This Just In: Indiana Mill from 1901

Vintage Image of the Noblesville Milling Co. grain storage facility (date unknown).

The mill, 2016.

The mill, 2016.

an icon of the American Heartland

This week, The Hudson Company has been on the road - visiting the sites of several historic, decommissioned Midwestern agrarian structures, in search of high-quality, high-character American timber to reclaim. One of the most interesting finds this week has been 'The Model Mill' and grain elevator in Noblesville, Indiana (pictured above and below).

Built in 1901, the mill was an essential part of the economy in Hamilton County and, for over a century, the iconic structure has been both a physical and symbolic icon for Noblesville and the surrounding farming communities. The mill was originally built to hold 350,000 bushels of wheat, but the area's wheat yields were so plentiful that, by 1911, the facility was expanded to hold a capacity of 700,000 bushels. According to David Heighway, of The Hamilton County Business Magazine, the mill was built in a a style of construction called, "cribbing [wherein] boards are [simply] stacked and nailed together." A 1914 article in The Indianapolis Star took note of the Noblesville mill and elevators, remarking that, "These structures tower above the other buildings of the town and are admired by everyone passing through the city.”

700,000 Board Feet of Reclaimed Heart Pine

After changing ownership several times in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, The Model Mill was eventually decommissioned and has sat abandoned for many years. In 2015, local officials decided that the historic mill and grain elevators would finally be taken down. 

Luckily, much of the mill's original construction material has been well-preserved and will be now be diverted from the waste stream and reclaimed by The Hudson Company. From Noblesville, the 700,000 board feet of Reclaimed Heart Pine will be transported to The Hudson Company Mill in Pine Plains, NY were it will be re-milled and added to our growing inventory of reclaimed wood flooring, paneling, beams and joists. 

The end result of this reclamation process will be 700,000 board feet of custom re-milled Reclaimed Heart Pine [New Face, Chalk Finish] flooring, like the flooring milled for and installed at New York's new Whitney Museum of Modern Art (completed in 2015). 

Click here to learn more about (or to schedule a visit to) The Hudson Company's FSC-Certified lumber mill in Pine Plains, New York.

Pristine American Heart Pine, reclaimed from Noblesville grain facility.

On the road in the American Heartland.

The Hudson Company in ELLE DECOR Magazine

Reclaimed Heart Pine Flooring in ELLE DECOR

We are thrilled to share that our very own Reclaimed Heart Pine [Original Face] floors are featured in Samantha Emmerling and Hillary Brown's article 'Toolbox' in the newest issue of ELLE DECOR Magazine (April, 2016), on newsstands now.

Reclaimed Heart Pine [Original Face] Flooring is one of our most popular and versatile reclaimed wood flooring products and has found a place in design installations of all kinds, including two New York retail spaces for outdoor mega-brand Patagonia (see both stores below).

Reclaimed Antique Long Leaf Heart Pine wood is sourced from Hudson River Valley factories and warehouses whose construction dates back to the Industrial Revolution. Reclaimed Longleaf Heart Pine wood was once a predominant standing timber across a large span of the eastern seaboard. For generations, Long Leaf Heart Pine's prevalence and unique properties made it the most widely-utilized timber in American construction.

Today, The Hudson Company is always on the lookout of high-quality, high-character Heart Pine to reclaim, custom mill, and re-introduce to designers and architects for use in their next projects. 

Learn more about the full range of Hudson Company Reclaimed wood floors (including six varieties of Reclaimed Heart Pine) on our Reclaimed Flooring Page. 

The Patagonia Store, Meatpacking District, NYC

Patagonia Surf Shop, New York.

This Just In: Reclaimed Heart Pine from the Iconic Belleview-Biltmore Hotel

An undated postcard of The Belleview-Biltmore Resort and Spa. The Hotel's original, iconic red roof was later replaced with green roofing.

Built by railroad magnate Henry Plant in 1897, this photo shows the hotel during it's early years.

Aerial view of the Belleview-Biltmore taken after it was closed in 2009.

Details of The Bellevue-Biltmore Hotel in disrepair.

Abandoned hotel lobby, 

Abandoned hotel interior.

The Rise and Fall of "The White Queen of The Gulf"

Once known as 'The White Queen of the Gulf,' the historic Belleview-Biltmore Resort and Spa was, for over 100 years, one of Florida's most celebrated vacation destinations - an iconic symbol of the golden age of American entrepreneurship, travel, and optimism. 

Built in 1897 by railroad giant Henry Bradley Plant, the Belleview-Biltmore was a massive feat of resort architecture, crafted in a Queen Anne and Shingle style. Constructed of native Florida pine, the hotel also featured hand-crafted Tiffany Glass. Eager to increase Florida's tourism and railroad use, the Bellevue-Biltmore was, 'often billed as the largest occupied wooden structure in the world.' Mr. Plant even had special rail service to deliver guests directly to the Belleview's front doors (see above, the image second from the top). In 1979, the hotel was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

According to a 2015 profile on the last days of the hotel by The Tampa Bay Times, the Belleview-Biltmore hosted a wide range of impressive celebrities and dignitaries over the past eleven decades, including "Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford...Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama." In April of 1976, Bob Dylan and his band played two concerts inside the hotel's Starlight Ballroom.

But, despite visits by numerous notables, in the decades after WWII, this grand old resort faded significantly - due in large part to the construction of countless newer, beachfront resorts up and down both of Florida's coasts. In recent years, and after a lengthy debate between preservationists, local officials, and developers, it was decided that the majority of the crumbling hotel would be demolished to make way for new condominiums and townhouses.

Luckily, 36,000 square feet of the Belleview-Biltmore Hotel is being saved. A portion of Mr. Plant's original 1897 hotel is being relocated locally, and renovated into a boutique hotel. The 'new Belleview-Biltmore' will feature a restored 21st-century version of the hotel's original lobby, grand living spaces, 33 guest rooms, and ice-cream parlour. You can watch a video of the project's developer Mike Cheezem walking through the vision for this restored portion of the hotel here.

CAREFULLY RECLAIMING 100-YEAR-OLD HEART PINE FLOORING, JOISTS, AND BEAMS - PIECE BY PIECE

Meanwhile, the demolition of the 820,000 square feet portion of the hotel's structure is being done with precision, piece by piece, "taking the time to salvage 118-year-old heart pine floors, stained glass skylights and wrought iron stairway railings."

Currently, The Hudson Company is taking part in the enormous and careful demolition of this historic architectural treasure. Rather than being added to the waste stream, The Hudson Company is redirecting the Biltmore's still valuable and sustainable wood architectural materials to our mill in Pine Plains, NY. Once reclaimed, this inventory of high-character, high-quality, century-old wood will be custom milled into elements for new construction and design projects. 

Below you can see photos of the process of reclaiming tens of thousands of board feet of century-old heart pine floors, paneling, beams, columns, and other wooden elements. 

Stay tuned to www.thehudsonco.com.news for more updates on this reclamation preoject and about Reclaimed Heart Pine.

Click here to learn more about The Hudson Company's Reclamation Process.

The Belleview-Biltmore during deconstruction, 2015 -2016.

Beautiful, 100-year-old  'Dade' Heart Pine, reclaimed from The Belleview-Biltmore Hotel, Florida.

Hudson Company Reclaimed Heart Pine Floors on Architizer.com

Hudson Company Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] featured on Architizer.com

We were thrilled last week, when The Hudson Company's Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] floors were featured on Architizer.com as one of their featured 'Products of the Day.'

The timing of Architizer's feature on Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] seems especially apropos as we approach the first anniversary of the opening of New York's new Whitney Museum of American Art - a large-scale installation in which The Hudson Company provided over 60,000 square feet of wide plank, Heart Pine floors. To meet the custom design needs for the new Whitney project, The Hudson Company collaborated with the architectural teams at The Renzo Piano Design Workshop and Cooper Robertson Architects throughout 2013 and 2014. At the time of the Museum's opening, Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine described the Whitney's interiors and floors as, 'open, simple, Shaker-like; the wide-plank pine floors are perfect.' 

But whether installed on a massive scale (a la the new Whitney Museum) or used in a more intimate, residential application, there is just something special about these particular Reclaimed Wood flooring.

About Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish]

Part of what make's our Reclaimed Heart Pine so special is its unique origin story. 

For the past two centuries, Longleaf Heart Pine was a predominant standing timber across a large span of the eastern seaboard. Its prevalence and unique properties made it the most widely utilized timber in American construction. 

Today, our Reclaimed Heart Pine flooring are sourced from abandoned or de-commissioned factories and warehouses located around the Hudson River Valley, some of which were constructed during the Industrial Revolution. You can learn more about The Hudson Company's reclamation process in our three part series 'Crafting The Whitney Floors.'

Product Specs:

Hudson Company Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] floors are available at dimensions of 3/4" x 4-8" x 2-12'. Tongue & Groove. End Matched. Shown pre-finished in Chalk. Floors are also available unfinished.

Click here to learn more or quote Reclaimed Heart Pine for your next project.

Featured Design Installation: Passive House, Brooklyn, New York

As a part of the renovations for their 1860s Brooklyn townhouse, Laura Mackall and Robert Marley chose to incorporate two Hudson Company Reclaimed flooring products into their project: Reclaimed White Pine [Surfaced] and Reclaimed Heart Pine [New Face].

These two specific flooring products, with their historical character and sustainable footprint, were the perfect solution for the couple, as they embarked on updating not only their home's aesthetic, but also it's energy profile. As a 'Passive House,' the Mackall-Marley renovation focused on optimizing the way that the home retains and ventilates both warm and cool air. The townhouse's existing, thick perimeter walls made it an ideal candidate for this kind of a sustainably-minded modernization.

With Laura's father, architect Louis Mackall, and Gowanus-based Build With Prospect taking the lead on the project's design and build, The Hudson Company was able to provide the client with two custom flooring solutions: 3/4" x 6" Reclaimed White Pine [Surfaced] flooring and, additionally, 3,000 square feet of 3/4" x 9" Reclaimed Heart Pine [New Face].

We should also note that both of the reclaimed flooring products have interesting origin stories: the White Pine [Surfaced] flooring was sourced from the Mackall-Marley townhouse itself and then custom re-milled by The Hudson Company in Pine Plains, New York. The Reclaimed Heart Pine [New Face] used in the passive house project was a surplus batch of flooring, originally salvaged from a historic Phillip Morris Factory in Louisville, Kentucky and then later re-milled by The Hudson Company for The New Whitney Museum of American Art in 2015.

To learn more about the products used in this design project, contact us today and let us know how The Hudson Company can help you reach your goals for your next design project.

Photographs by Michel Arnaud

 

"As with a good book, the experience of a good house is transformative.”
Project Architect Louis Mackall

Crafting The Whitney Floors | Part 3

Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Kelly Crow notes that the design of art museums has traditionally fallen within two camps: classicism or stark modernity.

Historically, collectors encouraged museums to create spaces that resembled cultural temples, with classical columns and ornate crown moulding to match the significance of the objects on display. In recent decades, many museums and galleries favored an architecture of stark white-cube rooms with walls treated in sleek, modern finishes...

[Yet] when the Whitney began considering designs more than a decade ago, Adam Weinberg, the director, said he asked architects for the exact opposite.

Ms. Crow goes on to describe how the new Whitney Museum of American Art is a museum, 'designed to wow artists as much as audiences.' In her piece on the new Renzo Piano designed museum, Crow outlines Mr. Piano's intentions for the Whitney to be a new kind of museum - one that invites curators and artists alike to be flexible, innovative, even playful:

'...the 84-year-old [Whitney] museum is changing far more than its address...

The new building’s nearly 50,000 square feet of gallery floors will be made of neither trendy concrete nor lavish marble. Instead, Whitney officials chose reclaimed Heart Pine from former area factories, so artists could hammer nails into it or tear up small sections if needed. (The museum has a cache of extra planks in case anyone does.)

A lattice-like grid on the ceiling of the main gallery means artists won’t have to cut through drywall to suspend their work. That 18,200-square-foot room has no columns, making it the largest museum gallery in New York City with uninterrupted views.”

Donna De Salvo, the museum's chief curator, told ABC News that, 'artists will be inspired by the new spaces and will "reinvent them over and over again." They're tailored to the needs of how artists — and curators — work, she said. Floors throughout are sprung, allowing for both performance and installations. Open-grid ceilings permit walls and art to be arranged into multitude configurations.'

In crafting the over 50,000 square feet of Reclaimed Heart Pine flooring for the new Whitney Museum, The Hudson Company is honored to be a part of this landmark of innovative, contextual, and culturally-significant architecture.

The industrial history of the Reclaimed Heart Pine floors (sourced from decommissioned American factories) supports the Whitney’s mission to create a space that Director Weinberg calls, 'rough and ready' artist’s canvas.  The nature and dimensions of the Reclaimed Heart Pine flooring, along with it's intentionally flexible profile, allows for the floors, like so much at the new Whitney, to be modified to best fit the needs of the museum, artists, and audiences using the space. 

Click for more details about The Hudson Company Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] flooring featured throughout the new Whitney Museum of American Art.

Click to learn more about The Hudson Company + Whitney Museum Design Installation.

Click to watch the new Hudson Company Video.

Detail of Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] installed at new Whitney site.

Floor during install.

Floor Install, NYC Skyline in the background.

Flooring Install, during finishing.

Whitney floor, during install.

All Installation Photos by Martin Hyers of Gentyl&Hyers Photography for The Hudson Company. Cover photo by Max Touhey for ny.curbed.com.

Crafting The Whitney Floors | Part 1

In last week’s New York Magazine, journalist Jerry Saltz reviewed the new Whitney Museum of American Art, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Cooper Robertson Architects and praised The Hudson Company’s Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] floors as “perfect.”  

But long before the finished floors were ready for the feet of thousands of artists, art-lovers, and visitors to the new museum, they were the antique timbers of abandoned industrial buildings, destined for the landfill - until they were reclaimed by The Hudson Company.

In order to meet the design specifications of the architects, The Hudson Company custom-milled over 270,000 board feet (the equivalent of 27 tractor trailer loads) of reclaimed, antique Heart Pine sourced from the Phillip Morris factory in Louisville, KY, the Paul G. Mehlin & Sons Piano Company in New York, and the Maidenform Brands Factory in Bayonne, NJ.

In the photos below you can see the Heart Pine timbers as they pass through the steps of being demolished, reclaimed, denailed, kiln dryed, and milled at The Hudson Company mill in Pine Plains, NY. 

Click here to learn more about The Hudson Company's Reclamation Process.

Click here to see photos of the finished Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] floor at the new Whitney Museum of American Art.

Demolition of Phillip Morris Factory, Louisville, KY.

Demolition of Phillip Morris Factory, Louisville, KY.

Raw Material, at The Hudson Company Mill, Pine Plains, NY.

De-nailed raw material, ready for milling at The Hudson Company Mill, Pine Plains, NY.

Timbers ready for the kiln-drying process, Pine Plains, NY.

Kiln-dryed timbers, ready to be custom milled for The Whitney Museum of American Art.