Sneak a Peek Inside the Beautifully Abandoned and Overgrown Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel

Photograph taken for <a href="http://gothamist.com/2014/01/10/abandoned_ny_grossingers_catskill.php#photo-1">Gothamist</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/MLSist">Pablo Maurer/@MLSist</a>While you might not be able to tell from the photo above, <a href="//gothamist.com/2014/01/10/abandoned_ny_grossingers_catskill.php#photo-1">Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel</a> was once a breathtaking 1,200-acre escape with manicured grounds and numerous amenities. Located just two hours away from New York City, the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/the-golden-arrow-lakeside-resort-is-an-award-winning-eco-friendly-getaway-in-lake-placid/" target="_blank">cavernous resort</a> thrived from the 1920s to the 1980s, but things began to go downhill from there. Since then, the grandiose ruins have become a haven for exploration, attracting <a href="http://gothamist.com/2014/01/10/abandoned_ny_grossingers_catskill.php#photo-1" target="_blank">Gothamist’s Pablo Maurer</a> to document the fascinating new world that has sprung up inside the once luxurious hotel.

Grossinger’s Catskill Resort began as a modest farmhouse in 1914, which the owners began renting out to guests looking to <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/the-new-fire-island-pines-pavilion-is-open-for-the-summer-season/" target="_blank">getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city</a>.

The farmhouse quickly expanded to a small hotel with a Kosher kitchen, and by the 1950s included two large hotel buildings, a golf course, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/a-free-pop-up-ski-slope-may-be-coming-to-astoria-this-winter/" target="_blank">ski slope</a>, swimming pool and theater.

The resort was known for its family-like hospitality, and welcomed hundreds of guests each year.

But sadly, the resort began to flounder, and after the Grossinger family began to die out, was sold to Servico in 1986, and was entirely closed, except for the golf course.

Today the ruins of the hotel buildings serve as an almost <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/surplus-candy-street-artists-graffiti-bomb-4-stories-of-abandoned-east-village-apartment-building/" target="_blank">open-air graffiti art gallery</a>. Artists have taken over many of the walls, which have been thoroughly stripped of any copper or ornamentation, and replaced with colorful spray painted pieces. Dozens of discarded lounger chairs have found their way to the bottoms of the drained swimming pools, while plants and greenery have begun to grow over the floors in the large solarium.

Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel’s glory days may be over, but the abandoned resort has been reborn as a new destination for urban exploration.