Historic Hudson River Landmark Demolished without Permit

The owner of the Brandreth Pill Factory on the Ossining waterfront began demolishing it today.

The factory building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is Locally Landmarked as well.

The Village of Ossining Building Department and Police Department stepped in and stopped the demolition crew, but much of the front façade had already been taken down.

The owner is Plateau Associates LLC of Pleasantville.

The owner of the building was due in Ossining village court today at 2 pm for other violations with the building, said Joanna Tall, chair of the village’s Historic Preservation Commission.

“We are all amazed at this owner’s brazen attempts to destroy this structure,” Tall said.

Neighbor Miguel Hernandez posted on the About Ossining-A Town Square Facebook page that by the time the work was stopped it was too late.

Here’s the Wikipedia entry:

The former Brandreth Pill Factory is a historic industrial complex located on Water Street in Ossining, New York, United States. It consists of several brick buildings from the 19th century, in a variety of contemporary architectural styles. In 1980 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [1]

Most of the original buildings succumbed to fire in the 1870s, but the oldest, a Greek Revival building possibly designed by Calvin Pollard in the 1830s, remains. Nearby is a corrugated ironstructure that may be the earliest use of that material inWestchester County. [2] The main building itself was one of the first to have Otis elevators installed. [3]

Benjamin Brandreth made his family’s popular medicine, said to treat blood impurities, at the factory, starting in the 1830s. The factory’s construction was the beginning of the industrial development of the Ossining waterfront. It continued to be used for manufacturing until the 1940s. Some of the smaller buildings remain in use today, although the former main building is vacant. The village is considering a proposal to convert it to green housing.

PHOTO/contributed

PHOTO/ Daniel Case