Tag Archives: NY

Olana, Greenport, NY

The main house at Olana sits at the top of a large hill along the Hudson River in Greenport, NY.  It is a unique mixture of Victorian architectural elements and Middle-Eastern decorative motifs created by Frederic Church and architect Calvert Vaux.  Church continued to work on the house for much of the rest of his life. By 1891, the house was essentially complete, looking much as it does today.

The house is ornamented with elaborate stencils, inside and on the exterior cornices.  By the 1950s, the patterns were barely visible, and the cornices were painted brown.  Using a combination of archival documents and photographs and detailed analysis of a cross-section of each of the five original cornices, the exterior cornices were repainted in 2004-2005.

More information:  Olana History

Location:  Google Maps (42.217128, -73.829285)

Dutchess Poorhouse, Millbrook, NY

These buildings are located on Oak Summit Road near the Village of Millbrook.  As mentioned in a Poughkeepsie Journal article, “Originally, the Dutchess County Poorhouse, the campus opened in 1864 and housed people with mental illness and physical disabilities, and the most destitute.”  In 2014, it was planned that six of the buildings would be razed, two would remain (west and north wings), and a potter’s field (cemetery of hundreds of unidentified people) would remain.  The east wing had previously been demolished.  In 2008 Dutchess County rehabilitated the property’s 1960 north wing into what is now the Eastern Dutchess Government Center.  Also present on the property is an 1864 farmhouse, now in disrepair.

More information:  Historic Resource Survey; Poughkeepsie Journal article about demolition

Location: Google Maps (41.763698, -73.699964)

Palen Road Ruins, East Fishkill, NY

These ruins are located on the east side of Palen Road, just north of the intersection with Route 52.  Right along Palen Road are a set of double-wide stairs, covered in leaves.  Further to the east I located the round metal “slats” of either a silo or water tower whose wood structure has since decomposed.  Along Route 52 is a grand stone entrance and wall (a “wall of affluence”) and nearby is the clay vertical pipe.  Historic aerial photos show that structures were located on the property up until 1980, relating to an orchard and perhaps other agricultural pursuits.

Location: Google Maps (41.545685, -73.827661)

Baxter Cemetery, Putnam Valley, NY

This cemetery is located in the woods off the Taconic State Parkway (to the east) near road reference marker 987G 84021085.  It is in what is now a forest, but the cemetery is reportedly located off what remains of the old Wicopee Road which leads from the Parkway down the hill, but it not really visible any more.  Based on a list of graves, the oldest grave is from 1825 and the newest is from 1924.

More information:  Putnam Graveyards; Find A Grave (graves)

Location:  Google Maps (41.43813, -73.815568)

Johnson House, Fishkill, NY

Located at the intersection of Main Street and Jackson Street (1020-1022 Main Street) in the Village of Fishkill, the Johnson House was demolished in 2012 and the site rebuilt with a new structure resembling the old one (Rhinebeck Bank).  It is a shame that the old building was demolished; the building was part of the village historic district.

The photos of the old house were taken in 2011 and the new building photos were taken in 2013 and include a photo of the plaque on the building.  The plaque states, “This building is a 2012 rebuild of a farmhouse originally built in the late 1800s that was occupied by Dr. E. Kingsland Johnson and his father.  The Johnson Family contributed to the health and welfare of the community of the Village of Fishkill for more than 50 years.”

Location:  Google Maps (41.533369, -73.905114)

Lewis Country Farms, LaGrange, NY (exterior photos)

Located at the intersection of Overlook Road and DeGarmo Road in LaGrange, NY, Lewis Country Farms was a local lawn & garden center.  The original structure apparently dates to the 1840s.  A historic building inventory form from 1986 identifies the site as the Ayrault Place and built in the mid-to-late 1800s and mid-1900s.  Bill Lewis opened the business as Lewis Country Farms in 1989 and it closed in the 2000s.

These photos were taken over several visits during different seasons, and are just of the exterior.  Photos of the interior can be found here.  Work has begun to clean up the site and turn it into luxury apartments.

Also photographed is a building identified as the Lewis Landscaping located about a mile away.  As far as I know, the business is not still operating.

More information:  Building Inventory Form

Location:

Denning’s Point Ruins, Beacon, NY

These are photos of some ruins and a very abandoned brick factory building on Dennings Point in Beacon, NY.  The ruins that I found may be associated with the Denning family mansion, which was in ruins by the 1920s.  The Denning’s Point Brick Works was founded and operated on the property from 1881 to 1939.  Denning’s Point was also used by swimmers in the 1920s and 1930s and became known as the “Coney Island of Dutchess County.”  From 1947 to 1954 the site was operated by a manufacturer of construction panels called Durisol.  From 1954 and for 34 years thereafter, the The Noesting Pin Ticket Company operated on the site creating wire products.  In 1988 the property was purchased by New York State and became Denning’s Point State Park.  In 2006 the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries began renovation of one of the existing buildings to become the new home of the institute.

More information:  Denning’s Point History

Location:  Brick factory buildings- Google Maps (41.490538, -73.983473)

Former Texaco Beacon Research Center, Fishkill, NY

Texaco operated the Beacon Research Center in the Glenham hamlet, Fishkill, NY from 1931 to 2003. The center was a laboratory complex engaged in research, development, and technical services related to petroleum products and energy.  The site has a lot of environmental contamination, and so the site needs to be remediated.  Remediation included building removal, which apparently occurred between 2011 and 2012 and consisted of 64 buildings and structures.

These photos were taken of a small portion of the former center, along Old Glenham Road, in June 2015.

More information:  Property history

Location: Google Map (41.518867, -73.935990)