Bennett School for Girls

Oct 162013

March 2022 update: Bennet School is currently in the process of complete demolition.

When I first drove by the Bennett School for Girls, I did a cartoon double-take. If asked to imagine the most elaborate, creepy abandoned mansion I could, my fantasy would come nowhere near the actuality of Bennett, which is better than anything a CGI designer could conjure up. The structure looked so implausible and surreal that it gave my brain a new wrinkle. That also might have had something to do with my having slept at an abandoned asylum the night before, but that’s a story for another day.

Before Bennett School for Girls was a school, it was Halcyon Hall, a luxury hotel constructed in 1890 in Millbrook, NY. According to Opacity.com, Halcyon Hall was designed by New York publisher H.J Davidson Jr, and was “constructed of wood and stone…filled with books and [curiosities] from around the world…featur[ing] beautiful, carved wooden pillars, balconies and small niches to seal a quick read or nap.” As someone who spent part of my childhood reading in a small niche in a wood attic, and a part of my adulthood collecting old treasures, Halcyon Hall sounds amazing.

Despite its elaborate decor, the hotel didn’t attract enough patrons and quickly went bankrupt, closing in 1901. Bennett College purchased the hotel in 1907 and the five-story, 200-room structure became Bennett School for Girls. During its first year, the school had 120 students and 30 faculty members. Bennett offered six years of study, covering high school and two years of junior college. Shortly after opening, Bennett discontinued high school classes and became a junior college only, going by the ineloquent name of Bennet Junior College Halcyon Hall.

The students of Bennett were young ladies from wealthy families. The school began at the tail end of the Victorian Era, when women were expected to be, as the phrase goes, “idle and ignorant.” But it was also the beginning of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement in America, and women were demanding more rights to education and work. The college was progressive allowing women to have two years of education beyond basic high school courses. I use the word “progressive” lightly since no mathematics, science, economics, or business classes were offered at Bennett. Those were considered subjects a lady ought not dabble in when she should be busy learning how to roast a brisket or baste a honey ham or whatever people did to meats back then.

Ladies were not required, nor encouraged, to have an education beyond the domestic obligations expected of women of that era. Most courses at Bennett were aimed at educating women in the things that well-behaved women should be into, such as child-rearing, fashion design, and “domestic science,” which is the collegiate term for “darning socks” and “cooking.” The ladies did participate in some sports, most of which were considered feminine activities like badminton and croquet, with a few exceptions such as golf and fencing.

It would be unfair of me not to acknowledge the other courses offered as part of the students’ education. The ladies of Bennett could also study music, interior design, art, dance, history, literature, drama. and -last but not least- equine studies aka the business of riding horses while wearing fancy boots.

The college continued its two-year curriculum until the 1970s when co-ed colleges became the norm. Attempts at collaborating with a nearby college failed, and costly upgrades eventually bankrupted the school. It closed permanently in 1978. Water pipes burst when the heat was turned off, causing severe water damage and the wood structure began rotting. Over the following decades, chunks of the roof caved in, floors collapsed, and stairways crumbled. The ivy-enveloped structure is only still standing due to the stonework that supports the wooden parts. Many development plans failed and the school was taken over by a bank that went under in 1991. Scheduled for demolition in 2012, Bennett School/Halcyon Hall improbably remained standing until 2022, when it was fully demolished.

Some before/afters of Bennett School/Halcyon Hall: (photos are not exact, since I didn’t have the the “before” pictures while I was there)

The front entrance stairwell:

I couldn’t get a good photo of the stairs, because that would have required me to stand right here:

Dorm rooms:

Libraries:

I used to love the kid’s book, Ivy Cottage, about a girl who lived in a cottage completely covered in ivy and it was all I ever wanted until my ma crushed my dreams by telling me facts about ivy, like how it eats away at wood and the molding between bricks and ruins houses over time. Also, hella bugs.

The basement was my favorite part because it had shelves of countless treasures. There were gadgets and gizmos aplenty! Whozits and whatzits galore! But the only recognizable thing was a spoon.

The school constructed a theater in its later years. The room is devoid of all the lovely ornate details of the original Halcyon Hall building. The large windows are appealing, but man, what a terrible design for a theater since they’d have to have to cover them with huge curtains every time they had a show.