Geneva – Old Barn

Our daughter lives in one of the villages near to the foot of Mont Saleve (visible in the background as it is from almost everywhere in Geneva. As mentioned in an earlier post (See: Geneva – Introduction) it’s actually in France i.e. the building is in Switzerland, the mountain is in France). The day after we arrived we went for a walk to pick up our grandkids who had been at a friends for a while after school.

As we were returning home I noticed this lovely decrepit old building. As I approached to take the picture I noticed signs of activity so either the building was still in use, or it was being renovated.

Mystery Point – Ruin

I’m a sucker for ruins and I found this one while returning up Mystery Point Road. From where the trail returns to the the mansion, you cross the bridge of the Metro North Track and follow Mystery Point Road to the right. It’s a short way down on the right. I’ve no idea what it was, but it’s definitely not abandoned. There are clear signs that it’s under renovation. It’s probably associated with the mansion and is being restored at the same time.

What once was the interior. Now open to the elements.

A doorway.

A window on the interior

Three doors in a wall.

Vines on an old building

Another old film picture taken around the time I started collecting cameras. This one was taken with a Fed 2 rangefinder camera and Industar-61 lens.

It was taken at Pocantico Lake (see Old Waterworks at Pocantico Lake for a better sense of the surroundings. The picture is taken of the facade on the left of the building in the last photograph). It’s a very ‘busy’ photograph and I like the way that it’s not immediately apparent what you’re looking at. It just looks like a bunch of leaves. Gradually, however you start to see the outlines of a window and some weathered stone and you realize that there’s a building under there.

Pipe

Taken at the abandoned Tioronda Hat Factory in Beacon, NY.

I liked the variations of orange. The bulk of the picture consists of horizontal and vertical lines: the bricks, the window sills, the window frames. And then the pipe cuts diagonally across the frame, as does the detached, wooden board. The various textures are also interesting. And as I’ve mentioned before: I have a weakness for ruined buildings and rusty metal.

Ruins through a window

Or at least through an opening that once was a window.

Northgate, once the estate of Edward J. Cornish and his wife Selina now stands in ruins in the woods just north of Cold Spring, NY.

Atlas Obscura provides the following information (in: Ruins of the Cornish Estate):

Starting at one of the country’s most beautiful train terminals, Grand Central Station, the Metro North Railroad runs alongside the Hudson River, one of the country’s most breathtaking train journeys. About an hour into the Hudson Valley is the charmingly small town of Cold Spring. As delightfully quaint now as it was in 1917, it attracted newlyweds Edward Joel Cornish and Selina Bliss Carter Cornish. The lovers decided to move out of the city and into an estate in the woods just north of town.

Cornish was the president of the National Lead Company, and furnished a grand estate consisting of a mansion, swimming pool, gardens and other outbuildings. The couple lived, loved, and entertained visitors frequently, throwing lavish parties and filling the rooms of the mansion with friends and laughter.

Sadly, in May of 1938 tragedy struck when the life-long lovers died within two weeks of each other. Once a dream home, the mansion and the grounds fell into disrepair, and in 1958, a fire destroyed most of the mansion leaving the Cornish’s grand estate in ruins.

Today those ruins are overgrown and gradually have been reclaimed by the forest. They can be found by a 4 mile hike into the woods. Standing amidst the fallen down debris, it’s easy to imagine the motorcars pulling into the driveway, the well-to-do passengers excited for a weekend away from the city, the servants carrying monogramed suitcases into the mansion, champagne glasses tinkling on the lawn and the sounds of laughter coming from the swimming pool, where now there is only silence.

I’ve posted a couple of times before about Northgate:

Former Stern/Cornish Mansion: Northgate
Northgate Revisited.

This is the way it looked in its heyday:

The Cornish mansion, from the northwest. The house was an eclectic mix of both Shingle-style and Tudor-revival architecture. Unsuspectingly, a small porch existed above the west wall, the wall punctuated by the tall round-arched window. Source: Hudson Valley Ruins: Northgate, historic photographs from the collection of Victoria A. Rasche