Hudson Valley Ruins

Thomas Rinaldi spoke today in support of the recent book, Hudson Valley Ruins, that he co-authored with Rob Yasinsac. He spoke about buildings along the Hudson that aren't what they used to be. So many of them have only been lost recently. He suggested that housing is a key pressure; one NGO has identified a toal of 15,000 proposed housing units along the River presently.

One example would be the Bannerman Castle on Pollopel Island, in the Hudson River. It has laid is ruins for some town with little hopes of reuse. A more positive example is the reuse of an old industrial site that has been transformed into DIA: Beacon. More controversial is the proposal by Alsop for the Yonkers Power Plant.

A lesson learned: Some might still be confused about Andrew Jackson Downing and Alexander Jackson Davis. Davis was the architect. Downing was the landscape architect who died prematurely and is one of the top 10 shapers of the American landscape. Both were very important to the history of this region.

The image above (from the LoC) shows the old Newburgh, NY. Implied in the talk is the idea that Newburgh itself today is a ruins on the Hudson.

(I've mapped the Castle, Dia, and Power Plant on the S&PGoogleMap)