O/T The real Wyndcliffe and the imagination of an impressionable kid

[dom]

Here's a link to an abandoned Hudson Valley mansion named Wyndcliffe:

http://abandonedhudsonvalley.com/wyndcliffe/

I got a kick out of looking at it and imagining it as the DS Wyndcliffe - Julia running it back in it's glory days. Liz no doubt "resting" in a grand suite. Amy running the halls, lol.

When I was a kid DS was all so engrossing to me that I imagined it as real (to a certain extent, I'm sure you know what I mean). So much so that now when I see photo's of Maine locations (facebook group) I instantaneously think of it as what Collinsport must have looked like to Joe and Maggie, etc.

I am a little surprised that my mind still goes back to that after all these many years. But I will say that I do get a kick out of it.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

How very upsetting that such a grand building is abandoned and in so much disrepair.

Though if anyone else has seen "Crimson Peak" (a film I would recommend - which to me is very DS - with design/story elements I could swear they stole from Depp/DS), doesn't this Windcliffe remind you of that film's mansion, what with the missing roof. I can just see the snow falling into Windcliffe just like it does into Crimson Peak.

Thanks for the link, dom. 

[dom]

I'll have to do a search on Crimson Peak to see if it's available to me by my cable provider. I just read a review that makes it sound like a masterpiece.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And the fact that one of the stars is Jessica Chastain doesn't hurt.    But then, all the actors in the film are great. 

[Uncle Roger]

And the fact that one of the stars is Jessica Chastain doesn't hurt.    But then, all the actors in the film are great. 

Especially since Jessica seems to be paying homage to Barbara Steele.

[Gothick]

Jessica Chastain was almost shockingly brilliant in CRIMSON PEAK.  Hiddleston and Mia (I have given up trying to remember how to spell Mia's last name) are both very good, but Jessica steals every scene she's in.

My criticism of the movie, for what it is worth, is that it was overproduced to an absurd degree.  I told a friend after I saw it last November that it would have been much better if del Toro had spent 30 million less on it.  I could make the same comment about the Burton Depp Shadows disaster except there wasn't all that much to salvage from the latter.  A vast improvement would have been made if Depp had never appeared onscreen.

And that's all she wrote.

G.

[dom]

Well, well, well. Which one of you bought Wyndcliffe?!! Do tell!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3800356/For-sale-NY-mansion-Keeping-Joneses-fame.html

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I only wish it was me because, like I said, I think it's a grand building.

Let's just hope that whoever bought it will restore it rather than demolish it...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I just did a bit of research and thankfully it doesn't look like the building can be torn down because it's on the list of US National Historic Landmark District Contributing Properties.

[dom]

It'll be one helluva job to accomplish. And take a fortune I imagine.

[Philippe Cordier]

Do you think this is where they found the name "Wyndcliffe"? Seems too much of a coincidence if not. And if so, I wonder if they ever shot footage of it ... or sought permission to do so, but did not receive permission. It does seem like rather an omission that they never showed a still of Wyndcliffe that I recall ...

[michael c]

they did show an exterior still frame slide of Wyndcliffe during it's earliest days when Maggie was first placed under Dr. Hoffman's rather dubious "care".

i seem to recall a white wooden structure with maybe a widow's walk?


i don't believe the shot was used in any of the color episodes.

[Gothick]

The stock photo used for Wyndcliffe/ Windcliff in the series was not the Hudson Valley mansion.  Nobody can remember where the stock photo was taken.  I would think it was most likely something that was in an ABC library or office and they just grabbed it and used it on the fly.  But who knows, perhaps it was a house in either Essex or Newport.  I know fans have tried to find it and nobody has ever succeeded, so far as I am aware.

There are some good shots of the ruins of Wyndcliffe here:

http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/wyndcliffe/wyndcliffe.html

As you can see, salvaging anything remotely habitable from that is going to take millions of dollars.

G.

[dom]

Crimson Peak finally showed up on my cable guide and was free to record. I really liked it! Glad it came highly recommended - I'd not have bothered otherwise.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm so happy you enjoyed it!