Thursday, July 25, 2019

Another One Bites the Dust

For a city that purports to value its historic architecture and for which historic architecture has been an economic driver, Hudson sees a lot of demolition, and July has been a particularly active month. First, the two houses in the way of the Stewart's expansion were demolished. 

Then today, 418 State Street got bashed to smithereens by a backhoe.

We've known for a while that the future was bleak for this little house. Back in November 2017, Gossips reported that its owner intended to demolish it and build a new house in its place.

Then in June 2018, a "For Sale" sign appeared on the house, suggesting those plans had been given up.

Although tax rolls indicate that ownership of the house was transferred a couple of times in 2017, from individuals to a financial institution, when it was put up for sale in 2018, it was never sold. Instead, today, it was demolished.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

5 comments:

  1. It's sad to see any house demolished instead of being restored. Whether it was designated historic or not, every house has a story. The families that lived there throughout its existence, the memories of happy times and sad times. From the time of construction to its final destruction is its history. Progress?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another building was taken down yesterday too, down by the corner of Front and Cross streets--the old brick garage that looked like it maybe had been a house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment sent me down to Cross Street to check things out. Could something be demolished virtually in my backyard without my noticing? It also raised questions with the code enforcement officer, who showed me the comment on his phone at the HPC meeting and asked what I knew about it. I told him I had just been to the site and saw nothing missing. He said he'd been there the previous day--the day the demolition allegedly took place--and had no knowledge of anything being demolished.

      The yard behind what is being redeveloped as Red Barn Hudson is being cleared in preparation for an addition to 60 South Front Street, and that work has uncovered what appears may have been a stone foundation, but Google maps show no structure on the site.

      Delete
  3. My apologies for the confusion! I was strolling from the riverfront park up the back way behind Wick, saw the heavy machinery in operation near the barn, and from my vantage point I could've sworn the brick garage near Front and Cross had been taken down. But, fortunately, it does remain.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Is it necessary to project anthropomorphic preciousness onto every building? Architectural diversity, including new homes that will become a historic reference in their own time and information of the surge of wealth for a few in this city, is simply a fact.

    ReplyDelete