Note on the Image
M7. The Ruin of the Bannerman’s Castle in Hudson River of New York in 1901
Pollepel Island is an island in the Hudson River. Also known as Pollopel's Island, Bannerman's Island,and Bannermans' Island, is the site of Bannermans' Castle.
Pollepel Island is about 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City.
The principal feature on the island is Bannermans' Castle, an abandoned military surplus warehouse. One side of the castle carries the words "Bannermans' Island Arsenal". It was built in the style of a castle by Gilded Age businessman Francis Bannerman VI (1851–1918), who had purchased the island in 1901 for use as a storage facility for his growing surplus business. Because his storeroom in New York City was not large enough to provide a safe location to store thirty million surplus munitions cartridges, in the spring of 1901 he began to build an arsenal on Pollepel. Bannerman designed the buildings himself and let the constructors interpret the designs on their own.
Construction ceased at Bannerman's death in 1918. In August 1920, 200 tons of shells and powder exploded in an ancillary structure, destroying a portion of the complex.
Today, the castle is property of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is mostly in ruins. While the exterior walls still stand, all the internal floors and non-structural walls have since burned down.
In this circular composition all precautions have been taken to avoid the eye from escaping out of the picture sides.
As the eye travels each corner, objects and lines carry us safely round it until it has been completed the entire circuit. The small boat in the distance provides the depth of picture and acts as a balancing element of the foreground mass.
The figures are introduced to give the activities of the tourists to the ruin of the Bannerman’s Castle.