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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Portion of Bannerman's Castle Crumbles
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| The silhouette of Bannerman's Castle on Sunday afternoon. |
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| The area between the two lines collapsed. This photo was taken before the damage occured. |
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| This close-up shot shows the remaining letters in what used to read Bannerman |
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| Another close-up view of the damaged castle wall. |
December 28, 2009
The face of Bannerman’s castle has been changed forever with the collapse of a portion of the historic ruins during the past weekend. The southeast corner of the brick-and-concrete building, which had been severely damaged in a fire in 1969, crumbled, taking with it many of the letters that spelled out the name of the 100+ year-old fortress.
The original building, constructed in 1901 on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River, was modeled on a Scottish castle and was used for storing munitions by the Bannerman family, who owned a large munitions company. The family also built a summer residence there, although the island has been owned by the state of New York since the 1960s.
The collapse of this portion of the castle's façade has devastated volunteers who have rallied to preserve the historic buildings and grounds of Bannerman. The Bannerman Castle Trust recently received a $350,000 matching grant from the Environmental Protection Fund that it intends to use to stabilize and restore the Bannerman residence.
Barbara Gottlock, a member of the board of trustees of the Bannerman Castle Trust, said that on Sunday morning one of the people who guides tour groups to the island noticed the missing section of the seven-story castle, which has been a mere shell since the interior was burned forty years ago. Gottlock said that the collapse is most visible from Route 9D in Cold Spring.
Gottluck, who also coordinates the work of volunteers who work to restore the gardens and preserve the island’s structures, said she has observed cracks in the structure but she never expected the building to collapse. “We were shocked because there are other buildings that we thought might come down, but not this one, “ she said. She said the group will be meeting next week to discuss how they will move ahead with the restoration project.
Late Sunday afternoon, Gottluck and her two other members of the Bannerman Castle Trust brought a telescopic to the eastern shore of the Hudson River to see if they could get a good look at the damage. They also took these photos of the crumbled shell. In the second photo, taken before the collapse, Gottlock has identified the section that fell as that part lying between the two black lines.
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