There is nothing more seemingly antithetical to New York than its armories. In a city where every building strains toward the heavens without much of a thought to width, New York’s armories brazenly buck the trend by being massively wide and extremely squat – which is one of the reasons I love them so much….
For years, I’ve been interested in scouting the Gates of Hell. Which, oddly enough, happens to be in Yonkers. Located on the shores of the Hudson, this is the local nickname for the Glenwood Power Plant, built from 1904 – 1906 and in operation until 1963. It has been abandoned ever since. For most of…
Whenever I go up to scout Lyndhurst Castle, railroad tycoon Jay Gould’s former estate on the Hudson River… …I’ve always wondered about the gated, semi-abandoned-looking property you pass on the way out. A bit of background: first built in 1838 for New York City mayor William Paulding, Jr., the estate was later purchased for use…
Driving on Route-25a through East Shoreham, you’d never guess there was anything unusual about the gated road heading off toward the coast. But go down a ways… …and suddenly, it’ll appear through the trees… Long Island’s only nuclear power plant, closed and shuttered since it was decommissioned in 1994. Today, it sits completely empty, a…
I’ve been doing a lot of scouting in the Highbridge Section of the Bronx, a neighborhood largely composed of large brick apartment buildings. The other day, I was driving down Woodycrest Avenue when something unusual caught my eye at the corner of West 167th Street… What the heck was that stone building tucked in behind…
Two years ago, I wrote a post about Rockland County Psychiatric Center, an abandoned insane asylum complex that is easily one of the most haunting places I’ve ever scouted. To my amazement, more than 250 comments have since been left by former patients, doctors and nurses, and residents who lived in the area when Rockland…
I’ve recently been scouting around the Syosset area of Long Island, and have frequently found myself driving north on 106. And, every time I do, I’ve noticed these gates – clearly the entrance to an estate of some kind: But why was there a chain across the front? Curiosity finally got the best of me…
Recently, I had the pleasure of scouting the Woolworth Building, which, as far as I’m concerned, is as close as you can come to visiting a royal palace in New York. From its towering vaulted ceilings… …covered in unbelievably ornate mosaics…
The following article was produced in participation with the Partners in Preservation program, which will be awarding $3 million in grants to historic sites across New York City based on your votes – so go vote now! Chances are, when you think of Ellis Island, you picture just one building… The “Main Building,” a Beaux-Arts…
Last week, I was sent up to scout around Tappan, NY, a beautiful hamlet just over the New Jersey border. Each day, I found myself driving back and forth along a road called Western Highway… …and in the process, passing a gorgeous brick building that appeared to be abandoned. Was it a school, or former…