We must profess a slightly guilty
secret – nothing terribly exciting in the scheme of things but it does tick one
or two boxes.
It’s the slightly edgy ‘sport’ of
Urban Exploring.
This is the exploration and
photography of abandoned buildings and ruins. The images are then uploaded by
the ‘explorers’ for people (like me) who can easily get some degree of thrill
even from armchair urban exploring. This is possibly due to being slightly
woosy when it comes to any form of danger and of course there is always danger
(in various degrees) in exploring abandoned buildings. So with this disclaimer
we will continue.
SB recently chanced upon an
amazing case of ‘UE’ from the Yonkers, New York State that satisfies several
interests – botany, historic architecture…oh, and of course stone balls.
The building of interest is the
ex Boyce Thompson Institute building which was built to further botanical
research in 1924 by Boyce Thompson and was dedicated ‘to the study of plants
and associated organisms for the betterment of society’.
To quote the man himself ‘the
dependence of man upon plants is intimate and many sided. No science is
more fundamental to life and more immediately and multifariously practical than
plant science. We have here around us enough unsolved riddles to tax the
best scientific genius for centuries to come.’
Architect Frank Arnold Colby
designed the Georgian Revival building. It was constructed of reinforced
concrete with a Flemish Bond brick veneer and is attached to a series of
greenhouses on the south end, which were part of the original construction. Teams
of botanists, entomologists and chemists worked at the well-equipped
laboratories focusing on cures for plant diseases and methods to increase crop
yields using eight greenhouses and indoor facilities for “nature
faking”—growing plants in artificial conditions with precise control over
light, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels.
By 1974, the Institute had gained
an international reputation for its contributions to plant research. However,
although soaring air pollution in Yonkers enabled several important experiments
at the institute it also hindered many more. Exacerbated by dwindling
finances, the BTI moved to a new site at Cornell University and continues to
dedicate itself to much needed research in plant science.
Sadly since then, the building,
greenhouses and grounds have been left to decay. Wild, uncontrolled vegetation
has taken over and ubiquitous vandalism has contributed to the decay. However, the bones
of the once glorious building still survive and (thankfully) ‘explorers’ have
provided armchair explorers with fascinating images of the interiors and
grounds.
 |
| Vandalised interior |
 |
| Wrecked exterior |
 |
| Decaying glasshouses |
Looking at the images and reading about the botany experiments that once took place there was satisfying enough but imagine SB’s surprise when it saw what must be considered the cherry on the cake – i.e. a hulking big stone ball inside the building! It does looks incongruous and simply sad as vandals had dislodged
and pushed it inwards from its prominent and venerable position from the grand entrance
pediment and down the elegant interior stairway. No doubt smashing several
treads on the way. SB’s is acutely aware of the weight of these spherical
adornments so it must have been no small task to dislodge.
 |
| Rightful place |
 |
| Final resting place? |
Such
misguided energy.
