Castle for sale in upstate NY

NewImage As Boing Boing has outgrown both our converted ICBM silo and air park and secret lair in the Alps we expect to purchase this stately castle in upstate New York, built in 1894 for the National Guard Amsterdam. It is quite a steal at $1 million although our planned improvements will be costly, starting with the piranha-stocked moat. We intend to leave the billiard room and basketball court as-is but the, er, "basement toy room" needs some help. Perhaps we should do a Kickstarter. Upstate Castle Amsterdam, NY National Guard Armory for sale (Thanks, Lindsay Winterhalter!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Brainspore

…the, er, “basement toy room” needs some help.

“You call this a sex dungeon??”
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  That wallpaper certainly qualifies as an instrument of torture.
http://twitter.com/JGailor Jeremy

I’m from that area (not Amsterdam specifically). Amsterdam is a city that has been dying slowly for decades. It’s so bad my high school had an advanced placement Economics class and the course project for each student was to come up with a renovation plan for Amsterdam and the best would be presented to the city council.
Jimb1233

It must be filled with lead paint and asbestos.
- Nash Rambler
  
  It’s not much “filled” as constructed from lead-covered blocks of asbestos. Also, you probably shouldn’t think about the radium showers.
http://www.facebook.com/kevinbingham Kevin ‘Bynk’ Bingham

Finally, a place where I can gather mutants like me, and start a school to train them!
thekinginyellow

is that the castle from “the fisher king”?
Matthew Elmslie

Stalagmen? Deep crows?
- Nash Rambler
  
  Nah, nothing but some whiny Italian walled up in the basement.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Don’t get me started. Trader Joe’s has been out of Amontillado for two months.
Nash Rambler

Boington Abbey?
http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson

Damn you boingers, this is the kind of thing that makes me suddenly want to buy lottery tickets!
http://twitter.com/rvitelli Romeo Vitelli

Is Bruce Wayne upgrading to a mansion with a larger Bat cave?
mir amicitas

So where is this kickstarter project? I am all for helping to fund a castle for boingboing readers to go meet and share wonderful things.
echar

I wonder what H/V/AC costs for that place? You’d have to be Daddy Warbucks for that alone.
jerwin

The “Tintin au Congo” poster is an … interesting choice.
http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11

Dodgeball Academy is a GO!
Antinous / Moderator

It’s not defensible. Next!
BarBarSeven

Look, look. Upstate New York has tons of great property. And little to economically support it. But my idea—and tons of other folks I know who even live upstate concur—that building a hi-tech hub of some sort would work well.

I do tech work & can do it remotely anywhere. I have a full-time job in NYC, but can do it 100% anywhere. I am not alone. And I know employers are okay with working remotely for some tech stuff as well.

So just build some tech hub in Upstate New York & just watch people flow out of NYC & watch dying towns come back to life. I swear, I would jump at the opportunity to live somewhere nicer than NYC & have a decent job. We live in 2013. Do it already, people!

Also, I would like to work in a castle so I can get laid by fair maidens.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/QTRI4XIV4XA7ZIZSSG6TSU5JJE Fleeyp
  
  Albany is trying just that. SUNY Albany has the college of nanotechnology, and Global Foundries has a plant going in Colonie just north of there. They’re calling the initiative ‘Tech Valley’. Good luck to them.
  - http://twitter.com/GinaMartinBlogs Gina Martin
    
    Our biggest problem up here is that high speed internet is not universal – some areas have decent coverage, but many do not. You’re pretty okay in the suburbs, and the cities (ish), but many rural areas are still dealing with dialup, and no cell service. And the high -speed stuff we DO have is expensive. In my area (Hudson Valley/Northern Catskills about 30 miles south of Albany NY), we get 15 mbps down, but only .512 mbps up. For around $90 per month, which includes “broadcast basic” cable. Which doesn’t even have AMC. It’s a requirement to get the TV cable to obtain internet. Friends across the river can’t even get this, and the cable company has no plans to build there.
    - BarBarSeven
      
      Our biggest problem up here is that high speed internet is not universal…BINGO! That is the issue. And I have been baffled about why rural areas are not wired or somehow stuck 15+ years behind everyone else.
      
      American high-tech infrastructure stinks.
Kirke Godfrey

Peter Ackworth need to be told!