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The mansion was demolished in early May '05. The town and village bought the property for $1.2 million and plan to build a park in three phases. Supposedly, the mansion foundation will be part of a memorial garden wall.

There were plans to move the town library there, but the library nixed the idea. "If this site is to be considered further, it is recommended that the existing Salesian Seminary School Building be completely demolished and removed. It will cost less to demolish the existing building and construct a new library in its place than attempting any renovations of the existing structure. The existing building for the Library's use has no salvage value.

The asbestos report prepared in 1998, indicates an estimated cost of $490,962.00 for asbestos removal. This cost did not include the cost of plaster and roofing abatements if required. An updated asbestos removal cost is recommended. It is also recommended that the full requirements for testing as required by Industrial Code Rule 56 be applied. All plaster and roofing materials will have to be tested.

Once abated, the building could be demolished. The most efficient way to demolish this building would be with heavy equipment. The construction demolition material could be sorted for recycling. The two primary end products will be masonry and steel. Disposal of all demolition products is based on weight or tonnage.

Because the costs associated with demolition projects varies greatly based on such factors as trucking distance, availability of disposal sites, workers compensation costs, demolition costs have been solicited from an independent source. Lamela Sanitation will be providing a non-binding estimate of the structure removal cost. Their estimate will be based on all asbestos containing materials being removed in advance of demolition. Mr. Lamela indicated that should the plaster contain asbestos, the owner should consider building demolition as a complete asbestos abatement project. He indicates that plaster removal independent of the structural demolition would be a very expensive and time consuming process that would add greatly to the cost of asbestos abatement.

The demolition costs will be provided to the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society as soon as the estimate is received.

The cost of demolition and removal as well as asbestos abatement should be considered in the value of the property. Property price should be adjusted based on who is performing the abatement, demolition and disposal. "

WOW.

I painted this fireplace in the summer of 1969. The room was in bad shape and was only used for storage. Several of the seminarians refinished the floor and painted to turn the room into useable space.

w0w thas crazy how old are you?

Wow Paul, I can't imagine what it must feel like to see the place like this.

In an odd way its neat how the floor just fell away from the fireplace...I keep imagining how I could get in front of the fireplace and to that little square of flooring left on its other side. Although that would be impossible and I would die in the process *scratches head*

Motts, you went inside to take this picture!!?? Weren't you afraid that something would fall on your head? Of course, by the looks of things, it would be a quick dash to the outside in case of an emergency...

That's too bad that the place got demolished. That fireplace is absolutely beautiful.

I could realy live there happily.

Don't sneeze, morgal!

and he huffed..... and he puffed...... and he blew the wall in.....

Lyric, You just reminded me of that Halls commercial with the wolf. Has anyone seen it? It is hilarious!

I would love to have that mantal for my fireplace!!!

This photo bummed me out. The fireplace was so nice.

The fate of the Salesian school is really sad. In the mid0seventies, when I was 12, my father died and my family thought it would be good for my eight year old brother and I to spend the Summers there helping the priests take care of the horses. We had fun and it kept our minds off of our family situation. I wish I had a least a brick from the school.

That is really cool that you where there and now you have to see the place in chambles. I bet that feels really odd.

Took my breath when this photo came up. Ah, yes, it would cost too much to renovate the building, so let's just tear it down.

History apparently means nothing. This is an example of how we will never have the historic architecture as in Europe....we continue to tear it down.

I agree with you, Karch. This is the difference between America and Europe. They have old buildings because they continue to renovate them. America...Just tear them down and build a stinking Wal-Mart. How pathetic.

In all fairness, the buildings in question in Europe generally have 200+ years of history and near continual use in them rather than, oh, ~100 like this one. Not having what anyone would call a stable aristocracy, the US doesn't have the right environmental pressures to maintain all sorts of old buildings, especially when said old buildings (which are prized) conflict with things like health and safety regulations (also prized). A lot of tenement blocks went down because they were honestly unsafe places to live, history be damned.

I'm not really against your argument, Karch and Jenn, but playing devil's advocate here. As it stands it looks like the people in charge don't have the finances to fix the place up and those that do have no interest. That and I severely doubt that Wal-Mart, no matter how unpopular a scourge and symbol of rampant globalization it may be, will be replacing this building in any way.

Let's hope Santa doesn't visit this house.

holy crap that is awesome!

I don't understand all this crap about asbestos - I mean I understand breathing in the tiny little fibers MAY give you health problems, but geeze, how long was asbestos around BEFORE they realized that? And instead of costing millions of dollars to remove, can't they just cover it up with something? It all seems like we are getting overly paranoid about stuff and not caring about important things like history and preservation. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a healthy environment too but does asbestos really cause a problem or is it only if you're over exposed to a TON of it in a short time like lab rats? If that's the case, anything in that high quantity would be bad for your health.

Ok so you cover up the asbestos and build/renovate around it. People live, work, or whatever in this new building for years and a few start dieing of cancer. They find out that the company just covered up the asbestos instead of removing it, welcome to a large lawsuit. Still think it's worth it for the company to just cover up the asbestos?

After a certain point a building is just not salvagable. It has rotted away for a long time and at this point it would not be worth the large amount of money it would take to reconstruct the building in a way that would be safe to those that would inhabit it.
It's sad yes, but it makes sense. For everyone that complains about companies choosing to go the less costly route of demolishing and replacing the building instead of renovating, are you willing to foot the bill? Are you wiling to pay the huge amount of money it would take to renovate the building in order to keep "the history alive" even if said renovations would result in a building that probably wouldn't be as functional for your purposes as a new purpose build building would be?

Yes it's sad to see old buildings be demolished but sometimes practicality has to come in play. Sometimes it's just not worth the extra cost (since no one is willing or able to pay that extra cost) just for the sake of history. Really it's the original abandoning that needs to be stopped. Find a way to keep these old buildings in use even just as a way to keep the buildings from rotting while someone figures out what to use them for. But if a company can't afford to keep their property going and no one wants to or can buy it what choices are there?

People in this country are too sue-happy. C'omon people, how about taking responsibility and stop blaming big corporations just because their pockets are deep. My first house I bought, I had sided and they just covered up the asbestos shingles with insulation and then the siding. I lived there a long time and never had a health issue. Are you telling me that asbestos seeps out through a covering and runs for the lungs? I agree that the abandonment should be avoided but if it can't then yes, tear down and rebuild. If I had the means I would gladly pay to rehab some of these places. We don't need a Wal-Mart on EVERY corner for God's sake!!

It's a real shame that they let this building go-look at the incredible detail on that fireplace mantel-so pretty!

I agree with Karch - this is just pathetic that this was allowed to get like this. This was such a beautiful place.
I wonder if this part was near the covered portico/ carport. You could drive up and get out without getting rained on, but since it stuck out from the house it might have been a spot where the rain could be trapped and damage the roof.