Engineers Seek to Save 150-year-old Lighthouse from Crumbling into Hudson River

The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP
The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP
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Engineers Seek to Save 150-year-old Lighthouse from Crumbling into Hudson River

The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP
The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP

Federal engineers will begin the process of preserving a functioning 150-year-old lighthouse that sits precariously on a mudflat in the middle of the Hudson River in New York, officials announced this week.
US Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Army Corps of Engineers said that $50,000 has been allocated to study how to protect the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, which began operating in 1874 and was this year placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the country’s 11 most endangered historic places.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he believes the development is the next step to securing all the money needed to save the structure, which is only years away from starting to crumble into the river due to ongoing erosion, according to preliminary studies by a historic preservation group.
“This is a landmark, it’s sort of like the Statue of Liberty in a certain sense, of the Hudson River,” Schumer told The Associated Press by phone after announcing the new funding at a riverfront park in Athens, New York, which has a view of the lighthouse. “When people see the lighthouse and learn its history, they learn the history of the country."
The Corps of Engineers will now meet with the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society, which owns the building and maintains it as a museum, and agree on a plan to fix the property, Schumer said.
He said the millions of dollars needed to ultimately rebuild the small island and preserve it are “virtually certain” because it has been listed as a top priority for preservation.
The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats between Athens, on the west side of the Hudson River, and the city of Hudson, on the east side. The lighthouse is still in use, though now with an automated LED beacon.
It sits on roughly 200 wood pilings packed in mud beneath the water. Turbulence from passing commercial ships is washing away that mud and exposing the pilings to river water, accelerating decay.
The society has proposed expanding the foundation the lighthouse is built on so that events can be held there and more visitors can walk on the island at once. It has been raising money to build a ring of corrugated steel designed to shield the structure from river turbulence.



Scaffolding Goes up in Venice to Save Banksy’s Migrant Mural

People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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Scaffolding Goes up in Venice to Save Banksy’s Migrant Mural

People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)

Scaffolding went up in Venice on Tuesday to restore a mural by the elusive street artist Banksy that had appeared on the side of a 17th century building in the lagoon city six years ago.

"Migrant Child" shows a boy wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare, representing the artist's support for migrant sea rescue charities.

But being exposed to Venice's notorious humidity and painted on the canal-facing side of a crumbling palazzo, it was in danger of fading into oblivion.

The building, unoccupied when Banksy worked on it, was bought last year by an Italian bank that is now funding its entire restoration, mural included.

Banca Ifis is planning to turn the Palazzo San Pantalon into an exhibition space linked to the Venice Biennale art fair, it said in a statement.

The three-story building is in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, near Venice's main university. The well-known Zaha Hadid Architects studio is working on the renovation project.