[Hudson Valley Ruins] takes a middle road between the extravagant picture-book of erstwhile luxury estates and the scholarly architectural catalog, giving overviews of endangered sites by region, and telling in detail the life stories of several properties in each area. The ‘ruins’ encompass not only empty mansions but also the detritus of commerce: cement mines, gargantuan icehouses, the submerged hulks of steamboats, even an early electric-power station. These histories are individually riveting and cumulatively alarming. One rushes through these place-portraits to find out whether the architectural protagonist makes it in the end, or dies owing to neglect or ruthlessness. Hudson Valley Ruins reminds us of the callous disregard of the future for today’s wealth and power, no matter how grand. One may keep up with the Joneses, perhaps, but not with the onslaught of time.

Up and down the Hudson Valley region lie countless abandoned buildings, slowly rotting and decaying over time. These old factories, homes, schools, train stations, and more have long since been forgotten, or, if they haven’t, are currently being remodeled or torn down. Hudson Valley Ruins brings these places back to life . . . For each site, the authors include a detailed history of the location and outline its current condition. The authors’ text reveals the extensive history of New York; it also underlines the importance of these buildings and the authors’ hopes for their restoration and preservation . . . Recommended.

In Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape, preservationists Thomas E. Rinaldi and Robert J. Yasinsac share their fascination with the dozens of once grand-but now abandoned-buildings and sites that dot the Hudson River landscape. Enhanced with hundreds of telling black and white photographs, the book describes the historical and architectural significance of the ruins, which range from majestic river estates to the former factories, while capturing the flavor of a bygone era.

Meticulously researched and full of evocative photographs, this is a yearning ode to our vanishing architectural heritage.

Ruins have always fascinated us with their power to open windows into vanished worlds. In this book, informative prose and evocative photographs show us that the crumbling remains of the Hudson Valley’s past, from 18th-century farmhouses to 20th-century factories, can be just as interesting – and haunting – as those of ancient Egypt and Rome.