i've enjoyed a few cocktails and gotten lost in
the world that motts reveals to us! but really,
i am more drunk on how beautiful this gallery
is, and how the photography just keeps getting better and better, unbelievably.
This is my favorite shot ever! It is like a
beautiful trompe-leoile painting. If i could
paint canvasses as good as mott's
fotos i would stop painting!
The subject matter is stunning, but your shots
make more of them than i think anyone but you
could imagine or achieve really! it is really
incredible. I love the story of how you
practically stumble onto this fantastic little
place too..
motts, i have always wondered what
influence your photography has had on
your musical life/endeavors, and vice versa,or just in general how you are affected by
multiple artforms or crosspollination of
mediums?
for me your work seems to trigger multiple
points of cultural/artisic references,
simultaneously, without being subject to
any of them.That is alot harder than it sounds, to pull off as you must know! And for myself, like all of the
best art, it makes me want to create again myself. In other words, inspirational.
these shots are just fuckin Grand....

this is the only section to be spared demolition. soon...

i hardly find it shallow or self serving to
express some desire to preserve some
aspect of the history of this property!
Too many of the "players" in the impending demise-for-development
are the same characters who wish that freedom of speech ends at the Millbrook village's borders. Yeah? Well, TOO BAD!
not everybody concerned about this current plan are among those who turned a blind eye to restoration. THE
VILLAGE GOVERNMENT HAS WANTED
THIS SITE CLEAR FOR CONDOS going
back to 1983. The developer MAY or MAY NOT do something "positive with the
property"; that remains to be seen.
Rather than cashless complaining,
some people regard bringing historical voices to bear on the debate, ALONG
WITH the [inevitable} development, as
a mitigative factoring influence on
the developer DOING WHAT HE CAN,
and WHERE HE CAN, to TRY to preserve some aspect of the clearly
marvelous architecture represented,
WHERE POSSIBLE, This is all anyone is
really asking for.But boy, that really bugs
some people, doesn't it? Those
pesky history lovin interferers! Drat!

NO ONE is interfering, or "making problems" for the developers!! They have
been given a full spread eagle green light by the village board to do
practically whatever the hell they want with this site!
If they are acting in good faith as {new}
members of the community, they would be looking at trying to do this without
having to be shamed into it by, you
know,LOCAL AND ACADEMIC OPINIONS. I have heard that they are
trying to do just this, in terms of salvaging some of the architecture, which is encouraging. They seem to be
acting in good faith.
If on the other hand, it is so painfully
deleterious on the poor senses of the
developer or his affiliated defenders to
have to GOD FORBID...LISTEN TO SOMEONE'S OPINION ON THE TOPIC, or mock their right to do so for fear of interfering with their rammed through
business plan, then they are BY
DEFINITION ignorant a-holes who
should expect as much oversight, scrutiny, propagandizing against their
positions, and likewise as much mockery as they insist on heaping on
those of a differing opinion.

In other words: your getting your way!
and you'll all make a bundle. SO DON"T EXPECT ANYONE, LEAST OF ALL PEOPLE LEGITIMATELY OPPOSED TO YOUR PLAN FOR WHATEVER REASONS,TO CRY AND WHINE ABOUT YOUR P.R. PROBLEMS!!!
happy demo-ing
ps: good luck with the asbestos

sometimes cops are even MORE
stupid than they are portrayed to be
on television....most are just as
Rule Krazy....

THE MILLBROOK PLANNING BOARD
HAS APPROVED PLANS TO DEVELOP
THE BENNETT COLLEGE PROERTY.
the approved developer is going to put
ABOUT 95 HOMES here. they can put
up to 112. what a sport. there is some
outlying property on this parcel, but certainly not enough to build this many,
WITHOUT ACTUALLY BUILDING ON OR
DIRECTLY ADJACENT TO HALCYON HALL'S FOUNDATION, WHICH MUST BE "PRESERVED" UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS DEAL.
in other words, GOODBYE, the building
IS COMING DOWN.
alot of people are not happy about this
development regardless of the building's fate. It is the entire character
of the village that will be affected. This
property has been a sylvan, serene,
park-like setting since before 1892,
and is still now. my god they are gonna ruin another beautiful place with
obscene condominiums!

yeah, even though it is a distinctly
Tudor /Queen Anne building, i've
always thought it had a real Bavarian
feel to it, the architect kinda specialized
in that look in the 1890's. technically it's
a Victorian, but the feel is really more
medieval /Germanic, especially with
the projecting eaves overhanging
everywhere.you should see it in the wintertime after a heavy snow, it is
just...magical. A blanket of snow almost
takes away the damage of the years...

yes, all of the balconies had substantial
balustrades, quite beautiful. the
"spindles" are all missing from this
one, no doubt kicked out by gleeful vandals in the 90's. actually they were all
rotted out anyway, and may have been
removed as part of the onetime "too
little-too late" attempts at halting the
deterioration about a decade back.
in any event, i never heard of any girls
[or boys!] falling from Halcyon's fair
balconies! i myself have almost fallen off
it's many roofs on numerous occasions,
but that is another story....

Mead & Taft were contractors and
general hardware dealers.they were
credited as architects for three projects
i know of:1870-"Glenfields" estate for
quarry owner Archibald
Gracie KIng[Old Manitou Rd, Philipsburg Manor]

1875-99? Le Douxx/Healy House
shingle style house,
Deer Hill Rd, Cornwall

1890's LARGE BARN,Kenridge Farm
Cornwall

they were the principal contractors for
JE Ware's firm's upstate work,
particularly Millbrook and the Mohonk
properties,from about 1889 through
1914, perhaps a bit longer, they may have also serviced his firm in his NYC work, i am not sure.
i would imagine that Cornwall's local
historical society would be a place to
find out more about them, sometimes
any info on this stuff can be scarce, but
i am often pleasantly surprised in my own
research. if you find out more, let me know!

besides the utility fixtures, this could be
from many centuries ago in some other
faraway place

i want model maps of ALL the opacity
sites! and all the other buildings i love ,too!

in conceptual art historical terms it is
a"muted duchamp"...

''Greene Acres is the place to be...

amazing, the use of iron beams to
suggest tudor style half timbering
that is usually composed from wood and plaster,you are right paul p, today an element like this would be considered decorative, therefore unneccessary.
they surely don't build em like they used to !!!!!

that is such a bummer about billy preston, a very sweet man they say..

in 1991 the estimated cost of renovation
was over 15 million dollars, and that included donations from major corporations to be secured by the
founder of Friends of Halcyon Hall, who
shall remain nameless. this person
was tireless in his efforts yet was
unable to succeed in the, shall we say,
"climate" that exists in millbrook on this issue. the cost of demolition alone was
estimated at $8 million dollars, but that
probably included all that freakin stone,
which apparrently is now is "off the table"
in any current demo scenario. also alot of the cost of either demolition or
renovation is comprised of asbestos
and lead,as in containment , abatement
or removal. in any event you are looking
at, in today's numbers, millions and millions of dollar just to destroy the place. vandals could do it much cheaper,
doncha think? one thing is certain, it
will be a big fat contract for some company to demo this irreplacable
piece of history. ironically it could end up being awarded to a family business that
is descended from the original stone
masons and craftsmen who built it.
the irony is murderous....

thank you anna, i'd love to see a photo
of the stanley hotel, i wonder if it at all
resembles halcyon or mohonk.

thank you, what was your dad's
connection to halcyon / bennett?

thank you, it really was the heart of
Millbrook for many years.it is true, alot
of the laborers who built this edifice
came from abroad. specifically the stone
masons, almost all of whom worked
for Mead & Taft, of Cornwall on the Hudson, who were the principal
contractors on Halcyon, as well as many,
many other structures in Millbrook. There
was so much work for these talented craftsmen that many stayed here, built
homes and thriving businesses of their
own. for me to label them as laborers is
almost an insult, they were really like
artists. one hopeful note: the rezoning
of the bennet /halcyon property includes a mandate that the STONEWORK of
halcyon must be preserved regardless
of whatever else is demolished. this
almost makes no sense, but it is a
consolation that at least this aspect of
these workmen's craft will endure in some form...

Mr. Historian, thank you, i stand
corrected! i will inform my source that
they have made my attempts at
presenting history seem feeble and
amatuerish! by the way, where is the stanley hotel you refer to?

duchampian,,,,

WOW! what a logo...

this image is SO wrong, on many levels,

more star wars - this time in the colors
like that badass desert planet

to me, it's futuristic, like star wars...
those tunnels on the deathstar that served no purpose except a place to have space dogfights...

rockabilly colors....hell my dorm was
dirtier than this!