2,174 Comments for Bennett School for Girls

I saw a more recent photo of this on another web-site and it's barely recognizable now. Just a large pile of rust.

The old photos from 1907 - 1908 are incredible. When I look at those I have to wrap my brain around the fact that 1) Teddy Roosevelt is in the White House but William Taft is elected in November, 1908. 2) Henry Ford introduced the first Ford Model T in 1908. 3) The Wright Brothers had flown their first airplane just 5 years prior in 1903. 4) The Titanic wasn't on the drawing board. 5) The Lusitania was launched in 1908. And Bennett School was right here. Wow.

as of today she still stands -yay

J Geils would say "rage in the cage'

hey- Stuey is famous- let him have his day

can U imagine how beautful it was in it's day even now i'ts marvelous too bad U can't get there to see it personally

isn't that view still beautiful

everytime I go there I am fascinated by the turret

lol i like the description! i think there's a couple of buildings at Ladd Center that are like that

b and e -where were u last month when I was there ? i'd be willing to risk something to profit by your xperience 'double entendre' ' and Ratchet good to see ya back again and must admit I read your commentary and didn't blush at all- again again i laffed at your Taco bell remark- my thoughts are the same- I could take the thing my self and am NOT young however am glad to be part of the last days of the old girl and 26 yrs and counting -I was not the only one who stopped by to get a pic - a lovely freak of wood and stone who subtly calls to all of us who fell under the curiosity of a past we were not privileged to partake of

I was at this structure about a month ago and was able to gain access very easily. It however is in horrible shape and very dangerous. Proceed with caution and bring lights and gear. Be safe but do try to see this before it is gone. the rest of the campus is wonderful as well.
cheers!

Heh, Msgt Mike. Did you google it and see if you can find the manual for the machine? Sometimes you can find old manuals for machines.
Good Luck!!

For a place that was supposed to have been very expensive at one time, that bed looks like it came from an insane asylum. Maybe those were nice beds at one time tho.
Such a cool place!! Would love to have been a fly on the wall thru out it's history.

How awesome is this pic??? Wow, wish I could have spent some time there in it's hayday. Wonder what it cost to stay there when it was a hotel? And, going to school there too, expensive?? Anyone know??

Love it !!

in a stunning blow to the plan to develop the Bennet College parcel,
Judge Charles D Wood has ruled the Village Planning Board was
absolutely and flagrantly wrong in approving the Blumenthal scenario,
having failed to hold adequately public hearings, ignoring laws requiring routine notification of county agencies, and generally disregarding overwhelming public opposition to the wildly uncharacteristic development proposed for the Bennett site.

The go-ahead to develop here has been Officially Rescinded,
with prejudice.Other factors are the plan's oblivious stance towards
protected streams { have been yelling about this for years, on the
siteplan drawings, the streams that practically encase the unique
Bennett parcel were SIMPLY OMITTED, as if they didn't exist.] I'm
sure it's been changed on the Drawings, but that is the entire point
in terms of environmental impact, it simply has not ben Planned For,
in a considered, responsible way to the satisfaction of most of the
people of Millbrook.

A result of intensive and concentrated legal efforts, primarily by
Halcyon's immediate neighbor Oakleigh Thorne, the declaration
voiding the shamefully premature Planning Board approval of this
condo enclave noted that Millbrook would be required to LOWER
it's wastewater output by 84,000 gallons per day to even make it
physically possible and compliant with Law.
THe system is already capacity challenged because the minor expansion of village linkups that have occured under well zoned growth., as it is. This stuff is complex,
but not as hard as, oh, say.. rocket surgery. Someone already knew these numbers before this was approved. So there was Intent to
variously Ignore the Code, or Relax the Code, or Grant a Variance
to the Code, The first of that trio is illegal and constitutes grounds
to Dismiss this entire fiasco on the face of it. The second two require
public input, and approval, neither of which were even REMOTELY
sufficient.

I have to say because of so much crap i have spouted variously
on the topic, that i think the developer had about as considered a vision for the property AS POSSIBLE for an upscale Connecticut-like
development as envisioned; and that there actually WAS some
plan to be RESPONSIBLE to historical considerations[although
Da Judge's ruling also included willful ignorance of historical
signifigance as a huge factor as well'

More than a decade has been devoted to this, and a true king's
ransom has already been spent by the developer to plan this
development. But the fact is, it is the wrong development, in the wrong place, that could have been done easier in Mabbetsville, or Verbank,
or even freakin Lithgow, and have been set back and remote enough
to be palatable.People don't want it here ,they never have. I don't think
they understood Millbrook, not really.There is a farm based,
agrarian, rural thing here, man... it is deeply rooted, almost innate.
It doesn't get chipped away like it does, even at seemingly hardier places. It is not just the equestrian locality, or the prominence of
cattle breeding at Millbrook, or even it's boldface Hamptons -like
cache that makes that resistance so formidable. It is simply a
centuries-old
love for the Landscape. Which i think Millbrook's natives probably
understimate more than anyone, but we all secretly cherish, as
being somewhere and someplace that anyone can see as being
so beautiful, and very special.


The bottom line is: This site ain't really developable [is that a word?]
Not yet anyway. Until they get rid of that damn Victorian hulk that
seems to be like a magnet to people who like crazy old stuff.
If Millbrook has lived with it like this all these years, then by damn,
that must be what Millbrook wants!!! Right? I like it, but I don't live around it, so...But...

I think even the people who scream to demolish secretly like that it
hasn't been done. None of 'em want to pay for it, do they? The developer was going to. Remember that.

I think alot of people want demolition, that also DON"T WAnt this
development. The linking of the two became a false choice.
Demo, by someone, is inevitable. A massive uncharacteristic
change to the village's entrance IS NOT.

It's Election time in Millbrook and everywhere else, too, it would seem.
Ho Ho Ho...Mark my words-you watch the rejectionof this development
become the reason why Millbrook, Village of, must now bond/beg/borrow/bail Millions of dollars to Tear Down Halcyon Hall!!!!
The village's governing body, if you want to call it that, certainly didn't
go through the trouble of getting elected to simply preside over the
slow rot of this place, that all the people who look at Opacity seem to
really enjoy, like me! Thanks again Motts!!]

It will be a nauseatingly sanctimonious, admonishing Punishment
of the Voters, whatever scattershot direction they could even cast
their vote for in Millbrook anyway: "Well, you didn't want the plan the
board approved....Now someone's gotta pay. Because we must comply with the Law, naturally" "You've scared off all the developers,
for anyrhing, forever!!"

In other words, it's gonna be like-"You F&#&*-up our deal!!! We been
plannin this %&^&^ for years, and now you've gone and decided you
don't want your little village to end up ^&*(-ed up like everywhere else!
So now YOUR gonna pay the $$$!!!

There is going to be a final Cash-In, for parties who have vested interests.Obviously they were hoping and planning for a whole lot
more than the demo of A National Register worthy building. But with the economy as it is, hey, code compliance = expensive, and
for things to get done people get paid, right? Cornerstone of free
enterprise, gentlemen.

There are
people, more than would admit, that actually like to
see this place continue to turn into even more unimaginibly ghostlier
version of itself, for reasons far crazier than yours,or mine.

Any reason to watch this place rot and collape indefinetly, to me,
is totally cool.

The fact that it staves off some ill-advised condo scenario, for a place
where you can still see the stars at night in our floodlit neon world,
is simply delicious frosted-sugar icing on my cake.
Everyone enjoy a slice. I am proud of my hometown, at least the
people who went to bat, for whatever reasons, for what was Clearly
Right, and against what was So Obviously Wrong. And I am
almost proud of the legal system, but ashamed that things would have to be blown out of proportion to that extent, and at such obscene
expense to all interests involved pro or con.

In a climate where great wealth is often derided as being self-driven,
or not mindful of the common good, sometimes it is the
pregogertive of people with the means to do so, to do what is right for
everyone, even if out of self interest. In the case of Oakleigh Thorne,
there is an uncomparable legacy of doing what is right for Millbrook,
case closed. I think it is totally awesome.

In the meantime, the chain link fence is almost pathetically invisible,
proving my urbanesque, gritty street-like overlay prediction
totally wrong! I think all but the smallest breed of papparazi -inducing,
Paris Hilton purse dog breeds would be able to jump this thing!!!

I know that Taco Bell chihuaha could vault over this sumnabitch...