Looking southwest. Weill Hall dominates the view since its completion. The far hills in this photo are about eight miles away.
In this image, the crane for the physical sciences building is prominent, as is the Spencer T. Olin Research Tower (1967). The odd smokestacks on either end of Olin Tower’s roof are a fairly recent addition, from the late 1990s [1].
Bradfield’s roof is surprisingly spacious. Up until a few years ago, it had red flashers on the roof because it was originally in the flight path of planes heading into the airport. (Note: this area is only accessible by special request. There are alarms, and they will go off if you go up here without the key).
Looking SSE. These were the smockstacks I was referencing in the incinerator entry. The heating plant is currently being expanded about 16,000 sq. ft. Friedman Wrestling Center (2002) and Bartels Hall (1990, formerly Alberding Field House) are in the foreground.
Schoellkopf in the foreground, with the towers of IC in the back.
Looking East towards the vet school. The far hill is Hungerford Hill, about nine miles away They’re Turkey [left] and Baker Hills, and they’re 3.5 to 4 miles. This might be the worst entry I’ve ever done when it comes to factual correctness. Hungerford Hill, 2.5 miles away, would be farther to the right if it had made it into the photo.
To see what the view looks like from Hungerford Hill looking at Cornell (winter), click on the link (screw it, the link isn’t working too well, if you want to see just google “hungerford hill ithaca”, it the first thing in ‘images’): http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/472688985_3a80886d64.jpg?v=0
Rice hall is in the immediate foreground, with Stocking, Wing and Riley-Robb Halls sitting on Judd Falls road halfway between Rice and the Vet School.
View directly north, over Beebe Lake. Fall is a comin’.
NNW is north campus.
Far up on the lake (about twelve miles) is the Bolton Point Milliken Station power plant (EDIT: okay, my bad, I mix up the names of the water station and power plant A LOT). If you’ve been hung up on 79 between Inlet Island and downtown by the train, this is where it is going (delivering coal from Somerset, PA).
[1]http://www.chem.cornell.edu/history/laboratories/STOlin.htm
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 
Bolton Point is the water plant for the surrounding area (not the City of Ithaca, which gets its water from Six Mile Creek). The facility in the picture is Milliken Station, NYSEG’s coal-fired power plant on Cayuga Lake. Bolton Point is not easily visible, and is much further south of Milliken Station.
Thanks for that clarification! I’ll admit that I should’ve known better to confuse the two, but I’ve been really bad about confusing Bolton with Milliken.
hungerford hill isn’t 9 miles from bradfield… its just beyond east hill plaza, maybe 1.5 miles from bradfield’s roof. in fact, i don’t think hungerford is actually in that picture. it’s the home of the WVBR transmitter tower and is an amazing view of ithaca (with bradfield probably being a close second).
It would appear that I made a mistake, because I misread my own air pollution maps. The hills in the photo are Turkey and Baker Hills, which are about four miles away. Hungerford would be SE of Bradfield by about 2.5 miles, so you’re right, it didn’t make it into the photo.
hey how can i get to the top of Bradfield? I want to use it to stargaze one night for a astrology project. Is there someone I need to speak with?
Bradfield’s rooftop key is held by only a few select staff and faculty. If you wanted to use the roof for an astronomy project, you would likely be turned away because no key holders are in the building beyond 6 PM. I’d suggest going up to Fuertes Observatory if you wanted to stargaze.
For that matter, since Bradfield has warning lights on tis roof to prevent aircraft from hitting it, light pollution would make for poor observations.