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guess i am ghoulish - got a rock from BHR proudly in my garden now wow what memories

Checkered floors are “mind-control” devices. Research Masonic symbols; CIA MK Ultra. It has everything to do with what is happening in our nation and world today. Bitchute is a great platform to dig on. Happy hunting!

This was the original ironing room not a gym.

So much of the salvageable architectural detailing worth saving was ripped out of here years ago. Some choice pieces [the main fireplace mantel for example] ended up being used in restorations on other properties in Millbrook. Some of it quite shadily so! Dicey provenance, as they say in art circles.
But I'm glad it survives in some form or other. Some of the balustrades and banisters were used elsewhere in Millbrook on other Ware buildings. So that's always cool. But, yeah, no souveniers for me. Isn't that like a haunted house thing you are not supposed to do, too? That objects could be haunted, etc.? Well if it is, I know a few multi-million dollar estates in town that have haunted fireplaces and banisters, then!

The MCP as it is called has obtained bids for demolition throughout the 32 acre campus, and has begun obtaining permits. Demo is to begin as soon as the requisite funds are raised. Which is slightly ambiguous. It is overall a $30 million dollar project.

Demo and remediation must certainly run to the millions. Halcyon Hall Alumni House Dorms, the Chapel, Carroll Hall dorms, Mellon Arts Center, Harkaway Theater, the spacey Kettering Science Center that bankrupted the joint back in 76, and a few other dilapidated houses. Also the removal/ replacement of the tennis courts and pool to the west for the nearby condominiums. That's ALOT of demoing and hauling! Especially with the hazardous waste and asbestos compliance. Which will be complied with I'm sure. But it's still crazy, even with compliance. Still not sure I'd want to be around, even with the era of habitual masking! it's gonna be a big crazy mess, and not pleasant to live around.

The MPC will be holding a public meeting with the campus neighbors and community at large ABOUT the demo, as well as more input on the proposal at large. Which is rather refreshing, compared to developers who fought tooth and nail against public opinion. The MPC having arrived here from vigorous public input from the beginning, seems to value continued and current input from the public moving forward.

I try to just still look at it as Halcyon laying down so the Thorne Building
might live on. Funnily enough, their architects were enemies. Some rivalries still echo through centuries.

The way it's shaken out is no one wants to pay money just to make a place disappear. Linking it to the restoration of another historic resource makes it appealing, win-win. Doable. Logical.

Speaking of Exmoore on the hill, it is for sale again. This house just flips constantly! Dozens of times it's been sold. I never know why. It is a great little mansion, now updated, pool. It will be now surrounded by a landscaped park at the new entrance to the village. If I had a million and a half just laying around, you know, as one does, I'd pluck it.

can you imagine the dust from the demo and asbestos i'd be leaving the "Commons" with a lawyer behind

Pat,
Thanks for that update, however sad it is, Bennett will still be a grand old gal & will live on in all the photos, videos & stories. If you are able to & you see it happening, could you take some photos to share of her coming down? I always thought she'd take herself down, but sadly that is not going to happen.

Yeah, I know that any "restoration" would basically involve demolishing most, if not all of Halcyon, and then rebuilding it. But parts of it, and even the other campus buildings, might be able to be salvaged or restored without demolition. Though in the end most of it would be brand new, that would be good enough for me. It's the most I could ask for without leaving reality behind. We're far too late in the game for any real restoration of Halcyon. That would've had to happen 20 to 30 years ago.

As far as demolition goes, I've seen small houses get flattened in an hour or two, so it might take a day each for most of the buildings. Maybe a couple of days for Alumnae Hall. Halcyon will be completely different. The sheer size of it, the structural integrity, and the amount of contaminants will probably add up to a lengthy process. I don't want to be there for it, but something is telling me that I should. It should be safe enough, especially with a good mask. I mean, the workers have to be there, and with everyone who lives in the condos, they must have to be very careful. If I were to be there, I'd probably be sitting up on the hill near Exmoore, staying off of their property of course. If worse comes to worse, I also have access to a drone with a 1/4 mile range.

I'm not sure whether or not I'd actually want a souvenir. As much as I'd want to save a piece of Halcyon from going to the trash heap, it wouldn't be right or respectful. It just feels like looting or grave robbing to me, though I don't think less of anyone who wants to, especially now. Maybe my mind will change once it's all said and done.

I think it really is far too late to have hope for restoration. I just think it'd be false hope, really. I'm trying more to be realistic about what will likely be a rapid start to demoing. How long does it take to knock down something this size? I wonder. I know it is going to cost ALOT, especially complying with standards etc. But as much as I'd like to witness or film the demo, I think it would not be too smart. There is SO much hazardous material throughout the place, asbestos EVERYWHERE. It is going to be a freakin MESS while this is going on.
But I think it would be deconstructively interesting, seeing it for a brief moment, in a way that only its builders got to, really, way back in 1893.
Only in reverse, as it disappears from the physical world, and its architecture reverts back to just an idea, a footprint, a floorplan and elevations, back from material fact to only a concept on paper.

As far as souvenirs go, I really wanted the little collonette that supported the balcony of the east gable facade. It was a single component, that had a concentrated abundance of Edwardian detail.
Probably about 4 feet high. The last I saw, it was practically disintegrated from rot. C'iest La Vie.

In many ways it survives. It has been one of the most avidly photographed and documented buildings of its era.

Is Motts just taking a break? It's been over a year since the last gallery was added. I hope nothing is wrong.

well its been a good ride- we'll see where will I go in Oct in the future guess just wander on looking for my next passion meanwhile i may be able to see her in titty bitty pieces perhaps a souvenier

There are a few references to clergy abuse in Cedar Lake. Please lets help eachother. If you have ANY info regarding abuse please contact me.
Raykelly0223@yahoo.com.
Thank you

SO SAD. Remember it well.I played in Pilates Daughter on the stage of St.Amphibians Hall for many years.

Hi, Pat. It seems news travels fast around Millbrook. I was too broken up about it to come share it yesterday, but it looks like you beat me to it. I thought we'd have more time. After years of nothing being done, I hoped that there would be at least a few more to come. Enough time for me to finish my schooling, and raise the money needed to make Halcyon and the Bennett campus whole again. I guess after reading about so many failed attempts, I was beginning to think that only Mother Nature herself could bring down Halcyon.

I think you're right that they're serious this time around. It seems like everyone involved has their seal of approval on it, and with such an aggressive timeline, they're not messing around. They've also upped security in the area. I noticed a great big security camera on the front gate in the pictures from the Journal, that wasn't there in mid-May. I was kind of anticipating something like this being announced since I saw the paving notice for Bennett Common Way and Exmoor Lane about a week ago. Where I live, we have main roads in worse shape that still aren't getting attention. I figured something was up, but I wasn't expecting it so soon. However, this is the third or fourth time that it's been scheduled for demolition since this website went up, so you never know.

I'm still holding out hope. Call me naive, call me a fool, but there's still a chance, however slim, for Halcyon to be saved. As long as there's someone who hasn't given up, it'll still exist. Perhaps they'll change their minds in a month, and decide to renovate instead of raze. I'd still like to see this plan go through if they don't though. It's the best of what's available, and much better than those that came before. I stumbled across some renderings of the previous condo plans, and they were terrible, to say the least. I sort of know how you feel, Pat. I think the park plan is a good one, but I'm not ready to say goodbye yet, and I've only been here since November. You've been around Halcyon for your entire life.

On a happier note, for those of us not ready to leave the past behind, I've finished updating the Bennett in Color album. It now includes over 100 images, including some really good ones from the '62 and '64 yearbooks.
https://imgur.com/a/zd0N27g

Yes Phillip...it was.

greetings Halcyon Lovers, it has been reported that the plans for Halcyon going back to 2014, to make it a public park are back underway. It's disposition has been linked to the preservation of the Thorne Building in the village. Both are part of a $20 million project, administered by the Tribute Garden Foundation and the Thorne's own foundation. There have been years of delays, but the project is now moving forward.

Demolition of Halcyon Hall may begin as soon as August.

How many times have I and others said that? ha...

But it seems like the real deal this time. Money is still being raised, but they are pretty much ready to move forward now for alot of reasons, mostly it's linkage to the Thorne Building's redevelopment. There is a persuasive logic to that connection. The money around that allocates a
sensible outcome to the Bennett "issue" without the potential of uncharacteristic development being the price to pay for remediation.

The site is to be a public park, after the demo of Halcyon, the dorms, the theater, the Science building, the chapel, several derelict houses, and removal of the adjacent condos to a new site west.

The wooded area north of it is partly included. The possible mini rail trail connecting the park to the village green, as augered and first suggested by Pat Ratchet right here several years ago? Perhaps.

As far as I know, I will state again that there was a State ordered mandate that the stonework of Halcyon Hall must be saved where possible. This goes back years, applying to the development project[s] that were proposed for the site. I can't imagine why it would not still apply, but what the hell do I know about the law?
I am completely convinced however that the project itself is as accomodating of history and preservation as can be expected or hoped for. And the entities involved almost solely responsible for this ruin we enjoy still being here, and not only not demolished 15 years ago, but not replaced with 500 condominiums at the entrance to this little village.
So as its end seems near, I still like to reflect that while it is nothing short of a damn shame that this special place wasn't saved, decades back, it still had some positive impact in terms of Preservation efforts.
Thirty years ago, landmark court rulings regarding the FDIC's preservation responsibilities were based on Halcyon Hall's precedent cases. And now it is sort of the sacrificial offering so that a sister Victorian treasure may live on. Linking the two outcomes is good karma, as well as good economic sense. It makes me feel better about the inevitable, that it is all being done in a considered manner. My hope is that the stonework would be a terrace / cornerstone of the new park.
So that some fabric of what has been here for 130 years remains, to impress, and to even be enjoyed in a way it cannot even now.

It still is so disappointing. As much as I regard the upcoming transition to a public park, I am in denial about how much it will affect me when they finally do tear this grand hall down. Maybe I'll be wrong again, like I have been for decades!

Cheers.