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I've been exploring abandoned buildings for many years. I started when I was about 8 years old. Back then there were many abandoned houses with all the contents still inside.. It was fascinating to me. I wondered why these people left their homes without taking their belongings. Did they die? Were they fugitives? Unfortunately I didn't start taking photographs of abandonments until 2003. Now it has become an obsession of mine. I have been to well over one hundred places.
There are quite a variety of places worthy of exploring. They include abandoned factories, hotels, amusement parks, theaters, hospitals and houses. My personal favorite is insane asylums. Through my photographs I try to catch the atmosphere of the building and imagine how it was when it was occupied. There is beauty in the decaying hallways, the old metal-framed beds, the rusting machines and the peeling paint. The buildings tell a story through artifacts, old records and files that have been left to rot. They tell the stories of past lives. They wait for a visit from an explorer with camera in hand to tell a sad tale. I would like to think that people such as myself have given some life back these old places through photographs. If you would like to see my very up-to-date stuff go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanguz
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Most recent galleries
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Bogwood State Hospital
A beautiful Kirkbride building built from Medina sandstone in the mid-1800s. It was closed in the 1980's because of deinstitutionalization,. This is one that will be restored someday.
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Sandy Bottom School
This State School was original part of the Syracuse Idiot Asylum. The term was no longer politically correct and the name was changed. It is a semi-active campus
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Oceanview State Hospital
A marvelous glimse into the past. These builidings were constructed in 1937 as wards for tuberculosis patients. Since tuberculosis poses no threat these days they were closed. It is uncertain when they closed but it must have been in the 70's.
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Hospital X
A large and busy campus houses one abandoned building that is dreary and depressing. As the dim light shines through the windows it forms an X on the floor
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Mt. Hope Cemetery
I took these picture two winters ago and just found them again. There was an amazing ice storm and Mt. Hope cemetery looked like a fairy tale
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Bethlemhem Steel
The largest steel mill in the country at one time. Poor business practices led to it's demise in the 1980's. This is the Lackawana division
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The Mt. Hope Chapel
Why this lovely chaple is abandoned I will never understand. It was built in 1910 and was closed not too long after it opened. It was stricktly used for funerals of any any faith
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The Bennett School
This building us absolutey gorgeous from the outside. A classic abandoned victorian building. It was orginally a resort and then it was turned into a junior college for girls. It was closed in the 70's. I is slated for demolision
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Mitt State Hospital
One of the first large state hospitals. It was building in the Kirkbride plan but had many other buildings on the campus. It fell to the same fate as all the other asylums. It is now a prison.
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Hospitals, Asylums and State Schools
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Gladstone Park Psych Ctr.
Once upon a time this was the largest building in the United States until the Pentegon was built. It is a Kirkbride building and it is in very bad condition. it's fate is uncertain
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Norton State Hospital
This was one of the largest complexes in the country. It is built in the cottage plan. There are over 75 buildings on this site and thier ages range from the 1800's through the 1950's. The entire place was closed in the 1980's.
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Westingham State Hospital
As mental hospitals closed their doors to the psychiatric patients other uses were sometimes found for the buildings. Because the buildings were very secure many became prisons. This is one such place.
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DC Childrens' Center
One of the most notorious of state schools in the country. Also called Forest Lawn. The facility was understaffed and over -crowded resulting in many cased of abuse and neglect.
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Linton State Hospital
This was a tuberculoses hospital but as tuberculosis was irraticated in the United States it was no longer needed. There was also a laboratory here that was used to study diseases spread by insects.
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Belchertown State School
This State school was closed in 1992 because of over-crowding and poor living conditions. The building are to be demolished and condos will be built.
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Spector State School
Another notorious state school. Patients here at this school were inadvertently exposed to large doses of radiation and iron to study the effects.
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JN Munster
This obscure hospital in western New York started out as a tuberculosis Hospital. After tuberculosis was eliminated it became state school.. It is now vacant and seems to stand only to attract the curious so they can be arrested by the local police.
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Centerville State Hospital
Not much history is available about this place. It apparently houses recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. The money to keep this one operating is almost gone and it is scheduled to fully close.
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Haden's Psychiatric Hospital
This psychiatric hospital is very low key, very small and mainly active. Thier main focus in the present day is with women with eating disorders. There is only one abandoned building on the property. |
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Northampton state Hospital
Northampton began in 1855. Old main was built following the kirkbride plan. The complex grew rapidly up through the 1950s. In 1978 when deinstitutionalization began it was ordered to be closed. It was destroyed in 2006.
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Grafton State Hospital
Grafton state hospital was a farm colony for Worcester state Hospital. Many of the buildings are still in use by Tufts University. There is a write up about it here:
http://www.1856.org/grafton/grafton.html
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Hudson River Psych Ctr.
It took almost decade to build this mammoth kirkbride. Over several decades more and more buildings were added to this complex. One by one they closed and eventually a fire destroyed one side of the Kirkbride.
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Tapestry State Hospital
Founded in 1848 this was the first public mental hospital in one state. It was built in the Kirkbride plan and housed 86 patients in it's early years. It grew over time and afer it was closed to psychiatric patients it became a jail.
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Metropolitan State Hospital
This hospital was built in 1928 to relieve the ever growing population of mental patients. I was closed after several complaints and a law suit which involved a patient killing, dismembering and burying another patient on the grounds. He kept 7 of her teeth as a suvineer.
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Odensville State Hospital
Built like a fortress and designed like a resort it watches out over the St. Lawrence River. Like many other insane asylums this one was also transformed into a prison. However the main building and some out building remain unused
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New Industrial Sites
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Eagle River Power Station
This is a one of a kind place. Not only was it functional in it's day but it was beautiful too. Unfortunately it is very dangerous as pieces of concrete the size of cars fall from the ceiling
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Wollensac Optical
A division of the 3M company wollensac was a manufacturer of camera, lenses and optical equipment. The optical division went bank rupt in the 1980's and the factory stood untouched until recently.
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Bee Bee Power Station
Another large coal burning power plant. This one is composed of many tunnels and bridges connecting several large buildings
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St. Nickolas Coal Breakers
This was the largest of all the coal breakers at the time. It was in operation until 1978. It's soul purpose was to break large pieces of coal into smaller pieces of coal
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Miscellaneous Sites
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Church of the Transifguration
A lovely church that has been neglected for many years. Though the current owner was suppose to restore the church it never actually happened.
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Essex County Jail
This jail was built in the 1800's. It was in use until the 1980's. It is in the process of being torn down and the land used for condos.
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Holley High School
All I know is that there is a much newer, larger high school in the town of Holley now. I also know that this doll is thier new mascot.
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Staten Island Boat Yard
A place where all old boats from the New York City area go to die. Many of them are to be sold off as brake waters to area marinas but many just sit here and rot.
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Two Philedelphia Churches
One church, the Transfiguration, was closed because lack of funds. The other, Eden Hall, had been restored and schedule to open Christmas Eve of 2006. Vandals set fire to it and destroyed the entire building. It is now demolished.
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Sulpher Bath Houses
There was a time when sulpur baths were considered medicinal. Once it was found to have no real benifits places like this closed.
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Seabreeze Amusement Park
This amusement park isn't really abandoned, it's just closed in the winter and it makes for a fun exploration.
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The Catskill Mountains
Up until airfare became cheaper these resorts and hotels were where many rich folks, manly jews, from New York City went to vacation. Once it was feasilbe to fly to distant places they all closed. Practically over night.
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The Astair Hotel
Located in the foot hills of the Catskills this was once a famous resort that people went too to cure ailments because of the sulphur springs. Once sulpher springs were no longer considered beneficial, this place fell out of favor and closed.
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The Heiden Hotel
One of the resorts in the Catskill Mountains. It was so lovely that it deserved it's own gallery. Unfortunatly it was destroyed by a fire in the Spring of 2008
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Two Nursing Homes.
There isn't much to say about these. They are two nursing homes in Niagara Falls a few blocks apart. Oddly enough they were both called St. Mary's.
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The Police Station
There is no doubt that this police station was closed because of a mold and fungus problem.
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