Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York, thought of as one of many most interesting examples of the American Gothic Revival structure, has opened its unrestored pool construction as an exhibition house with a site-specific set up by the artist and preservationist Jorge Otero-Pailos.
The installation was commissioned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Otero-Pailos’ Watershed Moment invites visitors to reflect on the history of early 20th century America and offers a glimpse into the late Gilded Age in the Hudson Valley.
The pool building was built in 1911 to resemble a Roman bath and was a cavernous symbol of wealth and luxury. The building was left deteriorating for decades after the death of Helen Gould, the daughter of the railroad magnate Jay Gould who built Lyndhurst Mansion. Even though the building has been structurally stabilized, it has not been fully restored.
Otero-Pailos described the ruins as “a long-term environmental sensor where water has encoded information”. Indeed, water has played several roles in the building’s history, first as the essential feature of the pool, and eventually as one of the elements that destroyed the roof and wood interior.
Watershed Moment features monumental sheets of latex suspended above the empty pool which was inspired by the building’s layered history. The surface of the latex appears wet in certain lights and bears a cast of the surrounding walls, made by applying and then removing liquid latex, an experimental preservation technique intended to clean dust and debris from historic architecture. Rather than an attempt to preserve the walls, the hanging sheets of latex amplify the dramatic texture of the water-worn surfaces.
Water is also a major feature of the surrounding area. Located on a hill overlooking the Hudson Valley, Lyndhurst Mansion is part of a legacy of historic homes built at a time when there was an appreciation for nature, art, and architecture among the wealthy. Tying the installation to the Hudson River and beyond, Otero-Pailos created an audio recording of bodies of water from across New York State that can be heard throughout the echoey space of the building.
The artist also included a nod to the art historical traditions of the Hudson River School painters. In one sheet of latex, Otero-Pailos cut out five sets of openings to pay homage to Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire (1833-1836), a series of allegorical paintings depicting the stages of a civilization’s decay from wilderness to ruins.