At first glance, it would be hard to figure out what this bland modern nursing home…
…has to do with these haunting, castle-like ruins:
Incredibly, they are actually within 20 feet of each other! You can see the castle just off to the left:
The establishment pictured is the St. Cabrini Nursing Home, located in Dobbs Ferry, NY (a few towns north of Yonkers). The nursing home dates back to the 1900′s, when it was housed in an Italian villa on this very spot. Unfortunately, that building was torn down in the early 1970′s to make-way for a more modern structure, which I believe was replaced in turn by the building pictured above.
However, something special managed to avoid the wrecking ball. If you drive into the parking lot of the nursing home and proceed to the rear, you’ll see an odd castle structure poking up, completely overgrown with trees and weeds.
You might be surprised to find that this is just the first of three levels, which descend the steep hill toward the Hudson below. For anyone who takes the Hudson Line train, you can catch a glimpse of the castle just south of the Dobbs Ferry station (click the pan to see it in full size):
According to the great ruins website, Hudson Valley Ruins, this building was built in the early 1900′s as part of the St. Cabrini novitiate, a training school for the nuns who ran the hospital and others like it. No clue when the building was boarded up, but as of 2001, the nursing home was actively planning to demolish it.
The top level features two turrets lined with crenelations (the alternating blocks on the edges, which I suppose would offer nuns ample protection when firing weapons at anyone attacking from the Hudson). The turrets are separated by a large open court:
If not for the overgrowth and assorted trash, this court would have a fantastic view, as it overlooks the Hudson at its widest portion (note: that’s a very long drop off to the right).
I completely agree with HVR’s Robert Yasinac when he suggests it as worth restoring simply so residents of the nursing home can sit out and watch the river on summer days. But sure, tearing it down would be a great idea too.
One of the turrets:
I love the arched stone doorway:
Strangely, the towers don’t match. Not only is the right one larger than the left…
It also features different style doors…
Another view:
You can make your way down to the lower levels of the castle via a brick staircase on the left. Note the gothic windows, which have been sadly closed up with cement blocks.
You can also see an open doorway. Why didn’t I go in and take pictures? Several questionable noises from within led me to strongly believe someone was inside, quite possibly someone who calls it home. I decided not to intrude.
Here’s the reverse view, convincing evidence that we may have actually de-evolved in our architectural progress.
Finally, this is the front of the castle (I can’t stress how incredibly steep the hill is). Both floors appear to have once been lined with enormous windows, which would have afforded incredible views of the Hudson. A shame this has fallen into ruin.
I scouted this place hoping that it might work for a medieval scene, and that the studio would be willing to pay for some level of overhaul (removing the overgrowth at the very least). Sadly, the scene was ultimately written out of the movie, and we had no use for it. Here’s hoping the nursing home comes to their senses about demolishing it (check out HVR to see how bad the decay has become since 2001)
-SCOUT
I can’t believe no one seems to care that they have their own castle?! Or that they are actually considering tearing it down. Sad really. Up in Saskatchewan we have old houses all over the prairies and no one wants to tear them down, they just sit there. Why can’t we have a castle too?!
Also excellent website I very much enjoy it, keep it up!
Neat. Love that kind of stuff. I moved to NYC in May and have yet to get back on the Urban Decay train I was on in my last city. Would love any recommendations on where to go in the NYC area to get photos similar to these, which I took for an exhibition that took place in the DC suburbs over the summer. Perhaps via email, to avoid spilling beans publicly!
I am in from Colorado visiting my mom at Cabrini. I found some additional info on the land… The Hudson Valley is full of History. LOVE It!
St Cabrini Home was purchased by Mother Cabrini (1850 – 1917) from the Jesuits, who when they owned it called it Manresa ( a location in Spain strongly associated with St. Ignatius Loyola) Institute. When the property proved too small, the Jesuits purchased property on the east shore, calling it St. Andrew’s, which was used as a Novitiate until about 1968, and is now owned by the Culinary Institute of America.
There is a charming story about the purchase, probably apocryphal, but worth relating. It seems that the Jesuits abandoned the site because they could not find a sufficient source of water in artesian wells for their prospective use. Along came a little nun who could hardly speak English. Voila! However, the little nun, St. Cabrini, brought in well drillers, pointed out where they ought to drill, and found plenty of water!
The property was first used as an orphanage for New York City girls of Italian heritage, as part of the Catholic Church’s efforts to service the Italian immigrant community. The censuses of 1900 and 1910 contain long lists of children who were housed at the home, sometimes called “Sacred Heart Home”; most of the children were of Italian origin. Later when that function was phased out, it became a senior citizen residence.
I could not believe my eyes. I played in these ruins as a child! I attended Sacred Heart Villa Boarding School for Girls from 1951 to 1959. The building that housed the school was torn down around 1970 to build the nursing home.
I came to stay with the Cabrini nuns when I was 4 years old. I have such fond memories of the school and grounds. I would wake up each morning and look out over the Hudson River and the “Fairy Tale Castle.” I used to dream of, one day, leaving the boarding school and going out into the world just like the “beautiful princess” did.
I rearly went home to visit family. So I spent many, many hours wondering around the grounds. I would explore the castle ruins and spent many hours reading inside. The nuns always knew where to find me and, of course, I would be in big trouble as they were off limits!
I hope some of the other girls come across this site. I’m sure they will be as thrilled as I was to see the pictures. Thanks for the memories!
Hi Alice, I read your comments and felt I had to respond to them. I too attended Sacred Heart Villa from 1955 to 1959 and have wonderful memories of it. I remember the rows of lily’s of the valley, the huge black cherry tree, another huge tree – a weeping willow that I used to read under. I remember “oh Mary we Crown thee with blossoms today” and winding ribbons around the maypole. I remember Mother Thecla (sp?)my fourth grade teacher and also Mother Frances who was in my dorm. I remember the row of beds filled with young girls who were living there and would sometimes go home on weekends and return on sundays. I remember having milk and cookies outside in a large wood barn type building that was open on the sides. I remember cleaning the bannisters with bee’s wax. and I remember the statue of the Sacred Heart when you first came into the front parlor. Every morning I would get up for mass and enjoyed singing in the choir. I remember being confirmed by Cardinal Sheehan. I used to always get into trouble. I remember my best friend Maria Soto and her sister Clara who, as it turned out, also went to the same high school I went to in Puerto Rico (Academia Santa Teresita). I remember Francis Rea (a lovely bright girl who wore braces and was a day student as she lived in Dobbs Ferry. Perry Como and Liberace on Sundays in the auditorium. The terrific Christmas shows we would put on. I remember being Santa one year and remember tap dancing. That was the most wonderful experience of my life. The nuns were wonderful women truly devoted to their faith and to us. They were firm at times but we sure needed it. I remember many other things but unfortunately I can’t remember many of the other girls names. Hope you’ve had a wonderful, fulfilling life and that God has been a big part of that. I was blessed with a wonderful husband and three terrific kids. Everyone now has grown up and the family has gotten larger. I have 4 grandchildren, my dear husband passed away in 2009 and my fantastic, beautiful mom passed in 2007. It has been quite sad without them, but their memories will always be in my mind. Send me an email and we can chat some more. Also, I am on facebook, just ask me to be your friend and I will be so happy to share my photos of family and friends with you. God Bless and take care, gloria
I have one picture of the front of the school and a couple on the grounds. I would like to find someone with a group picture taken somewhere between 1952 to 1956. I had one and have lost it. I can be contacted at signeblue@cox.net and I am facebook.
vivienne peterson christiansen (My name was vivienne mueller then.)
I also went to the school in the 1950′s and loved it. I remember a field of buttercup flowers. I wish I could get pictures of the actual school before it was torn down. I remember music lessons and large dorms.
I am looking to shoot a film at a nursing home and came across this picture… The location is so cinematic its insane…
I am touched by one of the stories of the little girl that hid out in the castles during her stay there when it was a school…
If interested in helping me make my film… see: http://www.socialcinemaproject.com
thanks
I too attended Sacret Heart Villa around the late 50s to 60s. Remember the grounds well. Also the view of the Hudson River from the dorm’s window.There was a large door that seperate us from the younger girls. Lots of wonderful memories.
i cant belevie that some one would wont to get wipe away a pieceofhistory.that dosent even belong to them probly.i know that the dobbsferry was named after my family so it realy sucks that no try to do anything with but taken down thats how much respect people have for thing that dont belong to them or they dont have anything to do with yea that give me alot of faith in human kind
Interesting. My maternal grandmother & sister were in this orphanage in the early 1900′s after their mother was murdered on E 74th St. The youngest sibling was in a house of lesser worth and told stories about oatmeal w/worms, being hungry, nuns were mean. No specifics but she acted out as one with an internalized abuser all her life. My grandmother was in the better one next to it & said it was great and she got to go to HS. Neither of them mentioned a castle.
I went to Cabrini HS in Washington Hts but was taken regularly as a child to the chapel by my paternal grandmother because her daughter went to elementary and secondary there. We’d go see Mother George in her office.
Still trying to figure out some ancestral mysteries on orphanage maternal side. I even worked and lived in Irvington and did not know about this castle. It looks similar to the one at Halsey Pond and that seems to have merely been decorative.
I went to the boarding school that used to be there, where the nursing home is now. I remember the castle . We were never allowed to go there, because they felt it wasn’t safe. I was amazed to see these pictures on your site.
Do you know how I can go about finding photos of the school that was there?
It was called Sacred Heart Villa Academy for girls. It was a boarding school.
Any help in this matter would be so appreciated.
Thank You, Jennifer
Jennifer – I have one picture of the front of the school and a couple on the grounds. I would like to find someone with a group picture taken somewhere between 1952 to 1956. I had one and have lost it. I can be contacted at signeblue@cox.net and I am facebook.
vivienne peterson christiansen (My name was vivienne mueller then.)
The photos of the castle took me back in time. I was 8 when I began attending Sacred Heart Villa, a boarding school for girls from 1st through 8th grades at that time. This structure was strictly off limits, too dangerous a place to play. Yet it served to fuel our imaginations with sweet and scary stories alike. The school itself would have been an ideal setting for a movie, full of winding staircases and hiding places. Someone here mentioned Mother George. I’d all but forgotten the principal whose office I cleaned each morning. I’m intrigued by the Villa’s history as I had only heard rumors of its function as an orphanage. Thanks for the memories.
I was a border at Sacred Heart Villa in the early 50s. Having migrated
to America from Bolzano Italy. I would very much like to have a photograph or any data concerning the school to share with my children.
All communication is welcome
I attended SHV for only one year, the year my parents went to court to argue about where I would go. It was the best year of my life. At 55, I am still friends with a few of the girls.
The castle was thre & we played near it but never in it. We were told that it was haunted & belived it.
Josefina, if you’re 55 we must have been there at the same time. I’m 56. Mother Ursala was the principal, and there was mother Cecilia, Augustina, Tecla, and Dionysius. I was there from 1963 to 1968 or 69. Do you remember someone named Vanessa or Sylvia? It would be so amazing to hear from girls I went to school there with. There was something so magical about that place. I really would love any info on how to find pictures of the school and some of the nuns from that time period.
I would like to know some of the names of the girls you still know. I wish I would have stayed in touch with a couple of them. I’m going to try and find out how to find info and pictures of the school. Lets all try to stay in touch here on this site.
Finding this is mind-blowing. I would love to hear from girls who wen’t to SHV when I did. I don’t know if it makes more sense to post answers to specific post, or to do it this way, or to try to start something like a GOOGLE page.)
My memories are primarily of trauma and victory over it, and they are very vivd. The nuns were sadistic to me and I missed my mother desperately. But I also remebr that much of what what kept me from losing my mind was the other girls. I ws there from 1955 to 1957 (2nd through 4th grade). I would most like to connect with Elizabeth Kenny and Elizabeth Veloux, but also anyone else who remembers me.
I also went to Cabrini High for two semesters–Fall 1962 and Fall 1963. By then, I was calling myself Lisa, having dropped Mary. I would be thrilled to hear from the young women I knew then–losing contact with them was really sad: Sandy Padilla, Ruth Allegria, Jadwiga…
Thank you so much–all of you.
Recently my sister (Rosemary) and I were talking about some childhood memories from when we lived in New York. Obviously, one of the topics was about Sacred Heart Villa where we boarded from time to time from around 1954 to 1960. My father put us in SHV when my mother was hospitalized for a year with TB and he was unable to take care of us full time because of his business interests so he entrusted us to the care of the nuns (at the time I was 4 and my sister 6). He was only able to visit on the weekends and would be greeted with hugs and kissed by us and another young girl named Maria whose father never seemed to make it there as he traveled alot. After my mom got better we only boarded sporadically.
For the most part the nuns were our caregivers and some were so loving like Mother Felitchitus (sp)who was in charge of the dorms for the very young kids and taught either Kindergarten or 1st and 2nd Grade, and Mother Tecla (sp)who was in charge of one of the older dorm and taught the 3rd and 4th Grade. Then there were those nuns who were quite terrorizing,like Mother Thomasina who left after her first year after making several student’s lives quite miserable. After the death of my father and then my grandfather we moved to Florida to live with my grandmother, so neither my sister or I graduated from SHV. The memories still linger though of special times like the Christmas plays, the wonderful bazaars to raise money, and of course the crowning of Mary in May at that beautiful grotto. The most vivid memory though, is about one student who I spent time with at and away from school, and to me she will always be a little angel who said her rosary faithfully every night. Her name was Debbie Priester (sp) and after we moved away I learned that she had been sick and died at around age 10 from Leukemia. I just know that she is in heaven.
I did visit the school(now nursing home I guess) quite a few years ago but did not see the grotto, so I am not sure if it still exists or was torn down. I do hope to make it back up there again one of these days and see some of the old places from my childhood, though most of them have changed.
I am glad to see that there are others on here who share some of the same memories as myself and my sister. I know life goes on but it is also sad to see that things change and are not recognizable. May God Bless all of you and thanks for letting me share a few memories,
Susan (Reda) Rue
One other person I’d like to also mention that to me was quite sweet and part of the staff, and that would be Matilda since she just always seemed to be very kind in that sometimes scary place.
Recently my sister (Rosemary) and I were talking about some childhood memories from when we lived in New York. Obviously, one of the topics was about Sacred Heart Villa where we boarded from time to time from around 1954 to 1960. My father put us in SHV when my mother was hospitalized for a year with TB and he was unable to take care of us full time because of his business interests so he entrusted us to the care of the nuns (at the time I was 4 and my sister 6). He was only able to visit on the weekends and would be greeted with hugs and kisses by us and another young girl named Maria whose father never seemed to make it there as he traveled alot. After my mom got better we only boarded sporadically.
For the most part the nuns were our caregivers and some were so loving like Mother Felitchitus (sp)who was in charge of the dorms for the very young kids and taught either Kindergarten or 1st and 2nd Grade, and Mother Tecla (sp)who was in charge of one of the older dorm and taught the 3rd and 4th Grade. Then there were those nuns who were quite terrorizing,like Mother Thomasina who left after her first year after making several student’s lives quite miserable. After the death of my father and then my grandfather we moved to Florida to live with my grandmother, so neither my sister or I graduated from SHV. The memories still linger though of special times like the Christmas plays, the wonderful bazaars to raise money, and of course the crowning of Mary in May at that beautiful grotto. The most vivid memory though, is about one student who I spent time with at and away from school, and to me she will always be a little angel who said her rosary faithfully every night. Her name was Debbie Priester (sp) and after we moved away I learned that she had been sick and died at around age 10 from Leukemia. I just know that she is in heaven.
I did visit the school(now nursing home I guess) quite a few years ago but did not see the grotto, so I am not sure if it still exists or was torn down. I do hope to make it back up there again one of these days and see some of the old places from my childhood, though most of them have changed.
I am glad to see that there are others on here who share some of the same memories as myself and my sister. I know life goes on but it is also sad to see that things change and are not recognizable. May God Bless all of you and thanks for letting me share a few memories.
Susan (Reda) Rue
One other person I’d like to also mention that to me was quite sweet and part of the staff, and that would be Matilda since she just always seemed to be very kind in that sometimes scary place.
I attended SHV for one year only, 8th grade. My cousin went there and we were very close. It was a very difficult time at home and for me it was a refuge where I flourished. My teacher was Mother Veronica (7th and 8th grade combined). She was an inspiration and perhaps one of the first teachers I had who expected me to think and not just memorize information. She was the person who taught me critical thinking without my knowing it. There are 2 memories that were family lore. One is that from having to climb to the basement for chapel to the top floor for the dorm and everywhere in between, I dropped 20 lbs. between September and Christmas. The pants for my costume for the Christmas play did not fit! When my cousin was there before me she would come home and her mother would ask about what they fed us and she always said :some orange stuff and some green stuff” (I think it was peas and carrots so overcooked as to be hardly recognizable. When I started my aunt said we would finally find out what was being served. I came home and said :some orange stuff and some green stuff”:)
I came across this site and see there are quite a few people here from Cabrini, I was in Mother Cabrini Home in West Park NY. 12493 if anyone here was from this Cabrini Home from the 50′s and the 70′s we have a web site on FaceBook called Mother Cabrini Home, we are looking for all who were there, we have pictures posted there also so if any of you were there in these years please check out the site,
Thank You