Millbrook Community Partnership Turns Crumbling Structures Into Shared Public Spaces
In the chain of New York towns that trace the upper section of the oft-forgot Oblong Valley — between the Taconic Parkway and the Connecticut border — Millbrook is a gold link. Particularly this time of year, the small town’s architecture, shops, dining and scenery shine. Nice as it was, until recently, the bucolic setting was a bit tarnished by two grand, dilapidated vacancies at the village’s main entrances.
Now, however, the Millbrook Community Partnership has made major strides towards converting the properties into new local civic institutions. The century-old Thorne Building, a three-story Beaux Arts structure that served as Millbrook’s first public high school, has seen only sporadic use. In recent years, it has fallen into disrepair and needs modernization. It's now being restored and converted into a community and arts center. The crumbling Bennett College Halcyon Hall, a ghostly Queen Anne structure, was razed earlier this year to make way for the large new Bennett Park. The multi-million dollar project was made possible by the Thorne family who have resided in Millbrook for generations, with Oakleigh Thorne quietly adding a major chapter to its legacy here by spearheading the municipal improvements.
Halcyon Hall before demolition
“We’ve always felt we owed the community and wanted to continue being supportive,” Thorne said of his family’s approach to local philanthropy. “We are working together to turn these properties from liabilities to our greatest assets.”
Thorne says he hasn’t stopped to consider the idea of legacy in regards to leading the charge. At both the Thorne Building and Bennett Park, he’s consumed with the work of getting it done.
One of the most entrancing historic ruins in the state, the Halcyon Hall building, while aesthetically captivating in its decay, was well beyond rescue and a significant danger in 2014. The county was going to sell the foreclosed property but before it could be auctioned off in pieces for development, the Thorne’s family nonprofit, the Thorne Tribute Garden, bought it all. Oakleigh Thorne and George Whalen created a 501(c)3 for the project. Shortly thereafter another village organization (led by Thorne) took ownership of the Thorne Building, with intent to create a community center. The MCP was then created to manage both projects.
Thorne, who is President and CEO of Gogo Inflight, a company that creates and manages the logistics of airplane communication systems, appears to be fairly good at multitasking, but at MCP he’s not flying solo. Whalen and a growing team of locals with impressive credentials are now staffing the MCP board of directors and seemingly running a professionally organized ship. It has to be, with the first phase of both projects expected to cost over $21 million.
Surprisingly, the funds for the project so far, including the massive Bennett demolition and the relocation of a neighboring condo development’s pool and tennis court, have all been raised privately through major gifts. Thorne says they hope to launch a public-facing fundraising strategy next year.
"What’s cool about this is that while a lot of the funding is coming from people from the city, the services are going to be for everyone,” Thorne said. “There are a lot of things being done that will benefit all aspects of the community.”
While preservation of Halcyon Hall was impossible, the MCP plans to honor the former landmark at the park by leaving its foundation in situ and using stone materials from the building of new features.
A rendering shows how Halcyon Hall's foundation will remain a feature at the new park.
Also, a Bennett museum is proposed for the college’s President’s Building, whish was spared the wrecking ball. Thorn says they saved many artifacts for posterity including a massive old birdcage elevator and its ancient mechanism.
At the Thorne Building, the work is more than architectural. The building, which was a school until the 1970s, is filled with large handsome spaces with a lot of possibilities. Packed house public hearings have helped shape what the future center will offer. There will be programming for youth and seniors as well as space for art, performance, shared workspace and even a large kitchen for culinary classes. The specifics of the plans for both sites are available through the MCP website but have also been brought to life through a series of concept watercolors.
A town the size of Millbrook embarking on just one of the MCP’s projects would be significant. For the group to be taking on both, and moving forward at a good pace (minus COVID interruptions), is impressive. Were it only the case that every town had as well a funded and expertly run private-public partnership as Millbrook currently boasts.
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