Since it became up for sale in 2017, purchasers have ignored the overgrown walls and unusable chambers of the Abercrombie Castle. The question still stands: How long will this once-active house remain deserted? Currently listed for $2.9 million, the property has four bedrooms, four complete bathrooms, and is situated on 49.6 acres of land.
We must first go into the history of David Abercrombie and what brought him and his castle to this part of Westchester County in order to understand why this unique building is now vacant.
As the clothing suggests, David Abercrombie opened an upscale outdoor gear and tough apparel store close to Wall Street in 1892. Robert Peary and President Theodore Roosevelt were shortly outfitted by him.In 1904, Abercrombie’s relationship with wealthy attorney Ezra Fitch ended abruptly because Abercrombie persisted on marketing to wealthy clientele while the newcomer pursued general appeal. Abercrombie sold Fitch his share in 1907, and Fitch kept the name.
Abercrombie succeeded by adhering to his vision. In order to aid with military outfitting overseas, he enlisted in the Army during World War I. He built his ideal house, a 25-room castle in the medieval Scottish style, complete with arched windows and a spiral iron staircase that led to the top of the turret that overlooked the city and a river, after going into quasi-retirement after the war.
For zoning and land use considerations, the unique building is situated appropriately on a rocky outcropping at the top of a ridge in the Town of New Castle. The Ossining Town offers services.According to local historian Miguel Hernandez, Abercrombie finished the home in 1927 and gave it the name Elda, an acronym made up of the initial letters of the names of his four children.
In its prime, the property astonished even by Westchester standards. The property was situated on a 300-acre paradise with horse paths, a fishing pond, and a spring-fed pool when the family moved there.
Abercrombie’s family sold to a paint research business after his death in 1937. Hernandez said that throughout the 1950s, it stood abandoned and that vandals started many fires there.James Harrick, who founded the nearby Harrick Scientific Company, paid $15,000 for it in 1964 and resided there until the 1980s. Hernandez claims that despite another couple’s $1.5 million investment in 2001, their endeavor to establish a retreat and conference facility was unsuccessful.
The estate was purchased for $3.75 million by the current owners, Morgan Immovable Property Corp., in 2011. It has been for sale since 2017.
The family “came out of the woodwork, from Idaho, Florida, all over,” listing agent Christina DiMinno claims, but the fortune was never passed along to the next generation. “They don’t have the money, but they would love to restore it.”
The 4,337-square-foot building’s interior has sustained significant damage, with every window smashed and a massive graffiti mural done by artists/vandals on an outside wall.
The land has shrunk to over fifty acres now, but the ruined house’s steel framework, covered with fieldstone and granite from the site, keeps it intact.
The showpiece of the Abercrombie castle site, the dilapidated big palace, is currently waiting for someone to give it royal care.
