2,174 Comments for Bennett School for Girls

Pat,

Thank you for the update there as well, indeed, R.I.P. to you, Halcyon Hall.

that sad day has finally come, the demolition of Halcyon Hall is now underway. The tower has been torn down on the eastern wing. Time elapse photos show it coming down almost all in one piece, conical roof and all. Amazing.
The foundations for this incredible building were laid almost exactly
130 years ago this spring.

RIP Halcyon Hall

what a beautiful oddity leaving the corner as you enter Millbrook- on to new future

my heart is in my throat

Felicity,

Thank you again for the new gallery & updates on her.

Just a quick update. As of Monday, the boiler house, Aldrich Library, and May Friend Bennett Chapel are no more. All that remains are giant piles of rubble.

https://imgur.com/a/2Ayi8Qr

Also, in the mayor's last newsletter, I discovered that they finally created a website for the park project. It has some useful information, including a semi-updated timeline.

https://www.millbrookbennettpark.org/

If that timeline remains accurate, which looks to be the case, Halcyon's demolition will start some time in the next week or so.

very nice video Iceberg.
best one yet, that may be the time of year.

how about recent pics ??????

I went down for another check-in today. I've got nothing new to show for it though, as it seems they're behind schedule again, as always. I believe that the original end date of the demolition was supposed to be in early January, but the most recent one had it finished before March. At the rate they're moving, I doubt they'll make that deadline either. They're still cleaning up the debris from the two dorms, and because they have to be careful to preserve Halcyon's stonework, they won't be quick about demolishing it or cleaning up. They might finish before April, though who really knows at this point?

Iceberg, I was aware of that collapse in the east wing, but I had no idea it was to that extent. God bless balloon framing, I guess. Letting the interior take the full brunt of deterioration while the exterior keeps up appearances is the reason why she still looks as good as she does. Still, I had no idea that things had gotten that bad. I have to admit that even for me, the self-described patron saint of lost causes when it comes to Bennett, that's too much. There was no way that Halcyon could've been anything but demolished after that collapse.

Pat, you're right that it looks better with Alumnae Hall torn down. The wrecking crew rolled Halcyon back to its 1926 configuration, with the exception of the library, by tearing it down. Still though, when Bennett was still running, it didn't look all that bad. The stucco matched Halcyon's paint then, and it didn't look completely terrible. I'd like to also dispute your point that they built it just to hide Halcyon from the street. I remembered seeing that it was planned a good fifteen years before the road was shifted to its current configuration, and found posts from the Growing up in Millbrook, NY Facebook page that matched.

https://imgur.com/a/9LPbrf2

I wasn't in the Bennett administration back then, but if I had to take a guess, they chose to put it there because its location is equidistant from both wings of Halcyon and it was a spot where it would be relatively unobtrusive, at the time. Still, if I were in the Bennett administration, I think I would've tried to make it match Halcyon in more than color alone. As far as preserving the remaining stonework is concerned, yes, I'm also optimistic about the chances of preserving most, if not all of the major parts of it. I believe they'll easily be able to save that huge corner foundation beneath the porch. It looks pretty sturdy to me. The chimneys will have to come down, at least to a reasonable level where they can't be blown over, or kill someone if they fall. The biggest uncertainty for me has to be the stone arches of the porch that connect the foundation to the wooden mass of the west wing. I'm unsure if they can be saved, but I'll give the demo team a gold medal if they can manage it, as I'd really like for them to still be there. If and when any stones are knocked loose, I'd like to see them either made into some type of rock garden, or preserved for future use in the restoration of other Millbrook estates. No souvenirs for me. That whole business is beginning to remind me of the stories of Bennett's bankruptcy sale, and I'd not like to see a repeat of that.

Speaking of, I've found a whole bunch of news articles, magazines, and other odds and ends of paperwork like the two I posted above. If you'd like to see them posted, just let me know.

wow great pics. Doesn't the building look so good without that tacked on dorm? I mean just as a mass, as it were. But I really feel had they not just defaced Halcyon in the first place with that hideous building, that there may have been some more regard for its preservation back then. I really believe that, I really do. The seemingly arbitrary angle it was built into the older portion was not random at all, in fact. The dorm was an attempt to actually try and 'hide' Halcyon from the Rt 44 entrance to town, now that the campus throughfare was no longer the entrance to the village. The drive to disregard, downgrade, and marginalize Halcyon Hall goes back to well before the college was defunct, or even in financial peril, let alone abandoned. It was symptomatic of the times, to be actually reviled by the Victorian era, and a sign of modernity and progress to be actively contemptuous of any traces of it, visible or even cultural.
The Victorian Era / Gilded Age writ large certainly deserves its earned share of social critique, but it took the hippie era of the 1960's, like so many other examples, to rediscover the artistic wonders of that time. The same way the 'hippie' era was the driving force in the rediscovery and artistic and critical re-evaluation of the Art Nouveau art movement, and the Pre-Raphealites, for example. It demonstrates in a very ironic way, how the hippies stood for more time honored, traditional, and actually [gasp!] conservative values, aesthetically anyway. They kickstarted the revival of SO many art forms, made antiquing a "thing" for everybody, not just snobs, kickstarted the Preservation movement, and elevated Craft back to the level of Art, where it always belonged.
But they were one generation skipped on the timeline from being older and in power enough to save a place like this. I feel if it was people now deciding back when it was feasible, the outcome here may have been quite different, but just a selah what-if from the drawing boards of my distracted mind.
So...where was I? Oh yeah, the hippies were cool, mostly, Halycon Hall rules, the Gilded Age was rad as shit, but I'm glad I didn't have to live through it, unless of course I was loaded, but back then you could lose it all real quick, like the guy who built Halcyon, who lived out his days in a tiny cottage a third of a mile away. Imagine what he thought passing it by all the time afterwards. I bet he laughed his ass off.
If actual demolition is imminent, it is important that the stonework be saved where possible. There was a state order in place to do so, signed by a judge back when demo-ing was the predicate for a horrible condo plan that was thankfully rejected finally. I feel the new park deserves at least the same protection guarantee of this historic resource, and would hope [guess? speculate? extemporize? spew?] unless officially rescinded, that that order is still binding and relevant. I try to just keep reminding on that point, I think it's important.
I am optimistic that some large degree of care is in fact being taken, in planning and execution, but crazy shit happens knocking down big old crazy shit. So it is actually a crucial thing right now, as the long record of historical "what-if"s for this place, comes down to the final and only choice, that is, how much of the stonework can be saved as part of a park terrace. In tribute to the amazing artisans who built Millbrook, figuratively, and literally, as much as possible should be everyone's hope and aim, within the limits that physical gravity will allow such stone survival. Stone Survival. That sounds like a heavy metal record...
I bet there will be a few boulders strewn about if people wanted a souvenier, though. Maybe they could sell chips off stones, like relics, to raise money. Then there would be a ripe market for Fake/ Counterfeit Halcyon Memorabilia!
My own coveted fantasy football component has long rotted to unrecognizability. It was [still is!] a singular column, High Edwardian, elaborately carved scrollwork, about 5 feet high. It holds up the tiny balconette built into the main east wing office suite. In the original magazine feature from the 1890's it merited its own illustration, even.
Just a lone concentratedly detailed architectural component. But long since rendered feast for the termite kingdom. By now, just a stump, which would likely crumble in hand. Hell, it wasn't even load bearing, I should have climbed up and cut that thing out of there back in the 90's!
Ah, what if?

all the dyed wool fans are getting in on this where is Stax ? Mica looks like lights out ha ha

Here is a YouTube drone flyover video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4k5DzX4T4A

...taken back in September of 2021, showing a massive collapse on one of her sides, it seems all of the collapses have been around the chimney stacks. You had a great life, Halcyon Hall, in both an active & an abandoned school. Such a beautiful place, even as time & nature took their toll on her. Rest well, Miss Bennett, you deserve it.

Thanks those imgur pics are nice.

i'd love to have a piece of this history hint hint like a piece of the rock foundation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

absolutely shocked !!!!! its really happening !!!!!!! pinch me!!!!! PLEASE keep them coming--- by october the site will be unrecognizable