The final chapter…
The event that gave rebuilding our house the inertia to move forward was really an act of serendipity. A chance plane ride up the Hudson River that led to the discovery of a vacant Nabisco box factory that lead to a decision to bring a world renowned art gallery to our sleepy little town. It was this decision that allowed others, not only on a local basis, but worldwide, to see what we already knew was true about Beacon. It was a lost gem on the Hudson that needed to be rediscovered.
Somewhere around the Spring of 2001 the Dia Art Foundation made an announcement that they were bringing a major gallery to the shores of the Hudson, and more specifically to the City of Beacon. What resulted was unimagineable.
While the City had been struggling forward for several years, the Dia announcement had an amazing effect. The West end of Main Street saw a sudden burst of revitalization and dozens of art gallerys began popping up all over the place. But it wasn’t simply a “gallery town” that started taking shape. It wasn’t the kind of place where tourists came to see schlocky art and disappear again. It was a place where artists wanted to live and work. A place where they could collaborate with other like-minded people. And artists began moving into town, buying up old buildings and houses, setting up gallery space where they could work and show their art as well as the art of others. In essence the City of Beacon became a Mecca of sorts. Artists were drawn here to work and live. And not just local artists; artists from all over the world.
This burst of interest turned a tepid real estate market into a hot one. Houses that even months earlier would have sat untouched never even made it to the normal market. People bought the houses, often attempting to outbid other buyers, in a matter of days without a for sale sign ever being placed on the property. Suddenly our little house in the woods with two acres was a hot commodity. We could have subdivided our lot and sold everything for four to five times what we paid for it. But we loved the property too much to do that. Instead, what we’d paid for our entire house ended up being less than we might have paid for a fresh lot to build a house on, but we never could have matched the beauty that we already had for any price. What seemed like insanity made perfect sense: knock down the old and build something new. Give the property a house that it really deserved.
So, that’s just what we decided to do.