some further questions about the estimate (here), we determined that the best way forward on Building 52 was to have BP speak to the issue directly and answer questions from the Board and the public.

BP’s presentation is first on the meeting agenda (after a presentation to retiring Bill Finkeldey). We expect it to begin around 8PM. The public is welcome and can ask questions once BP has finished their presentation.

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Should Building 52 be demolished it would be very unfortunate that not one building will be preserved to celebrate the industrial heritage of Hastings-on-Hudson nor to provide an attraction or anchor for a redeveloped waterfront. As noted in the mayor’s letter many former industrial buildings have been adaptively-reused and have become important elements in villages that have successfully transitioned from an industrial-economy to commercial/tourism-based economies. Just two villages north, at Irvington, the nearly-identical Lord and Burnham factory buildings were not demolished after the greenhouse and boiler manufacturer left the village but instead the brick buildings now house offices, restaurants, and warehouse space. At Beacon the former Nabisco box factory now houses the renowned DIA : Beacon art gallery.

Questions have arisen regarding the new six-million-dollar figure to preserve Building 52. Since there are no immediate plans to redevelop the property and since the building is not in imminent danger of collapse and it poses no threat to the public, this request for demolition should be delayed in order to ascertain the true cost of preservation and to generate an interest and commitment to the preservation of Building 52.

This was the Anaconda Wire and Cable site on October 12 2006. The southern half of the factory complex had just been demolished. Building 52 is the building at left with the “saw-tooth” roofline.

Research building, Building 51, and Building 52. October 14, 2006.

Building 51 and Building 52, later in the day. October 14, 2006.

The following on-the-fly photographs were taken December 19, 2006 on a tour led by staff from BP.

Photograph by Tom Rinaldi.

The following photographs are of the interior of the now-demolished Building 51.

Water tower and powerhouse:

Research building:

Observation room of the Research Building. I would liked to have taken more and better interior photographs here. I had hoped to return for a more thorough photography-oriented tour but that did not occur. My photographs from the December 2006 site tour here were taken with a now-ancient digital point-and-shoot camera. Some better images were recorded with a medium format camera but have not yet been scanned.

The Hastings Historical Society has uploaded some of their historic images of the Anaconda factory to their flickr page. Here are links to some of their images.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hastingshistoricalsociety/7197530246/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hastingshistoricalsociety/4907861635/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hastingshistoricalsociety/4128959488/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hastingshistoricalsociety/4907862197/in/photostream

For more images of the Anaconda Wire and Cable Company at Hudson Valley Ruins, please visit Tom Rinaldi’s page and Rob Yasinsac’s page. See it also on the cover of our book.

Posted in Demolition Alert, Westchester County | 7 Comments

Tarrytown’s Bridge Plaza Shopping Center Neon Signs

Posted on March 2, 2013 by HV-Rob

It is not often that we chronicle shopping centers here at Hudson Valley Ruins, but now that some centers are well past fifty years old they at least meet the age criteria to be considered “historic.” Whether one of these commercial strips in the Hudson Valley will ever be designated an official landmark at some level remains to be seen, but it is certain that they contain historic elements which have almost entirely, and sometimes quite recently, vanished.

Frank Sanchis, in his voluminous book American Architecture : Westchester County, New York, wrote that the first small, localized, commercial shopping strips appeared outside of established towns in the 1920s. Previously affairs of commerce took place in the towns and villages proper. And in a rivertown such as Tarrytown the commercial district was along Main Street, Broadway to the east, and the area around the train station and the Hudson River on the west (many businesses were located along Orchard Street which was eliminated during Urban Renewal in the 1970s).

Large department stores began to appear in the 1940s but the first major regional shopping center in the county was the Cross County Shopping Center, located at the intersection of the Cross County Expressway (which runs east-west) and the New York State Thruway (which runs north-south). Sanchis even went as far as to credit the Cross County with spurring a “wave of construction of regional shopping centers across the nation in the 1960s and 1970s,” a claim backed up by New York Times headlines such as “Big Center Spells Store Revolution.”

The driver behind this move from localized commercial districts to destination shopping centers was of course the automobile, a now-common possession of the people of America in the 1950s. And the enabler of car-owning Westchesterites to travel to the new Cross County Shopping Center was the New York State Thruway which also opened for business in the mid-1950s. Just off the Thruway in Tarrytown a smaller commercial strip surrounded by a large surface parking lot appeared about the same time as the Cross County. It was called the Bridge Plaza Shopping Center as it was located across from the entrance to the Tappan Zee Bridge which had been under construction since 1952 and opened on December 15, 1955.

1. Bridge Plaza Shopping Center. Postcard c. 1950s?

The Bridge Plaza Shopping Center storefront faces consisted of brick and glass with a metal overhang that provided some cover to the pedestrian shopper below. The largest store was the First National Supermarket but the highlight of the center was the bonanza of neon signs.

In the postcard above First National is prominent. Adjacent to it on the west was M. H. Fishman Co., a department store which eventually surrendered its space to an expansion of First National (later Finast). To the west of Fishman was a drug store, now occupied by the Bagel Emporium. I cannot read the sign for the space between the Fishman Co. and the drug store, but that was where the Shanghai Inn was located. I also cannot read the other signs in the postcard but the stores in general, from west to east, have included a bank, the 3-hr cleaners, the liquor store, unknown original store (presently a Chinese restaurant), a hairdresser, a stationery store, and a delicatessen.

2. Northeast corner, Broadway (Route 9) and White Plains Road (Route 119). Scroll your mouse over the image to compare the 1953 image with the 1965 image. Prior to its construction the Bridge Plaza Shopping Center site was the west lawn of the Miller / Luke mansion. To the north are the low-rise Tappan Manour Condominiums. (North of Tappan Manour is the high-rise Washington Irving Gardens Apartments, visible in the postcard at top.)

Next are are the photographs that I took of the neon signs. The only signs left in the mid-2000s were 3-hr Cleaners, Liquors, Hairdressers, Stationery, and Delicatessen. The hairdressers sign disappeared not much after I took its photograph in 2006 but the other signs survived and prompted me to recommend the Bridge Plaza Shopping Center as a destination in my historian’s entry for “Westchester to Suit Every Interest,” a weekend itinerary for an out-of-town visitor to Westchester. Specifically I recommended lunch from the Tarrytown Delicatessen, and mainly because of its fantastic neon sign. Tom Rinaldi also included the Bridge Plaza neon signs in his October 2012 blog post Hudson River Neon – Part 1.

3. 3-hr Cleaners, Liquors. January 6, 2006.

4. Hairdressers, Stationery. January 6, 2006.

5. Delicatessen. January 6, 2006.

Well, as things often happen, this entry was prompted by loss. Last week I went to the Bridge Plaza to conduct some business and I nearly caused a car accident as I drove into the parking lot and I noticed that my cherished neon signs were gone and replaced. I went into a couple stores with a serious case of “WTF!?!” on my mind and I asked the shop owners about the vanished signs. They told me, quite nonchalantly, “Yes, we got new signs, they took the old ones down.” As if they could not understand for the life of them why anyone would be interested in their signs or why a person would be interested in keeping them. I was told the change occurred in November of 2012. That made me feel out-of-the-loop and like I dropped the ball. As a former full-time resident of Tarrytown I was probably in there two to three times per week. Now, not so much, though I find it hard to believe that I have not been in there since November. But in any event the deed occurred sometime this winter.

The removal and replacement of these historic neon signs coincided with the opening of a CVS in place of the former Stop & Shop / First National and a facelift of the storefronts. The brick facing and metal overhangs have been replaced with a cream-colored facade with non-functional arches above the CVS windows and a faux-historic cornice. This seems to be a sanitized, ill-proportioned, version of what present-day architects deem to be historically-inspired neo-industrial (think trendy converted lofts) design. The neon signs have been replaced by a variety of internally illuminated acrylic-covered signs. Only the original stationery sign remains. Bless the stationery store owners them for keeping their neon, however lonely and out-of-place it now looks.

I could understand the removal of the signs if entirely new businesses opened up and the old signs no longer advertised for the current shops, but no such changes occurred here. This was done purely for aesthetic reasons. But I seriously would like the owner and / or designers of the revamped Bridge Plaza to look at the following before-and-after photographs and explain how they think these new signs are a visual improvement. Especially in the case of the delicatessen sign. For lack of space due to the overhang the sign was angled from top left to top right with progressively smaller letters. I imagine that was a rare example of this style. Looking at its replacement I cannot fathom how such a change was ever considered.

6 A/B. 3-hr Cleaners. January 6, 2006 / February 26, 2013.

7 A/B. Liquors. January 19, 2012 / February 26, 2013.

8 A/B. January 6, 2006 / February 26, 2013.

9. Bridge Plaza with new signage. February 26, 2013.

10. Stationery, Delicatessen. February 26, 2013.

11. Delicatessen. February 26, 2013.

12. Stationery. The last neon sign left. February 26, 2013.

13. Stop & Shop (former First National). December 4, 2005.
The supermarket featured an immense projection that might even have been considered neo-mansard. This replaced the original simpler overhang and was probably added in the 1960s or 1970s.

I remember in the 1980s that, after checking out, a bag boy placed your bags onto a conveyor and rolled the bags out front where they could be picked up and placed into your car as you pulled up to the curb. I bet that was a novelty in the 1950s. The conveyor was removed, probably in the late 1980s or early 1990s, to provide space to park shopping carts.

14. Stop & Shop (former First National). February 9, 2009.

15. CVS (former Stop & Shop / First National). February 26, 2013.

16. CVS (former Stop & Shop / First National). February 26, 2013.

So steadily so much of old Tarrytown, and my Tarrytown, continues to disappear. One other thing that is certain is that I will not include the Bridge Plaza Shopping Center on any future history-themed itineraries.

BONUS:

My holy grail of lost Tarrytown photographs is now the Shanghai Inn. I don’t remember what kind of sign graced the storefront, but I seem to recall a large free-standing sign, perhaps neon, on Broadway. I am interested to see how correct my memory is of how cool that sign was. This matchbook cover is all I can find on the internet. As with the postcard of the shopping center, I am told that no other visual depiction exists at the Historical Society, serving Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow.

DEMO ALERT UPDATES:
I have been informed that the long-abandoned Public School 6 in Yonkers has been demolished.

At the other end of the Hudson Valley the demolition of St. Patricks Church in Watervliet is preceded by the removal of statues and architectural elements which are being sold by the diocese.

A new addition to the Demo Alert is the Jackson House in Fishkill, NY. Its construction spans many eras but the oldest part of the house is thought to date to 1741.

Posted in Demolition Alert, Westchester County | 21 Comments

HVR Updates – February 2013

Posted on February 14, 2013 by HV-Rob

Reynolds Farmhouse, Somers, NY
It is not often that we get to report good news but that is what is underway at Angle Fly preserve in Somers (Westcehster County). The Somers Land Trust plans to restore the c. 1776 Reynolds House. The house has been unoccupied for a few years. The property was acquired in 2006 for the purpose of creating parkland.

The Journal News has more information and 19 photos in an article published online February 12, 2013.

Reynolds House, January 2007.

Reynolds farm building, January 2007.

Reynolds farm building, July 2006.

Starlite Theater, Latham, NY
This theater-in-the-round was demolished in December 2012. I visited once before and returned for a last look just before Christmas. I recently posted a set of photographs from that December 2012 visit.

St. Patrick’s Church, Watervliet, NY
A preservation battle is being waged in the Albany suburb Watervliet where supermaket chain Price Chopper wants to demolish a historic church. A developer entered into agreement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany to buy the church, which closed in September 2011, in order to build a 40,000+ square-foot supermarket. Neighbors protested the plan to demolish their cherished landmark and now a group has filed a lawsuit against the Watervliet City Council that calls into question the council’s procedures in approving development plans for the site.

The church property lies between 19th Street and 23rd Street, and 5th and 6th Avenues in Watervliet. Other buildings to be demolished include the church rectory, school, and three rowhouses on 23rd Street.

Photographs December 23, 2012.

Rectory.

St. Patrick’s School, detail.

St. Patrick’s School.

Rowhouse detail.

Beech-Nut, Canajoharie, NY
This is out of the realm of the Hudson Valley, but anyone who has traveled the New York State Thruway west of Albany has surely noticed the Beech-Nut sign in Canajoharie (Montgomery County). If you didn’t, well, you missed it for good. The sign was removed
about late January 2013. The factory closed in March 2011 and has been marketed for sale but no plans for the site are known.

More photographs of Canajoharie may be seen here.

Yonkers Power Station, Yonkers, NY
The owners of the Yonkers Power Station have filed a Special Use Permit Application with the City of Yonkers. The 41-page document can be downloaded here. A press tour with United States Senator Chuck Schumer visited the Yonkers Power Station in January 2013. The Journal News reported on the tour with photographs and video.

Photographs September and October 2007

BONUS:
This past Saturday Thom Johnson and I hiked through a foot of snow to the Northgate ruins in Cold Spring. Surprisingly we did not see anyone else all afternoon and no other footprints broke the snow before us. Here is one take from that day.

Posted in Albany County, Demolition Alert, Historic Preservation, Westchester County | 3 Comments

HVR 2012

Posted on December 25, 2012 by HV-Rob

As I did last year, I present a calendar of images not yet published on this website (except possibly for one picture from a month in which I did not shoot many ruins.)

[I published this post two days ago but there seems to have been a glitch in the notification process, so I am reposting it.]

January
Bedroom? Or Office? Such nice light in here, it would make for a happy place.

February
Brandreth-on-Hudson.

March
Cold storage tunnel.

April
Not schockproof but deadly.

May
~~Richmond~~ Firthcliffe

June
This Old, Old House.

July
Davenport, Delaware County, NY.
An honorary entry as I did not photograph any Hudson Valley Ruins in July, except for Prattsville on the western edge of Greene County (if that counts) but I have already presented those photographs here.

August
Northgate ruins from above.

September
Reverse ruin – the preserved members of the Solite barn under reassembly at the Saugerties Historical Society.

October
Lime kiln ruins, new to me and an accidental find.

November
Taconic motel.

December
Knapp House, Yorktown.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Happy holidays, belated and present.

Posted in HVR Annual Calendar, Orange County, Putnam County, Ulster County, Westchester County | 6 Comments

2012 – The Demolition Year in Review

Posted on December 21, 2012 by HV-Rob

Well, the world didn’t end today (not yet) but 2012 was the end of the line for many historic and architecturally significant buildings here in the Hudson Valley.

The Hudson River Valley is designated a National Heritage Area. We encourage visitors to see our nationally-significant historic sites and to stroll and shop on the Main Streets lined with handsome architecture in our picturesque river towns.

Thanks to Tom Rinaldi for the photograph above and for a few other images below.

Yet, developers and community governments continue to wage battle against our historic buildings. Millions of dollars in public money, and even more from private developers, were spent this year to remove significant buildings from the Hudson River Valley landscape. I cannot help but think how nice it would be if even a percent of some of that money was spent to preserve some of these now-lost structures.

The tale of loss is told year after year at the Hudson Valley Demolition Alert, but the losses seem to sting especially hard this year. The roster of the demolished follows in chronological order.

Mid-19th century brick mansion
Verplanck, NY
Demolition date unknown, but brought to our attention in 2012
A fine old brick mansion near the tip of Verplanck’s Point. Abandoned for some time, and then boarded up by 2009. I found its site to be an empty lot in early 2012.

Middle Hope Drive-In Theater
Middle Hope, NY
Demolished Winter 2011/2012
One of the handful of remaining drive-in movie theaters in the Hudson Valley survived with its projection building and speaker poles as well as its screen. Long after it closed in 1987 attempts to revive the Middle Hope Drive-In Theater were not approved, perhaps due to traffic concerns on this busy stretch of narrow road. Yet a huge gas station and food mart opened on the site in 2012 following the demolition of the concession building and screen, which could have been preserved as its site was not occupied by the new construction.

Fresh Air Home, St. John the Divine
Tomkins Cove, NY
Demolished 2011/2012
This Shingle-style building was allowed to decay to the point of collapse. It was entirely demolished in late 2011 or early 2012.

More Fresh Air Home, St. John the Divine

Lebanon Springs Union Free School
New Lebanon, NY
Demolished February 2012
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and still owned by the New Lebanon School District, the Union Free School was demolished in February 2012. Admitting to not having any engineering knowledge, District Superintendant Karen McGraw nevertheless stressed a fear of the building’s collapse as the reason it should be demolished. It is a typical tale when a public or government agency refuses to spend any money for building maintenance, but when it seems like a brick is about to pop loose, there is money available for the building’s demolition.

19 Livingston Avenue
Dobbs Ferry, NY
Demolished April 2012
This ca. 1850 mansion recently was the home of the popular restaurant/catering hall known as Rudy’s Beau Rivage. Rudy’s closed in 2009 and it seemed that a new business, to be known as Windows on the Hudson, would open in the renovated mansion. The renovation project stalled and then it became a demolition site.

New York Central – Putnam Division Railroad Station
Millwood, NY
Demolished May 9, 2012
Originally built in Briarcliff Manor, this humble yet handsome wooden station was moved a few miles north to the hamlet of Millwood when Walter Law built a new station for his Briarcliff Lodge hotel in the early 1900s. Rendered obsolete when the Putnam Division ceased to operate, the building was abandoned and later was acquired by the owner of the adjacent lumberyard. Given an ultimatum by a Village Task Force to renovate or remove the historic station building, the owners demolished it. Perhaps ownership of the structure could have been transferred to Westchester County, which owns land a short distance away where the building could have been moved to and where it could have housed services for a walking and biking path in place of the former railroad right-of-way. About the same time the Millwood station was demolished, a similarly neglected and perhaps even more-rotted station in Hopewell (Dutchess County) was restored.

Rock Hill Lodge / Holland Sporting Club
Mohegan Lake, NY
Demolished July 2012
The Rock Hill Lodge was one of Mohegan Lake’s summer vacation resorts and later served as the waterfront athletic retreat for a club of New Yorkers of Dutch descent. After club members aged and membership dwindled, the Town of Yorktown acquired the property for passive recreational purposes. Instead of putting the site to public use, the property was closed to the public and the buildings were abandoned. The Town of Yorktown borrowed one-quarter of a million dollars to demolish the Rock Hill Lodge buildings in the summer of 2012. These newly unearthed photographs are from 2005, the year that the Town of Yorktown acquired title to the property and before the buildings fell into disrepair.

More Holland Sporting Club / Rock Hill Lodge

Kospa Farmhouse
East Greenbush, NY
Burned August 29, 2012
This ancient farmhouse escaped our attention and apparently that of Rensselaer County historians too. Last occupied about 2006, the vacant home, which appears to have suffered few modern intrusions and additions, was burned by three youths in August 2012.

Teaberry Port
West Nyack, NY
Demolished beginning November 2012
Colonial-era houses seemed particularly at risk in 2012. This stone house was owned by the United Water Company which rented it out as a residence until 2005. The house was abandoned and the company would not commit funds to its repair nor allow it to be offered for sale, nor would United Water continue to rent it to individuals or families. Demolition began the day after Thanksgiving.

More Teaberry Port

Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Restaurant
Yonkers, NY
Demolished December 2012
Not far from the site of another significant example of vanished roadside Americana, the first Carvel Ice Cream store (demolished in 2009), the third location established by Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs disappeared after closing on Thanksgiving weekend in 2012. I don’t know the fate of its amazing green-and-red neon sign but I doubt we will see it reappear above the new hot dog restaurant to be built on this site. Ironically Nathan’s was demolished the same week that Tom Rinaldi’s book tribute to the vanishing neon signs of New York City was released.

Nelson House Hotel
Poughkeepsie, NY
Demolished November-December 2012
Hudson Valley Magazine (or its readers, rather) voted Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro to be the Best Politician in the Hudson Valley. However he has proven himself to be no friend of historic preservation, which is one the things we claim to be proud of here in the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. Molinaro seems to have made the demolition the Nelson House Hotel, targeted for demo before, his personal cause. In October Molinaro signed an order that officially condemned the building and then the Dutchess County Legislature voted to spend nearly two million dollars on the demolition of the historic Nelson House. It was gone by mid-December. I wonder where was the outcry that surely would have prevailed in some quarters had a similar amount of money been granted to fix up a county-owned building.

Condemned without any official public documentation to support the claim, the loss of the Nelson House was the nadir of preservation in the Hudson Valley in 2012. It was not for lack of trying as concerned citizens spoke to the Dutchess County Board of Legislators on behalf of the old hotel, but the elected officials entirely ignored and dismissed their input. On accounts like this we wonder if a professional organization devoted to the advocacy of historic preservation in the Hudson Valley would have some impact in protecting future endangered buildings. It is time, long past due but better late than never, for such an organization to form.

Public School 6
Yonkers, NY
Demolished Beginning December 11, 2012
In the mid-1980s a United States District Court judge ordered the City of Yonkers to integrate its racially-segregated school district by busing students from schools near low-income public housing clustered in the southwestern part of Yonkers to schools throughout the city. The guidelines to implement this plan suggested the closing of a number of schools, including School 6. After two-and-a-half decades of neglect its roof recently began to cave in, and School 6, the target of previous area redevelopment projects, was demolished in December 2012.

Knapp House
Yorktown, NY
Demolished beginning December 20, 2012
The year isn’t over yet, but hopefully I won’t have to add to this list in the next ten days. Although the world did not end today as some say the ancient Mayans predicted, the Knapp House is coming down right on schedule. It is believed that the frame of the original mid-1700s house survived as this home was added onto throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Demolition began on December 20, 2012 and will continue through the weekend. The Town of Yorktown especially seems to have something against colonial-era homes, as the Yorktown School District razed a beautiful home in the summer of 2011, the Strang-Melbourne house.

Posted in Demolition Alert | 12 Comments

Westchester to Suit Every Interest

Posted on December 20, 2012 by HV-Rob

Playland Amusement Park, Rye

In its December 2012 issue, Westchester Magazine presented a feature entitled “Westchester to Suit Every Interest” – six weekend itineraries from Friday night to Sunday night. Activities, events, sites, and tours are are included for outdoor adventurers, families, foodies, art lovers, and intellectuals. There is also an itinerary for the history buff, for which the magazine asked me to compile.

Brandreth Pill Factory, Ossining

My list actually touches on all of the categories above. Although I included some of the county’s most obvious historically-significant sites (some of which are seasonally open to the public and some of which may only be viewed via a self-guided driving tour), I also chose off-the-beaten-path places to explore and unique establishments to find food, drink and fun. I’ve also thrown in mention of some ruins too! Having been a long-time resident of the river-side of Westchester, my list leans heavily to that area I know best. (But I have recently begun to explore some other parts of the county previously off my chart!)

Armour-Stiner (Octagon) House, irvington

The list can be viewed online at http://www.westchestermagazine.com//Westchester-Magazine/December-2012/Activities-in-Westchester-County-for-Every-Interest/ or in print in the December 2012 issue which is on newsstands now.

Tarrytown Delicatessen, Bridge Plaza Shopping Center, Tarrytown

Posted in Publications and Reviews, Westchester County | 1 Comment

Return to Victorian beauty

Posted on December 4, 2012 by HV-Rob

When I first photographed this house, over six years ago, it only had that “vacant for a few years and on the market” look. A new owner might have needed to put some work into the house, but it wasn’t too bad. Some factors such as the proximity of a major road could certainly be viable reasons why someone of means has not purchased this house, but other, newer, occupied homes exist on the same street. It can’t be too bad to live here.

I have passed this house frequently in the interval but had not stopped by to see how it has been doing, perhaps, ironically, because it is easily accessible and doesn’t require too much effort on my part to get to, and because I have usually been on my way to somewhere else. But with some time to spare on my way home from a short trip recently, I pulled over for another visit.

Decay is more evident now though primarily in a small addition, but not yet so much in the main structure of the house. The front porch has fallen, and what previously was a small hole in the roof of the smaller barn is now a serious issue that could lead to a significant or complete collapse.

What once might have been a preservation project requiring a small investment is quickly turning into an expensive restoration job. Too bad that those of us who would gladly live in this house do not have the means to do so, and those who can, have chosen not to.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

New York Neon book now available!

Posted on November 28, 2012 by HV-Rob

A friendly reminder about Tom Rinaldi’s current project New York Neon and his book that was officially released this week.

To celebrate and promote the publication of the book Tom has planned several lectures, including one tomorrow, Thursday November 29, and news outlets including CNN and the Wall Street Journal have interviewed Tom and have reviewed New York Neon.

The book is published by the W.W. Norton Company, whose publicity I have copied here:

New York Neon
By Thomas E. Rinaldi

A brilliant visual tour and history of that iconic element of the cityscape: the neon sign.

Treating New York City as an open-air museum, Thomas E. Rinaldi captures the brilliant glow of surviving early- and mid-twentieth-century neon signs, those iconic elements of the cityscape now in danger of disappearing. This visual tour features two hundred signs, identified by location, with information on their manufacture, date of creation, and the businesses that commissioned them. In a generously illustrated introduction, drawing on documents including rare period trade publications, Rinaldi recounts the development of signage and the technological evolution of neon and examines its role in the streets of New York, in America’s cultural identity, and in our collective consciousness.

New Yorkers and visitors to the city, neon-sign enthusiasts, and those interested in signs and historic advertising generally, as well as design professionals, serious historians, and casual students of the city, will want this colorful book, which comes at a critical moment when the disappearance of the original signs has inspired a growing interest in neon.
Book Details

Paperback
November 2012
ISBN 978-0-393-73341-9
8.1 × 8 in / 192 pages

Available: Ships in 1-2 days
Our Retail Price: $26.95

Congratulations Tom!!

Posted in New York City, Night Photography, Publications and Reviews, Tours Lectures and Events | 2 Comments

Boyce Thompson Institute – RFP

Posted on November 16, 2012 by HV-Rob

Press release just in from City Hall:

CITY OF YONKERS ISSUES REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR THE ACQUISITION & REDEVELOPMENT OF FORMER BOYCE THOMPSON INSTITUTE SITE

YONKERS, NY — November 16, 2012 – The City of Yonkers today announced its release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the acquisition and redevelopment of the former Boyce Thompson Institute. The property to be redeveloped is located in northwest Yonkers at 1086 North Broadway at the southeast corner of North Broadway and Executive Boulevard, which was the former location of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research.

“After standing for years as a blighted property in an otherwise prosperous area, the Boyce Thompson site hopefully will soon be part of the economic revitalization for the City of Yonkers,” said Mayor Spano. “A building with such unique architecture and prime location should be restored and utilized for the benefit of residents, visitors and to further the economic development goals of the City.”

The building, constructed in 1930, is currently vacant and experiencing deterioration of both the building and adjacent greenhouses. Applicants responding to the RFP will be expected to promote a plan that supports the redevelopment of the site for commercial uses. Applicants are highly encouraged to consider the adaptive reuse of the existing structures on the site and their rehabilitation using sustainable and preservation practices. The City is seeking proposed uses on the site which are designed to fit into and enhance the existing character of the neighborhood.

For more information on the Boyce Thompson RFP, visit http://www.cityofyonkers.com/Index.aspx?page=2714.

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Thanks to Tim Lamorte of the Rivertowns Enterprise for sharing the press release. For history and photographs of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, visit my pages starting here. More recent images appear below.

Posted in Historic Preservation, Westchester County | 10 Comments

Yonkers Power Station proposal

Posted on November 14, 2012 by HV-Rob

The Journal News yesterday reported on a plan to redevelop the Yonkers Power Station. New owner Ron Shemesh and his company Glenwood POH plan to create a hotel and conference center within the existing buildings of the power station. The proposal calls for the preservation of the large generating building and for the construction of two stories to the smaller substation/transformer building.

The article can be found at this link:
http://www.lohud.com/article/20121113/NEWS02/311130045/Old-Glenwood-power-plant-may-become-hotel-convention-center

Cleanup of the power station property has been ongoing since late spring. Vines have been removed from the brick walls and shrubbery has been removed from surrounding the buildings. Large window frames have been removed from their openings. The photographs below show some of the work that occurred up to mid-July.

Photographs of the power station from before the recent cleanup effort can be found on Hudson Valley Ruins here and here.

Generating building, July 1, 2012

Substation / transformer building, July 1, 2012.

Window frames removed from the building, July 1, 2012.

View towards the Palisades, at left, July 1, 2012.

Generating building, July 12, 2012.

Generating building (left) and substation / transformer building (right), July 12, 2012.

Power station, view from the north, July 12, 2012.

July 12, 2012.

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DEMOLITION ALERT UPDATE
The Knapp House, believed to be of 18th-century construction, is undergoing demolition in Yorktown.

More information here:
Hudson Valley Demolition Alert – November 13, 2012

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WEBSITE UPDATES
I recently posted two locations to my website. The Fresh Air Home of St. John the Divine, recently featured in the Demolition Alert and on the blog, now has a corresponding full set of photographs. I have also added a set of photographs taken in August 2010 of the Holy Cross campus of the Pope Pius XII School in Rhinebeck.

Fresh Air Home, St. John the Divine, Tomkins Cove, NY.