2,174 Comments for Bennett School for Girls

Felicity,
Thank you so much for sharing those, she is still standing. That second window area is on the verge of collapse there & time, weather are not being any kinder to her now. Again, thanks for the photos.

These are from three weeks ago. I don't have many pictures since I stayed outside the fence, but I hope it's good enough.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AmiuQntfg3D2CQL69

I wonder how the grand ole gal is doing now, an up to date photo of how she looks would be nice to see.

so Josh how far did you get yes you are our famous post

i got caught for trespassing in 2014 at this spot now i am famous lol

must say the more dilapidated she gets the more beautiful she gets wish it would be true of the town- Ratchet, it must make you sick how the town changed and not all for the good rip many years Cottonwood Inn and Moveable Feast the Millbrook paper

Dear Pat Ratchet! Thank You kindly for all the information, the facts and Your opinions also. Of The greatest value.
That Railroad dream at the end is awesome. Visions!
May You always be well is the wish.
This place, unbelievable - I dream about it. Still there. YES! I understood, it takes time to solve this and sort it out. Meanwhile - Happy August, all Halcyon Lovers - glad she is still standing.

That door is amazing! love it!

no thanx covid 19 not much travelling this year

thanx PWR- nature will reclaim Halcyon before humans do but what a glorious sight anyhow- am going back next year must say as making plans for Europe the call of the old girl did not leave my head - it sounds a bit dramatic but for a U R enthusiast it's not- been going there since 85' [ mostly] such a rush to drive up the Taconic to rt 44 guess when you get the BUG it doesn't go away

Pat,

Another great update on the grand old gal there from you & you're welcome, always great to hear from you like that, glad you are well & knowing she still stands. Continue to do well & be well, looking forward to your next update. Take care.

As the autumn foliage turns color and begins to fall, Halcyon's rotting facades slowly reveal themselves to drivers-by. Remarkable how almost invisible much of it is during the summertime. Complaints about it
seem to subside, and then ratchet back up as it becomes unhidden
by summer's departing greenery. A sort of annual prewinter bandwagon, as it were.
I actually visited the site recently at the end of summer. All legally.
Of course. It is really falling apart! It looks extraordinarily dangerous,
and is, in ways that can't even be seen. Stay out, kids. I mean it.
It seems the trespassing problem has generally abated, due to the hulk being so obviously hazardous, that even crazy people balk entry. Wisely.
But it also due to the more effective fencing, as well as security cameras, that are monitored by the entities that can and will prevent
trespass. The signage also is unequivocal. Frankly, I like the heavy handedness. It is the RESPONSIBLE approach to the current status
of the building.
It didn't prevent us from taking great photographs of Halcyon. And there seems to be a measured balance between the required security, and space for admiration from afar, of most of it's now troubled facades. There is, in this spirit, now a historical marker and interpretive
plaque at the SW entry nearby, part of Millbrook's Museum In the Streets. So there seems to finally be a sense that everybody's stance
is represented: those that want to admire and photograph the place, safely, and those impatient with the long delay of demolition, who
can plainly see what is inevitably temporary, and what will eventually be a resolved solution to those properties. What that will be, and
when, is currently a situation in flux.
The proposal to relocate Millbrook's Bandshell to the parcel as part
of the public park planned for there, is likely a no-go. I sort of admired
the symmetry of it related to the village's concurrent saga to restore the Thorne Building, but it wasn't met with by excitement by villagers, who likely feel it too remote, and prefer their current setup for their quite
popular summer concert series. Fair enough.
The plan was a plausible scenario, but nixing it gets rid of a lot of complications actually. This site has enough on its' plate, right? But
it is refreshing that ideas and suggestions can be floated, but the populace can change its mind and say no thanks as well.
So the eventual disposition here then might well be along the original lines of a quiet park at the village's entrance. The stone terrace
preserved, overlooking the broad lawn, free of the pool and tennis courts, to be relocated for the condominium community there. And
perhaps the entire plot connected to the village along the old railroad line at the NE corner of the campus, bordering the golf course. It
cuts through the woods and is overgrown now, but remains unbuilt upon, and alights right at the village green near the Tribute Gardens.
A mini rail trail, to link Millbrook's 3 main parks. My idea would likely be shot down with prejudice by NIMBY interests, but who knows?
I think it's a cool scenario, and the logic of it is right in front of everyone.
Maps never lie.
Happy autumn, Halcyon lovers. She's still standing.

PS-Thank you for your kind words Flora, Iceberg, and all. Best regards.

Pat, I bought your book. It's fascinating. Glad for the update. Take care.

Pat,

Good to hear from you & the update on the old girl, at least she stands for another summer. I hope all is well with you, take care.

greetings motts, and lovers of old Halcyon. Not much new, Halcyon Hall
is still standing despite slowly collapsing on it's own. It seems there have been developments that have resulted in an [obvious] delay in the
[eventually inevitable] demolition of HH.

It is a very complicated situation. While practically all of the original impediments to it's demise have been 'taken care of', there are
delays due to economics and the 'deal's' complexity. I'd hazard a guess
that it relates to the plans for the site AFTER Halcyon's demo, rather
than just the seemingly more simple issue of 'when do we knock the
thing down." I still believe the plans for a post Halcyon park are the
best possible outcome, and there is ALOT of details to be addressed,
most of which are much larger than the fate of the campus. This
will involve the entire community.

I'd also guess that principals would rather have that all solidly in the
pipeline, as a light at the end of a very dark tunnel of noise, debris, and disruption that demolition will entail. Just knocking it down and saying we'll take of all that LATER will definetly exacerbate a lot of the
inevitable issues that neighboring parcels will endure. Many of them
are likely not even known yet, but anticipated nevertheless.


In short, delays in progress mean it will still be around! Probably for awhile. To the delight of ruin lovers worldwide!


Another point is that the Thorne organization does not technically own
the property. It's disposition is being administered by The Tribute
Garden Foundation, the philanthropic organization from about 1918
that created Millbrook's public park and garden, the Village green,
and the Monument at Bennet College's southwest entrance that is now
a road marker. The fact that the Thorne's DID pay off the decades long tax bill on Bennett to allow a new park to go forward, without actually owning the parcel, to me demonstrates an even more generous donation to the solution there. It would be wise of everyone interested to perhaps not now express too much impatience with the slow pace of events, or at least not lay that impatience at the door of the entitie[s]
who HAVE made ANY recent progress there possible AT ALL. So far,
anyway. It would be prudent to remember that the obliteratively sprawling ocean of condominiums that WOULD BE HERE RIGHT NOW,
were prevented largely by the Thorne's testimony as part of the public process. Their involvement of the community in doing so was not confined to just having persuaded his fellow citizens and neighbors of
that development's inappropriateness. Their retention of consultants and experts on behalf of Millbrook was not a gesture that became
somehow reimbursed, nor I'm sure are the likely even MORE expensive
plans for a future Halcyon Park. So the Thorne's contribution is
extraordinary, singular, and integral to whatever HAS happened so far here, and what will follow. My own personal opinion is that if a boatload of money has been spent here yet again, it is at least towards
a resolution this time around, and a larger level of patience is required for a satisfactory resolution. I believe it will happen eventually.


Something people may not always factor into these situations, is the current changes in our nation's tax policies. The current regime's
retrograde raid on tax revenue, felt most acutely by the screwing homeowners got shafted with by the nixing of the home mortgage deduction, also includes signifigant elimination of the tax deduction for charitable contributions. This has already begun to freakin DECIMATE charitable contributions in this country. This is going to be an unprecedented financial blow to HOSPITALS. SCHOOLS. Children's charities. Hunger. Homelessness. Poverty. Etc. ad depressum.

The point for the purposes of Halcyon etc. is that projects like this,
that are a public/ private/ non profit partnership, are going to be
pushed a bit further down the ladder, compared to the now
wildly further strained charitable-dependent concerns cited above.


I'd love for one of the cheerleaders of this tax raid to convince me that all that revenue will now be spent on Infrastructure [projects like a stabilization of Halcyon's stonework for a public park for example] but
I believe I won't hold my breath. Forgive my veer into the quasi-political.


They say money talks. Sometimes it swears.


Halcyon Hall stands another summer. Up close you can literally hear it creak and groan, standing up simply out of habit. It's cladding now
slowly torn, one can actually see now the tough old bones of its
structure. If it could tell it's own story, of everything IT has seen since 1892, what a tale THAT would be to hear...

Cheers and well wishers to Halcyoneers all!