great to see everyone posting, nothing news...
have you been to the falls in Kent, wanderer? such a great place, in
a real nice part of Connecticut.

One hundred and twenty years ago, the construction firm of Mead & Taft were working overtime, feverishly completing the construction
and decoration of Halcyon Hall, in the summer leading up to it's
autumn grand opening at the height of the Gilded Age.

Millbrook is arguably quieter now. Just sayin...

Bennett LLC has defaulted on court orders to comply with
demolition. I can't say I blame them, ya know? I couldn't afford it,either! lol....

Celeste, you are right,in another week or three, the greenery will obscure much of Halcyon's diagonal views. Unfortunatley, I am in NO
position to consider tresspassing there at this point, for photo
purposes or anything else.

If i dig far enough into my...archives?.. I am sure i have the original
blueprints for the basement. It could take quite some time. In any
event they have been drastically altered from the original 1892
plans, in 1907, then in the 20's, 50's, and 70's...I developed a
composite set of plans for all of these eras, but they are buried deep,
along with the originals, SOMEWHERE...ask me in six months!!

Christina, sorry to hear of imposters ripping you off. It seems all
notions of authorship,originality, sourcing, footnoting, bibliographic
integrity, etc have gone out the window in the Unimaginative
internet era. The only real remedy is to never put ANYTHING out there
that you want presented as your own.

In other words, all the mediums and art forms that the internet was going to
put out of business supposedly, are all ALIVE AND WELL.

F$#%^ the internet. Make films? Try and get them shown the way they
used to. Make art? There are more galleries and alternative forums
than ever. Write? Books still get published all the time. Music?
Easier than ever to record your own, and play places that NEVER
used to consider live music. Etc etc All in the physical world.

I know I'm in the minority opinion. But the internet seems to me to be
good at PROMOTING these endeavours that occur OUTSIDE of
cyberworld. If you put it online, one gains a [potential] audience
that might not be exposed traditionally [if your also ok with your
work more likely than not becoming part of the wallpaper, as well]
...but it's a kind of Faustian bargain, in that an artist's sense of
control over their work instantly vanishes...and FOREVER. There is no
real remedy, once some cheapjack punk comes along and steals
your work, claiming it as their own.
Other than the certainty that they will only go so far, with hijacked
material?
I completely commiserate, I have had it happen, and it continues to
despite my best efforts to protect my own sundry enterprises from
ever being accessible by the net AT ALL!
The problem really is a lack of basic F#$%-ing ethics, in an age
when even a DJ is considered an artist. That is, that just recognizing,
choosing, or collaging, one assumes a mantel of authorship over
the materials of one's dabbling.
This is the central, Marshall Mc Luhan-esque conundrum of postmodern artistic practice. The Medium Is The Message.
The central distinction is that of CREDITING, ACKNOWLEGING,
FOOTNOTING, etc that is just GONE as far as the internet generation goes. Kids are just Stupid, today. I'm sorry, it has to be said. There
is not even ANY consciousness whatsoever regarding originality or
the notion of authorship, or intellectual property, or even [gasp!]
the tradition of recognition that ARTISTS THEMSELVES used to
accord one another, when an an artist has taken the time to carve
out an artistic ground for themselves. To influence anyone is flattering,
to be ripped off blatantly without any panache, let alone credit, can
be infuriating, no doubt.

Motts I'm sure has a unique perspective on these things. I'd venture
to say he has a unique and shrewd new model for surfing the
sometimes subtle distinctions of these issues with some degree
of experience, grace, but also a sense of philosophical detachment.
I think being prolific is the best defense. Most ripoff artists have a
super short attention span, and minimal imagination. It is hard for them to sustain any original spark at all, let's face it, ripping someone
else's idea off was their most original thought that day, right.?

And at the end of the day, no one can really get anywhere too far
without eventually coming up with the goods themselves.Still,
it is infuriating to be undermined by the casual anonyminity of what
could otherwise be a cool avenue of exposure.

Imagine if some nitwit tried to pass off Mott's photos as their own?
Can you imagine the shame and mockery that could be unleashed
on such a fool? But, I bet, it probably still happens, ya know?
So I'd say, just keep at it, these things eventually come out in the wash, as it
were.

enjoyed that footage alot, i'd say it is the most recent filming i have
seen.

it seems to also convey the danger of entering the building. It really is quite hazardous. Not just the very real possibility of falling through floors, or collapsing debris, but the atmosphere is extremely toxic,
and rife with asbestos and other super fine particulate matter, as well as decades old mold, mildew, and fungus cultures, pigeon shit
[pigeons loved this place from as soon as it was abandoned.]

I have seen deer living in this building. Almost 20 years ago, no less.
We discovered racoon dens. In the summer there are bees nests EVERYWHERE. It is kind of a Marlon Perkins Wild Kingdom from
the apocalypse. Very much like the TV show "Life After People" .Sounds gnarly and goth or whatever, but i implore
everyone or anyone tempted to go in here-
1 Don't
2 If you must, Do Not Go Alone!
3 If you go, WEAR A RESPIRATOR!!! An OSHA Approved for
Fine Particulate Matter model. Please. If you do not, and stay
for more than a few minutes, I promise you, you will get very very
sick.Heed the advice of myself and other posters through the years; the asbestos is bad enough, but compound that with the
bacterial danger, and you are tempting fate. this place may look cool,
but it is a festering cauldron of toxic disease and misery.

As much as I loved exploring, i content myself with Mott's photos.
Hats off, man. You provide a priceless vicarious thrill.

wanderer- why do you assume I'm a guy? heh-heh... only joking.
I spent alot of time at Bennett when i was a little kid; i went to the
Bennett nursery school, run by the school's early education
majors. It was the early 1970's. All the girls practically had long straight, usually blonde hair. They were fantastic.I loved all of them.

It was a very progressive and artistic place. I couldn't have dreamed
of anywhere better.

But anyone growing up in Millbrook spent time here often, from
the massive 4th of July celebrations, to playing ball on
the expansive lawn [big enough to host a football and baseball game
simultaneously] There were alot of community theater and music
events all the time.Despite the politically tumultuous era, Millbrook
was still rather Norman Rockwell-esque, in a good way.

I also had the thrill of exploring Halcyon as a young teenager. Post-
Bennet College. Pre- vandalism. A short window, there.

Brings back alot of memories just recollecting....

Celeste your recreations are alot of fun. Enjoying them. I remember
years back seeing actual physical models of Halcyon. Not scale or
totally accurate, more like a dollhouse version, but delightful nonetheless

Passed by Halcyon just earlier today, it always stirs memories.

hey stax, wanderer and all [and esp. Motts!] great reading everyone's
posts

the only real new news [nu nu's?] is Supreme Court Judge Maria Rosa [who is new to the bench I believe? I am not certain] signed
an injunction on Jan.16th ordering Bennett Acquisitions LLC [the
property's owner] to obtain permits from the DEC,Dept of Labor, and
State Office of Parks Recreation & Historic Preservation, pursuant
to the court's order to demolish Halcyon Hall. BA LLC must also
submit operational plans in regards to power lines during demo.
The adjacent chapel , and unnamed stone wall are to be
'preserved', which is some good news. I would like to think the
wall in question is Halcyons stone foundations in front. Much of
it's western facade is also faced in fine stonework.

If this all seems like deja -voodoo all over again, it is because it is
really just a State order that will be ignored as opposed to the Village
order that has been ignored all along. But the State has the power to find the owner in contempt and impose penalties, powers unavailable to the Village, or at least unimposed so far, beyond nominal fines
for Building Code non-compliance, and the cost of mowing the lawn,
and putting up silly fences and whatnot.

The Village Board of Trustees went into closed session to determine what they can continue to do. Or continue not to do, as it were.

I'd guess most people prefer the State to be involved. It makes them the ''bad guy'', and insures some movement towards some resolution
of a fairly vexing problem for Millbrook.

More significantly, the inclusion of a preservation mandate in the
state injunction for some portion of the building[s] is the first actual
legal decree to specify so. So that is heartening that some aspect
of selective demo-ing has been considered and specified for.

Coming from the State that seems to have a bit more teeth than
any order from the village at this point, whom are completely powerless , it seems. Kicking up to NYS is at least a bit more
proactive at least, than floating the prospect of these 'mystery buyers'
they have conjured anytime people demand some progress by
the village in taking responsibility for disposition of the property.

BA LLC has until the Ides of March to comply. about ten days or so from now.

So...look for Nothing to happen anytime Soon, in other words!!!!

in the mean time...Halcyon Hall turns 120 years old this year.

ok!

You hit the nail on the head Flora, the land Halcyon sits on is what has been Coveted, since BEFORE Bennett College even CLOSED!

It converges Rt's 44, 343, and 82, at a point that is scenically
beautiful, relatively undeveloped, and the kind of location, that if you are headed somewhere, you want to get through quickly, no matter
WHERE you are headed. It is a mile and a half from the geographical center of the county [for that, see Copperfields]


For all intents and purposes, it is surrounded by it's same neighbors
from the late 1890's onward: thoroughbred country estates, Millbrook's
country club, it's longstanding Caddyshack-vibe notwithstanding, lol,
and the 4-way marker Monument which people seem compelled to smash their cars into all of the time for no holy reason at all.

Other than the smashing sounds generated by those continuous wrecks [why, people?] that area of South Millbrook is still almost
idyllic. Quiet. Very nice. It was that way when I was a small child.
And I was assured it was that way long before.

There are a ton of other reasons the Halcyon /Bennet parcel is
multiply attractive to any number of potential purchaser/ developers.
It is zoned for almost any-a-thing you might want to do here. I have
routinely propose all manner of preposterous scenarios. As nuts
as they all are, ZONING would be the LEAST obstacle to Any of them.
Look what WAS ready to rip on through, ya know?

It also has fairly stable neighbours. The condo dev already there has
proven fairly civic-minded IMO. The golf course to the east is one of the oldest in America [that may NOT be the best way for me to put that stat,
lol...] South Millbrook below is still the country hamlet i remember,
mostly formed by the expansion of the college, but overlapping
the earlier historical era from the County House.

East of Bennet is The Dutchess Land Conservancy, which has
put so much of central Dutchess, right here, on the forever wild,
forever undeveloped rolls. And forget propaganda you hear, these
are not land grabs. It is mostly convincing landowners, large and
small, to do what is indisputably in their interest, AND YOURS, MINE
and ANYONE else who can appreciate why the vicinity NEEDS,
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY DESERVES protection from INCONSIDERED development, the likes of which you can go see
ANYWHERE, if you really need to seek out that sort of thing.
It is All the %& @# around you!
Why in the WORLD , MUST you HAVE TO see It HERE?! AS WELL?!!

It is hard to believe The Millbrook Hunt wouldn't fancy trotting through here, The way they used to, depending on what the site becomes. There are a multitude
of scenarios, but.... forget MY cynicism, how many times has this
town shot Themselves in the foot over this Spot.? On the face of it
suppose.

But their is another side. This place has been used often for
various reasons as excuses for this that & the other.
Evasion of Code Enforcement. Paradoxical Selective Enforcement
of Building Code. Simultaneously.

But i don't think local government can really do much, anyway
forgetThe Legal Realm. The machinations of the Private Sector Prevail....example..
The Cardinal Hayes Home proposed a group home at Exmoore
House, former President's Mansion for Bennet College,
a great house in great shape, jewel of the property but not part of the
parcel. In real Estate terms, this house has flipped more times
than Flip Wilson [ok, I might be losin the kidz, here]
It is a fabulous house, but is locked in hostage to the Bennett
scenario whatever TF that is going to be.

Denied State funds in light of economic downturn, [pre-Sandy, even]
the plan has just been abandoned. Real estate interests would have
liked to see that in light of NO development anywhere else near
The Parcel. Others view that as the Kiss of Death longterm for
attractive development post-Halcyon demo. So for many, grand
rotting, pain-in-the-ass Bennet College helped prevent a group home
landlocked into their future plan.


Score One More for Victorian Ruin As Real Estate Golem.

If not for Halcyon's hopeless condition, that sort of Usage would not even
be Contemplated there. it is sorta, kinda complicated. Or it seems
that, way to me. I don't think my hometown has a bigger
[or smaller] NIMBY complex than small towns anywhere else, really.
I actually think Millbrook has always been way more progressive than most in that regard, in moral terms. But it is just about business,
today, gone later today.

So locals and neighbors see development here being a major drag.
Newcomers who see killer frontage/acreage in their own terms,
well, what can you say?And I qualify my use of the term Newcomer,
accordingly, OK? I get it. We are All Newcomers. That is not only right,
but necessary. But look abouthcha' a bit before you want to build
anything like a theme park...or a housing dev that looks even a little BIT like one, here.

A ruin like this has invited conceptually bad development already.
Until the building is Gone it will continue to be THe Radioactive
Bermuda Triangle of Millbrook's real estate cabals. THat is just
undeniable. They are gonna ratchet up a whole new scenario,
again, I have seen it a dozen freakin times....and yet there is
never any actual Disposition. So that must be how the people who
decide things, decide its gonna be? Right?THat's how it's always gone, so that's how it will be. I guess?
I string a phrase or two sarcastic here and there, but I'm not quite
Copernicus. Or The Oracle of Millbrook's Delphi.
But it seems it would require a seer, or some sort of financial
mystic, to auger the influence of planet Halcyon over Millbrook, village
of, in the year of our Lords, 2013.

Like a Black Hole, of Realty, it 's magnetic attration is so
strong that even light [and all sense, with it] gets sucked inexorably
into the void. It's YogiDejaBerryVu all over again.

Hopefully, they will have Some Sense of SCALE. & PROPORTION.
I dont' think Reasonable people expect anything more than that.
But, then again...

Sandy spared much of the Hudson Valley the more extreme damage
found elsewhere in the tri-state area; it's a real tragedy, everyone
knows someone who's been affected to one degree or another. So
here in Dutchess County [where it is usually US who gets socked]
we were very lucky, relatively.

The current state of deterioration is fairly steady now, Sandy's
effects indistinguishable from just the daily effects of collapse.
The wide dormer windowsof the west roof are going horizontal.
Many of these windows are broken simply because the frame has
twisted so.

The front facade collapse continues, harder to actually see into the
rip, as floors are spilling downward. Simply put, the place is a real mess. But it is tough as hell, I never imagined it would still be standing this long.

The western section of Fencing has been breached with impunity.
People have been going in and out of here Whenever The Hell
They Want. Note to village: Your Fence has been a waste of time,
effort, and money, from day one. And oh, yeah, that's right...
Everyone who posts here Told You So!!
It also makes the place look worse, not better. But go ahead and pat
one another on the back about having 'done something' if it makes
someone feel better about it. Probably some insurance agent, who
is sleeping better at night, or whatever. Fair enough.
I always forget that money is no object around here. But, then it is.

The real Huge Newz about Halcyon is that it is rumoured to have a
possible buyer.

The veracity of said assertion could range anywhere from certitude,
to outright fabrication.
In normal speak: it is probably bull donkey. But who knows?

There is alot of political machination and motivation underway behind the scenes, to reach some disposition of the property. There was a
huge plan in place. It didn't get to that level of development without
a lot of grease. The plan failed. So some people or interests got
burned. Whatever's next, they want there's first. And they kind of want it now. It is getting sort of late in the game for them.Cash in the chips down there in South Millbrook, while there is
any hand left to play. Let's get the show on the road, kind of a thing.
And of course, it is now mandated by Code and Law, eh? So who
can argue against public safety?

Not me, bubba. I say call Spielberg. You KNOW what I want to see happen with the place.....


In light of that sort of pressure, mysterious buyers have always seemed to appear, as if out of a gossamer mist from wish land.
I wonder who it is now.? After Paul Newman, and the Rev Syung Moon,
and some famous manufacturer of Irish beer, who might it be?

Stallone? Dick Cheney? Snookie? Shaquille O'Neal? Cher? Ron
Jeremy?

Trump? [he has been in the Hudson Valley alot lately]
Perhaps some of you could make your guess. Just make it up,
because that's what's always worked here before to prevent
movement in ANY direction,on this property.

And christknows what Millbrook needs more than anything is More
Boldface Names.WeMUst Have It!

So let's make it a contest. Not what celebrity will buy it, but who
you think they should FORCE to buy Halcyon Hall, for entree to
the clusterf%&* of a star colony they have assembled here.
But not much has changed, this is EXACTLY how they did it here in
the 1890's. Exactly that way.

So if you think, say Mickey Rourke, or perhaps Courtney Love,
should be FORCED to buy Halcyon freakin Hall, then do a write-in!

Whoever you want!
Whover guesses right gets.. case of Guinness! Or Newman's
Own salad dressing if your a teetotaler! It's ok, this is a big tent
party here. Blue state.

Our little election will have about as much signifigance as yesterday's
national election. A billion dollar pageant, and everythings the same. No matter who wins. No one wins. People who create TV ads win.
People who make bunting did a smashup biz. No wonder they can't
provide Americans with healthcare. Too busy spending Billions to
decide who is going to say we can't afford the Billions to get things
right.

So our contest for Millbrook is quite stupid, but much cheaper,
and easily as inconsequential. Do a write-in.

I say Shatner. Cap'n Kirk. In freakin Millbrook. Hell yes.

i now do not see this place going ANYWHERE anytime soon,
unless Mother Nature Says So, in more dramatic fashion than she has already displayed.

Whatever Millbrook says or does, it has decided it prefers to host
a near legendary ruin, rather than ANY of the alternatives proposed
so far,

In fact, as the TOW Master Plan finally drops on a seemingly catatonic
populace, the years late, more than half a decade report confirms
what most people who live in The Village of Millbrook in the Town of
Washington actually believe.

Specifically, That Halcon Hall /Bennett College should be preserved!
Ha Ha Ha... yeah, a bit late on that one. But go back seven years, and
that was where people stood, that commercial zoning should be
encouraged, but smartly. And that Millbrook's character should also
be preserved.

under order of demolition, yet highly unlikely to face compliance
with any laws other than those of Mother Nature, specifically
decay and gravity, there is official talk again of hoping to "save"
Halcyon's incredible stonework.

Smart idea. What do they have to lose? Money? Sure, but tons of that
has spent just to keep the status quo going there in South Millbrook...
A fraction of it spent on basic stabilization only a dozen years back
would have made the Halcyon story quite a different proposition,
and probably a few bucks even for the right people.

So hell, it's not too late to cash in just a little bit, lol...let's make the
retention of Halcyon's master masonry the new enterprise, to rally
for, or propagandize against, or to maintain ambivalence about.

Even if Nothing were to be done, Tommorrow, even [you know,
just like today!] the stonework here would outlast us all.

i thought the same staxman, who sells their best friend a haunted
TV? ha ha, but he didn't know. Or at keast it wasn't haunted in HIS house...which maybe means it's not the TV?! maybe a ghost here
that just happened to clue in through this Sh-tbox from the 30's or whatever..lol...

Halcyon Hall itself has a monumental history of drinking and alcohol
consumption associated with it.. I have always been astonished at
how much rich people drink, compared to even the toughest proletariot.
I actually have to give some signiifanct respect and props to many of their
ability to hold their liquor well. Practice, I guess.

So if there are ghosts, they are drunk as lords,going back to Halcyon's earliest hotel days. when they concocted a tale that Apollinarus water
was the most consumed bevvie, when in reality it was gallons of liquor and wine.

During the college years, it wasn't really a party school, per se.
More like Vassar as opposed to Marist.

But as soon as it was abandoned, it became a haven for the drinking
of cheap beer, and whatever else. A place for the kids to party that
wouldn't bother ANYONE. But good things don't last, eh?

I go through phases, usually it's a couple of Blueberry Pomegranate
Ratchetaritas, then onto some fairly macho beer drinking. But tonight,
I'm knocking back some cold Jim Beam with iced Coors Light, brown bottle.Probably what most Americans would be drinking if the
Confederacy won the Civil War. I'm in a southern mood, which happens from time to time, and for unpredictable reasons.

My favorite story from the Civil War-

Lincoln's Secretary of War beseeched to The President that
the Army's officers complained that General Grant was drunk 24 hours
a day.

"What brand whiskey does Grant drink?" asked Lincoln.

His secretary replied "What difference would that make, Mister
President?"

"Because I want a case of that consigned to ALL of my generals"
trumped Lincoln, who if he hadn't been the greatest American
president, would be known and ranked as almost as great a
Writer as Mark freakin Twain.

So.. a toast to writers [and generals] who could hold their liquor,
and to Halcyon Hall, which turns 120 years old next month...

when i was a child their were still people who were alive to
witness as themselves children, Halcyon being built....

Their generation was weaned on stories from The Civil War,
from the era before "World Wars"....

hello wanderer, staxman, and all. I agree the whole underground
haunt buster thing has gone wildly pop and mainstream, on the
TV they have Celebrity Ghost Sightings. The one episode i
managed to giggle my way through featured a haunted music studio
with the erstwhile drummer from Guns & Roses. The West Hollywood
Cocaine Ghosts of Matt Sorum. ok....whatever...

But unlike so many other things that get trended out to death, i think
people's attraction to ghostly phenomena, real, imagined, or
manufactured, is still a very cool, pure, and ingrained imperative,
especially for young people. The crucial aspect of it all for me is the
central notion of PLACE in the concept of haunting. It is haunted
Houses, Haunted Castles,and the like, that predominate people's
ruminations and explorations of the subject, which would otherwise
be intangibly boring to anyone so interested.

It is LOCATION and a sense of PLACE then, that form a large part
of people's obsession with ghosts. And in an even Meta-Metaphorical
way, the concept of a ghost, tied to a location even after death,
conflicted about it's place between life and death, is itself illustrative
of the psychological underpinnings of our collective ideas about the
supernatural.

Or maybe I'm full of %^&, I don't know!

The popular identification with the subject inevitably intersects with
buildings and history, and so that is a real great thing i think. I don't
really know what i believe. I am a wildly skeptical person [ya think?
lol!] but I have a very open mind about metaphysics, the afterlife etc.

But Halcyon Hall haunted? Maybe.

Il;l tell you what, if it's haunted, IT'S HAUNTED BY THE F#$%^-ING
COPS, So STAY THe hell OUT of There KiDS!!!!

Actually I have a haunted television, Totally true. My friend sold it to me,
he got it used. My television turns on by itself. That;s right. But only
when I have had on Turner Classic Movies, or the History Channel,
or the Military Channel. Nevermind that's about the only thing I probably watch anyway, [besides Celebrity Ghost Stories, of course!!!] but
usually it is some noir black and white thing, and always between three and four AM. It is sometimes disconcerting to be awakened to
a Raymond Chandler style argument out in my living room, ready to get freakin whacked
out by Humphry Bogart in my home for no reason at all at four in
the morning,but,,,. yeah....
And I'm being funny and all, but I am totally serious. this TV is like
some 1940's Edward Hopper-esque window from the WWII era.
I have changed the box, setup, etc and this thing is crazy, for real.
But I don't really watch much TV, so.....

So objects can be haunted, too?
Haunted is technically an adjective, but to me is more about the
nouns: people, places, things.
ok, i have to go watch some TV, heh heh......have a great summer,
all.....

as if on command- the lawn has been cut...

as halcyon hall continues to rot beautifully, or gruesomely, depending
on your particular aesthetic, Millbrook is frustrated even in it's attempts to compel Halcyon's owners to simply mow the lawn
fronting the former hotel /college.
The village has issued yet another edict to encourage compliance,
which has been ignored.
I don't think it is too much to ask, as the overgrowth of Halcyon's
expansive lawn in the dry summertime is an indisputable fire
hazard, considering that it would be simply kindling for the
catastophic bonfire of a conflagration that a fire at bennet would
become. It is wildly irresponsible to risk the safety of Millbrook's
first responders, who are awesomely dedicated volunteers, at
least because of something so prosaic as a highly preventable
brush fire that could surely become more.
The building may not be gone, and will continue to be a threat in
that regard, but that costs millions to remedy. Mowing the lawn does
not present a financial hardship, relatively.
I'd imagine the village might proceed and bill the owner, as it has
for tax assessment, fencing, etc.?
Alot of lawyers are being paid for accomplishing almost nothing tangible. Can't someone pay a guy on a John Deere for half an afternoon?

More tough talk about the Bennet Parcel! But not from me, but
Millbrook's mayor, who has expressed "impatience'' with the
failure of the owners of Halcyon to comply with demolition, an order
still being adjudicated in the state supreme court, a ruling that will
almost certainly uphold the VIillage code.
The day before foreclosure for back taxes, the corporation that
owns the property paid the almost $300,000 in back taxes to the
Village.Penalties of $250 per day are being accrued as well.
As Choice a property as it is, it is still not worth the cost of demo,
without a development component, hence the hesitation [refusal]
of the village to seize the property, which is highly contaminated.
{My advice-Stay The Hell Out!! That place is extremely Dangerous,
now.]
but people continue to crazily tresspass...be careful folks.

A leak in the Village water system has been traced to the Bennet Complex, where the theft of copper piping has been identified as the culprit. As the original entrance to Millbrook, Four Corners, or South Millbrook, even before Halcyon, was a nexus of roads, cow trails,
the railroad line, the road to the County Infirmary,a prominent church,
and two prestigious boarding schools from the early 18oo's.
as well as other very little known sites of great historic import,
overshadowed by the great hotel / college.
An overlay of mapping of the vicinity from different eras is absolutely fascinating.

The mayor has commited to meeting soon with the owners, but has
acknowledged that the village has no definite plan moving forward,
in light of the cost of demolition, wildly underestimated to cost
3-5 million, dollars. Yeah. Try again. It will be more.

The owner had a plan in place. It doesn't matter if you or me or anyone
didn't like it, it provided for the disposition of the problem in conjunction with a commercially viable development ostensibly
sympathetic to the site.

How in the world do you demand a corporation to spend eight million
dollars of their own money to get rid of a problem they inherited from
countless former owners, including the FDIC by the way. Why wasn't
demo compliance the big jazzy order of the day when the feds owned
it? Because they didn't want to pay either. There BROKE, just like you and me. If I owned Halcyon i'd shrug my shoulders as well, ya know?

But i have also said i would cover it in glow in the dark paint, or make it
the set of a movie. Perhaps some sort of Scoobie Doo type thing.

yes wanderer, my friend, you can see the additional ''chinks in the
armor'', as it were. To me it is deconstructively interesting,but to many or even most, our interest / observations must seem like some kind of
macabre "deathwatch''. This place coming down is inevitable,and I
could care less who has to pay for it. Let's face it, the eventual "price point" for demo here is going to be a giant inflated rip off, even if they
complied with environmental laws, which they just probably won't, not really.
When the profit in eradicating exceeds that of replacing, eventually
DEMO itself will be the coveted, overblown,Federal- freakin -project
job that'll bankrupt someone else! This place bankrupted the cat
who built it as a hotel, Foreclosed to the builder, who was never paid in full. Flipped more than half a dozen times after that BEFORE
1905. It's brown as a M&M, but Halcyon was The Whitest of Elephant's
from Day 1. An object lesson about the particular nature of this
particular property. It has been the Bermuda Triangle of Millbrook's
real estate scene not just since Bennet's close, but since 1892,
really. Kind of like a Realtor version of the hotel fromThe Shining,
where instead of being haunted, Nicholson's character travels
through time being swindled every generation by this rotting hotel.

Except Nicholson's character is now taxpayer Joe. Us. The citizenary.


one starts to get the drift of why this town was desperate to get ANYONE
to agree upfront to demo, for any promise at all. They'd let a Floridian water-park, or even
a Jersey Shore beergarden be built here for any such promise.
{Now that I think about it, there's not much difference between either of those, is there?] That goes for at least whoever'd be in charge of
greenlighting it all anyway. They tried. The people said No.
Whataya want?

And I am not, nor have i ever equated the "ProposaL" as being
as preposterously out of line, ON THE FACE oF it, as my sarcasm
would suggest.

But, I'm sorry, this whole mentalitty of ""Only the Developers can
Save us!!!, [from ourselves...]"

I will posit simply , that it was a False Choice that was presented

Demo/Collapse/Lightning Strike/Gravity, et al IS INEVITABLE

The Blumenthal, or the __________, plan, or the _______- ____
scheme, or the _______, _______,& ______ project LLC,
or even the L______ S_______R_____ Blutarsky bid,
{especially that last one] ....even as Not Unnattractive plans-

Are NOT INEVITABLE . Millbrook Just Didn't Want It. They CHOSE to
continue to watch this place rot, like an Addams Family ghost, OK?
I prefer an Edward Gorey reference point, myself but eye of the
beholder, and all that, right? Fine
Y'all just picked the wrong town. I know it seemed spring-loaded for
the picking, and cottequittishly gave the impression she wanted to
dance, right up to the engagement, or whatever. But Millbrook is
a Bennet Girl !!

1980- Paul Newman rumoured to be buying Bennett for his fledgling
philanthropy, which at the time few knew about, and became the
charity powerhouse we all know. The Winnebago parked in front of
the crappy dorms, said to be his. Sat there a few weeks. X


1981- Rev Sung Yung Moon sought to purchase the campus for his
Unification Church. {Must have outbid Newman! ] No doubt
drawn to the reputation established by Dr Timothy Leary for
Millbrook's religulous tolerance, the village was in no mood to
exhume THAT corpse, at least not with a different, arguably less qualified
cult leader than Doc Leary, ho ho ho ...X

after early 90's preservation efforts failed, interest was expressed by
The Guiness Corporation, then Trinity Dublin Colege,then the NYS
Film & Video Office,
in succession.Tantalizingly apropos, the building by then was
TOO FAR GONE. So someone sold them a dream too, and blew
smoke up everyone's ass each time. So who really cares who spouts what? Even Feetlegs post is partly quite commemorative, in it's own
fashion,and that's what seems to draw most people to the topic
at hand.

if you ask most
people not what what they WANT to see here, or even what they
WOULDN't WANT to see here, everyone who knows, KNOWS that
the EXTENT of that proposal would never be ALLOWED here.
It's just doesn't have to be explained to anyone who GETS it.
Millbrook continues to choose to watch this place rot, because as
an entity, despite the motives and actions of their elected representatives, it is collectively smart enough to know that is far preferable than
the false choice they were presented.Or hell, maybe I'm wrong,
maybe it was transparently appropriate. Well, guess what? They
rejected it anyway, ya know? Like, there were never enough people
FOR IT, see? Who cares who's against it? If anyone knew they could
actually take credit for the "defeat" of the Bennett proposal by posting on a site dedicated to what it was to replace? Wow. Holy $%^.
really? Thatt's sorta like ... Halcyon's revenge. Again. Who knew
people have the power?

Not me! I told you years ago that it was coming down any freakin day now! I've never doubted nor underestimated the seemingly
all-encompassing concrete/ paving that not only accompanies, but
defines "progress', so i never let it stop me from being as full of %^&*
as anyone else. So if you take anything i say seriously, then you deserve what you get to look at as much as I do. Or deserve.
Or something like that. But mostly I am also astonished that the place hasn't f simply fallen to the ground.


It's false. Opinions mean zero. This is the newAmerica. If it was
Good Business, it would have Happened. ergo, it wasn't Good
Business. Doesn't mean it was Bad Business, necessarily, but
i am only talking defiinitionally, and situationally. Ya know...

yes wanderer, there are new sections collapsing between the main
facade and the eastern tower wing, where former verandahs
were enclosed. Interestingly the first places to go on this building have
mostly been areas that were renovated or changed through the years.

Feetlegs, i surprisingly agree with many of your comments, but a few
clarifications are in order.
1- I do not "Live for" Mott's Opacity site

2-my 'stream of conciousness' postings have spanned six years, not three as you incorrectly indicate

3-rather than therapuetic, or even cathartic, the bulk of my posting serves me as practice, as i am not a professional writer, but am
involved in work that requires me to write incisivley, and persuasively.
Hence, the screeds. It's practice. Think of it as watching a rehearsal,
where the context may or may not be entirely resolved.
I also try to inform. Some followers of the site appreciate it. No one
HAS to read my posts, and certainly no one has to agree with their contents.

4-many feel the building looks like crap. I say,Eye of the beholder.

5-it IS easy to "bitch'' or criticize from the 'bleachers" what you have
characterized as a "thoughtful" plan. The reason for that is that the
Blumenthal project was anything but thoughtful, and was slapped down with prejudice by the courts, over their failure to even remotely address what you call ''the environmental issues;; and the
needs of the community''

6-You are correct in stating that ''it's much harder to help the developer
craft his plan,et al'' Yeah, especially when the developer WANTED
ABSOLUTELY ZERO PUBLIC INPUT!!!! And were abetted by successive Village Boards who made every effort to INSURE
minimal public input, and were sued because of that, rightly so.

7-characterizing myself or anyone else against ramming
through this half-baked proposal as being "anti-development"
posits an ''either -or'' mentality, that is patently misleading,
disingenuous,and wildy oversimplified. If anyone has taken the time
to actually read my posts as carefully as I have tried to write them,
they would see that my own position has evolved accordingly
relative to all related developments, and has always been NUANCED.
Perhaps a little too subtly so for some people.

Stop mistaking commentary for advocacy, and maybe all of this
freedom of speech stuff won't ruffle your feathers so much.
PS- lamentation is allowed. The idea that people shouldn't comment
unless "developer types'' consider it constructive, seems a very
Poliburo, Soviet style mindset. Funny how right-wingers always
become what they claim to hate, whenever it suits there needs in
shouting down any opposition to their grand plans.

8 Finally , it is absolutely LAUGHABLE that proponents of this
shit-rain of a proposal have the balls to blame 'anti-development"
types for THEIR OWN FAILURE! The bottom line is, the development
was nixed BECAUSE YOUR PLAN SUCKED!! It was incoherent,
incomplete,and absolutely incompatible and uncharacteristic for
Millbrook. On top of that, you didn't sell it very well at all.Abetted by
the weasel-like actions of village boards who would bend over for
ANY developer, you still couldn't make it happen. And all because
of a few bellyachers on some website? Who knew?

The idea that virulent anti -development ''forces'' stopped this proposal
is ridiculous. Spare me! I can't fart loud enough to express my opinion
about such a claim. The development didn't go through, BECAUSE
YOUR PLAN SUCKED. PERIOD.

feel free to disagree though..., or, you know, tell us all how Great those condos were going to be, or whatever. Maybe you can change my mind, or
anyone else's. Although I am only as sarcastic as Feetlegs has been,
I have a sense of humor too, and am a reasonable person. I think
reasonable people can disagree. But maybe I'm All Wrong about that,
too, eh?

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...

wanderer- so great you got around to halcyon! i am a confirmed
architecture obsessive, and have looked at so many great buildings
in America, but there is just sometthing about seeing this one up
close, that is just somehow very thrilling, i guess...

J Margolis, thank you so much for your post, it says so much,
so succinctly, yet so very poetically. I find it very moving.

it IS time to lay Halcyon Hall to sleep, to the realm of all our collective
dreams of her. Or maybe it is Halcyon Hall herself who dreams, and
we are merely bit actors in her dramatic teleplay.

I selfishly hope though, she sticks around a little longer.....

thank you flora, i had seen that article, one of the more informative
and accurate pieces in recent memory. Glad that they got their info from
direct , informed sources.Covered a bit of history, and put the record straight about what alot of people DID try to do back when it was still
doable. Millbrook would have been enhanced once again by
what Halcyon Hall brings [brought?] to the village, instead of this
massively regrettable pain- in -the -ass- for everyone. But, it was not
to be. That's how it goes...

i think it is very important that people understand that there were
people, institutions, and interests that really did try very, very hard
to do what people advocate for here, when they see mott's amazing
photos of Halcyon. And that there was a window of opportunity,
and it sadly passed. It is an object lesson, for, and from, all perspectives

the village and the college always had a frosty relationship, as it
often is in these scenarios.
Timothy Leary probably didn't make that any easier , but did
make Millbrook a remarkably more culturally open and tolerant place.But when i was a little kid, i remeberer
the distinct identity of Millbrook as a college town, and the commerce
it brought to the village. Which dissappeard overnight in 77.


But before then, I remember the Old Millbrook, from my grandparent's
generation, from the old photographs, abandoned railroad lines,
the old slate stones in the tribute gardens,stories from older people
like Louise Tompkins, who told me so much about how amazing
and wonderful Millbrook's history was, and how important it all is.
Her regret was how little of it was photographed, that words
would not do these great things justice, some too wonderful and grand 'to be believed'...
the abundance of grand fairytale estates passed down through familys[.many of which i saw disappear like Halcyon surely will]
and the lingering past that surrounded one, that was very traditional,
and as close to a Norman Rockwell town that I can think of. And it
looked the part. Out of central casting.
Ms Bennett's progressive girls school was such a HUGE part of that
vignette, as was crazy HJ Davison's nutty hotel in the first place.

the antique boom became the post bennett focus for the village,
which pushed the [century old] weekender real estate phenomenon
into hyper celebrity overdrive, and now the business of Millbrook is
..... Millbrook itself.

so fencing is going up,but is Halcyon coming down? i doubt it will
very soon. but nothing makes somewhere nice look like #$%^
quicker than a bunch of chain link fence,right. ? Millbrook's real
estate cabals are horrified and drinking feverishly

as far as what replaces it all, i'll just throw it out there that the scenic
beauty of Millbrook and environs is what has made it attractive
from day one [described in the 1890's as resembling the Isle of Wight
and parts of Devonshire in the UK]

accordingly, they put something cool here to look at

whatever replaces it... try not to #$%^ it up, ok?

wanderer,hope you enjoy your visit, Millbrook is always beautiful in the fall. as you know. i'd venture you'll still be able to get some photos
of SOMETHING interesting here.
ok, cheers all

the village has begun to put up a fence around the bennett college property. it will just take longer than they expected, but will probably be done before the stated Oct 1 demo date.

i would still bet any amount of money that nothing is going to happen here oct 1

irene did not affect the situation here all that much, really.

the independent is pretty behind the curve on the bennet
scenario. But I do not think they are a tool of the village government,
the way that the Millbrook Round Table was a mouthpiece for them

i like that the independent exists though, so i don't want to slam them

it WOULD be really great if they could actually deliver my
subscription, though. I only recieve about 1 out of 6 issues,
usually six weeks late

so, to me, their distribution OFFICIALLY SUCKS.

Anyway..there is still no fence around Halcyon Hall.
There are lawyers at work on both sides of this everyday, though.
At least someone is getting paid to do Something, eh?

hi folks, as of tonight there is no fence around halcyon hall

i don't think irene did much more than nature and gravity have all along

top floor dormers are beginning to cave in on most wings and gables,
though
it won't be long anyway you look at it

there has been talk of somehow trying to maybe preserve some of
the foundation's stonework, after all

out of a preservation standpoint, but also because it makes for less actual demo, lol!....sorta makes sense.

wanderer and friends, you are so right, this is all like an an
incurable affliction, whatever angle you want to come at this from.

liking history, tradition, being an architecture freak, artists,
photographers, tech types, documentarian obssessives,
interest in abandoned places, sarcastic blogging, pointing out
the folly of governmental mentality in the shadow of Art, particularly the
unparralelled granduer of the absolute marriage of finance and art
represented by places that are historically spotlighted here on Opacity,
well... jeez there is is just alot to like about what you do here
motts

the enthusiasm of people's reaction, and the venue you maintain to
allow and encourage that is totally amazing, i am guessing you might get alot of heat about some aspects of your enterprise?

the ratcheted level of politic in most of my own posts at least, may
make things seem to be of a particular ideological slant for
this Halcyon forum at large, but i think it is great if people of differing views
post too, i think anyone who takes the time to notice any change at all in their immediate physical and cultural environment, for better or worse, is a good thing. No matter what one's views, and i think
skepticism is in short supply in general, so i always like to listen to people i disagree with. I wish there were more here, in theory at least,
not because i like to argue [I do] but because i wish someone out there has any suggestion about what to actually DO about somewhere
like Halcyon Hall....i've laid out my best scenario involving huge amounts of glow in the dark paint......

the idea that somewhere as amazing as this could exist so readily
out of nowhere, and be the engine that literally created Millbrook,
from a true folly of an idea.....that thisart was a routine feature oF
America 130 years ago, and to now see that TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO
GET RID OF IT, WILL NOW BANKRUPT SOMEONE, OR MILLBROOK ITSELF...

??? for once even a motormouth like me is speechless.
what happened to the nation that used to build intercontinental railroads, the hoover dam.?.......we used to BUILD shit in this country
dammit! what the hell happened??!! Now we CAN'T EVEN TEAR SHIT
DOWN
without everyone getting a screwing, except a few who profit.
this a lamentable feature of how things have flattened out
not just economically, but culturally as well.

i sat at the bar tonight and listened to a construction deal go down,
clearly a shady scumbag deal on the part of the individual in a
position to red or greenlight the proposal, and yet absolutely the cost of doing business for the honest, and hardworking contractors who
have to go through this corrupt ballrub BS that seems to have become
standard procedure here and everywhere else.

I like a little bit of corruption. You need some, to keep everything else honest. I get it. But it has become the OVERIDING FEATURE
of so called progress. Think about if today's graft applied to the
1891-93 construction of Halcyon" They'd still be building it!!!!!!!

the way i see it ..... we may never defeat these swine, but we surely don't have to JOIN them.....

we may differ politically, but you can't tell anyone who really wants to, that they may not enjoy the late summer stars on a balmy evening amidst the grassy splendor of a particularly enchanting little victorian corner of south millbrook....that has been going on here since before
1892 , and has never been contingent on anybody's goddamned
permission, anymore than the certainty that birds will fly and sing, young people will fall in love, and the sun will rise at dawn every morning.

put up all the fences you want to, people should and will continue to
do and go wherevertehell they want, here and everywhere else
in this goddamned country, as well they should. I am so sick of the RULE CRAZY
mentality that has been unquestionably embraced to the point of it
becoming the NATIONAL RELIGION!

I know there needs to be Laws, and Rules. Most reasonable people
try to follow most of them, and take thier chances on the rest.
JUST PLEASE STOP expecting people to WORSHIP your
F@#%ing Rules, OK?

ok, a cyberound for the house, on me!

The Millbrook Village board accepted the bid by American Fencing Co
for $11,000 to fence off Halcyon Hall.[Whatever happened to Buying Local?!]
It is to be erected in the first week of September.
Halcyon's owner is Louis Heithaus, but is represented as an entity
known as Bennet Acquisitions LLC, which has ignored court orders
of code compliance.The village retains the right to hold BA LLC in
contempt of court, but has not done so, as that action would still have
no immediate effect on the site's safety. There are obviously other reasons they have not done so, all indicative of the decades long
inertia of the village.

The village will later seek a court order for reimbursement. From
the same entity who has ignored all of their other court orders.

It's a waste of money! A move by the board to assert some measure,
Any measure, to appear as if they are in a position to show some kind of leadership, which they are clearly not.

The fence will not deter tresspassers, only encourage them

Slated to go up in 7 to days in early September, it is slated to
"stand through Bennet's scheduled demolition in October".

This fence will be nothing but symbolic of the village's
ABSOLUTE POWERLESSNESS here. Who's going to demo come October1st? I will ask again- WHO IS GOING TO DEMO HERE
COME OCT !st? You can't get the owner to comply with miniscule
procedural regulations. So is Millbrook going to proceed with demo,
and sue to recoup the cost? Sort of a cute "watch us get serious''
manuever over a ten grand fence, it's going to be a little bit harder
to ask villagers to swallow whole the SEVERAL MILLION IT IS GOING TO COST TO DO THIS, THAT IS< IF THEY ARE GOING TO COMPLY
WITH ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS.

So to tell people the fence will only be up for two months is a lie.
Unless the board has their OWN PLANS FOR DEMO.
Which to not tell their constituents about would be a lie by omission.


It is an election year in Millbrook.

Halcyon Hall looked very cinematic in the foggy summer twilight last night.
Like a Victorain haunted house.

the Millbrook Village Board of Trustees met two nights ago to
decide on a bid for the fencing off of the perimeter of Halcyon Hall.
The choice is between American Fencing from Cambell Hall,
and A-1 Fencing of Wappingers.

I say go with A-1 Fencing! I Have done business for them in the
past, and they are always professional. Besides, BUY LOCAL folks!
heh heh he....
The cost of the fence will be charged as a lien on the real estate
underneath the 1892 Halcyon Hall.

Too bad that the demolition can't be paid for that way!!!
Annual taxes on the Bennett property wouldn't begin to offset the
millions required for complete teardown

and what of that ordered teardown, anyway?. With Oct 1st only 45
days away, it is unclear if any permit to do so has been filed by
anyone.
If I lived anywhere near here, i would be extremely concerned
about the massive contamination of the site, and whether, and how
much compliance there will be with remedial regulations.

Actually, ramming a chain link fence around the property is likely
the only power the Board has! At this point it is a PR move.
Let weekenders and locals alike enjoy thousands of yards of
urbanesque chain-link fence put up at the village's entrance just in time for the final dog days of summer! ho ho ho....
You think Halcyon looks like hell now? Just wait ...

There will THEN be an outcry for the owner and/or developer to
spend somebody's fortune to remedy the {now} uglified site, compelling the
board to... .hire more lawyers? to do what? confiscate the
property? which the village will have to pay for demo of, to be in compliance
with their own law.? Or they will sell it to someone who will?

Who?

Who on earth would submit to such a screwing? Who wants to waste Ten Million Dollars, without any guarantee of ANYTHING in the way of
preferred development rights, waived regulations, easements, etc?
Unless of course that kind of deal is in fact being made, in a, shall we say, UnPublic way?

So it is either more lawsuits [don't think they won't keep piling on
with those, this thing is a feeding frenzy right out of National Geographic] or....look for some kind of screwed up back room
sweetheart deal to happen. More than likely it will be alot of both.

I say come Oct 1st you won't see diddly squat as far as demo goes.
But what do I know?
When i was a kid, a chain link fence just made me want to access and explore even more, you know?

PS -Motts Rules!

the first of october always seems a good time to hoist a cold one,
and I'll drink to just about anything, ....still i got a feeling that
not a damn thing is going to happen here come Oct 1st.
the village cannot seem to follow through on any thing they have said
when it comes to the Bennet Complex.They are still in a bind about
perimeters for a "safety fence", ostensibly for teardown, but implied
to be in the interest of public safety, in other words, to deter the
wanton tresspassing the site is wildly infamous for.

suggested 100 ft perimeters are impossible in the back of the complex, adjacent to the existing condominium complex. To all
you tresspassers, this area is one of the more architecturally interesting,
at least on the exterior. Take some photos!! This part of Halcyon has been only rarely
seen online.Probably because it is where you are likeliest to be
rousted by law enforcement. But, hey I'd love to see photos,
i haven't been to that part of Halcyon in years, and I'm feeling downright Nostalgic just about now, summer nights, and all.....

the fencing issue is being raised to imply not only the legal implications of
a safety/security fence, but the hackle that will enevitably be raised by the actual demolition, and rightly so. Halcyon Village abuts the
original building at the service areas of the back of Halcyon, and the
impending or inevitable demo/collapse/disposition of this discarded wonder will be a major concern, to say the least

i'd prefer a convergence of ALL of my scenarios: encase the Victorian
hulk in Glow In The Dark paint, until Halloween, , then do a time elapsed film of it being struck by lighting and /or exploded as part of some extremely stupid big budget movie. I might be wrong, but i think it could make everyone feel better about everything! but then again,
i am an optimist, believe it or not

obviously what alot of people want is just the lightning strike, right?

to me that is a wildly irresponsible position to put the people
who'd respond to such a calamity into, but, hey, we all live under
the gun, right?

wanderer, stax, motts, and all, i always look forward to your
commentary and insight here on opacity. cheers!