Derelict Buildings (motorways and office blocks are standing on a spot where stood homes... etc)

[23 Daves]

All right, since there's been a request for a brand new thread topic nobody's started before, the best I can do is this... I don't know how successful it will be, mind you.

Just lately, I've been finding myself getting more and more obsessed with derelict pubs, shops, houses, etc.  This might sound like a rather peculiar subject to get on to, but it's partly been inspired by this rather marvellous site here:

http://www.derelictlondon.com/derelict_london_com.htm

I find some of the information on there quite poignant and sad.  True, there's a lot of bogus sentimentality too – a lot of the "good old English cafes" with their wooden Pepsi Cola signs that are closing down are often downright awful, and anything, even an American fast food chain, would probably be an improvement.  I live in one of the few areas left in London that has tons of cafes left, and trust me, if they all closed tomorrow we probably wouldn't be missing much apart from an authentic East London street scene.

Nonetheless, the idea of these pubs, bars and cafes (and even housing estates) once having been communities and meeting places that stand no more is often very sad indeed.  There are some touching memories on the site, and you can tell that certain places meant a great deal to some of the local people.  If I want to visit the house where I was born, a badly built prefab job on a council estate, I can just catch a train to the place and look at it.  It's still standing in its flimsy little way and very much inhabited, with its corrugated iron walls still on display.  By rights it shouldn't be, but it seems to just live on and on and on, and is now probably considered a retro design classic.  For many people, however, motorways, shopping centres, industrial estates or even cinemas stand where their childhood past lies, and I can only imagine that makes them feel incredibly uncomfortable.  The story about the A40 on the site I've linked to is particularly saddening.

Also, as a child, I also used to regularly walk through some streets in Ilford that were completely filled with derelict houses.  Victorian terraced houses crumbled into nothingness, their ornate window sills and flower boxes cracking precariously, boards hammered over every single conceivable opening. In one or two cases, the windows had been bricked over in a particularly keen attempt to keep intruders out, and in still more rare instances there would be a single isolated house with net curtains up, showing signs of determined life. The whole thing seemed unspeakably sinister to me – I believe I'd only recently done a school project on the plague, and whilst I was trusting enough of my parents to believe that they weren't taking me into an area where it was still rampant, it still seemed inexplicable and odd. If one street had been like this, then fine, but this was at least eleven or twelve streets in total, all long and long-abandoned.

It transpires that in the late sixties, Redbridge Council decided to clear entire blocks worth of residential property in order to make way for a town centre rejuvenation project in Ilford. Of course, being an English council and having absolutely no regard for efficiency, decency or wastefulness, the property simply remained empty and wasting away for years whilst they ummed and ahed about what form the rejuvenation might take. During that time, a squatters protest group began to take action in the area, making large scale public protests about the sheer waste of buildings and space at a time when homelessness in London was on the rise. The council retaliated by sending in the most thuggish company of bailiffs in the area they could possibly find – some squatters ended up in hospital with broken bones, and in one sorry, unfortunate case a pregnant woman was kicked by one of the hired thugs and lost her child. The subsequent negative publicity ensured that Redbridge Council had to rethink their policies at least slightly, and as a result of some of the activity ended up letting a few of the houses out, whilst rehousing other squatters to estates in the area.  There's more on that here towards the bottom of the page:

http://www.squat.freeserve.co.uk/story/ch3.htm

So... on this thread I ask... is there any demolition and development in your childhood or even present locality?  What used to stand there, and does it have any personal resonance for you?  And is there anything that's going to disappear that you'd actually fight tooth and nail to preserve?  Behind many abandoned things lie some fantastic stories.

[imitationleather]

Wow, that's a really interesting site. Especially since there's quite a few pictures I recognise!


This, for instance, is right near my flat.

[Banana Woofwoof]

Is that Seven Sisters?

[imitationleather]

No, it's the public lavs near Bow flyover.

[Banana Woofwoof]

Blonde day, thanks.

Cheers for this link, Dave, shall plough through the site.

[annalisa]

It's funny you should mention this Daves, I had a bit of an obsession recently with something in the same vein as this, specifically the exploration of these derelict buildings. They call it 'urbex' among those in the know, and the principles of it seem really fascinating - people going in groups to explore these old places, be they abandoned hospitals, crumbling estates, or old mental asylums. They've been to a couple of old military testing facilities too.

A man called Simon Cornwell seems to have one of the best set out websites on the subject - http://www.simoncornwell.com/urbex/.

The actual act of entering these places often amounts to trespassing, however the urbex-ers' aims seem pretty innocent after that - they've got a strict policy of 'take only photos, leave only footprints'. I can't really put my finger on what's so interesting about all of it but the insides of some of the buildings they've been to look amazing, with some rooms complete time-warps left untouched since the places were left, and others completely at the mercy of nature. Suffice to say, the site's well worth a look.

On the subject of demolition, there's a fine example of dilapidation just down the road from me in the form of St John's Asylum in Bracebridge Heath. Almost the entire site of the massive hospital has been developed by David Wilson Homes or similar, leaving just the main complex of buildings, which are listed. This place is HUGE, and pretty imposing if you visit at night. It's probably a kilometre or so across the span of the buildings, and some of the new houses are literally 20 metres away from the old wards, you wouldn't catch me going outside the house after dark if I lived there, let me tell you.

Structurally, and if you can ignore its quite sinister previous use, it's a gorgeous place, built in what is apparently the Italian style out of limestone blocks, and it seems a real pity that everywhere apart from the main entrance building has just been left to rot. The old nurses' quarters have been turned into some quite beautiful executive flats and I can't see why the rest of the hospital wasn't snapped up after it closed. Sentimentally the place hasn't got any value for me, but it makes me very sad to hear about the state of the insides now after 15 years of abandonment - the floors are gone, plaster is peeling and most of it isn't structurally sound. The cost that would now be involved in ressurecting St John's means it's likely just to crumble away over the next fifty years and eventually be forgotten. I can understand why people might not be very enthusiastic about living in an old mental asylum, but with the right development it could have been a lovely housing complex, shopping centre or even offices.

Simon Cornwell has been on an exploration of St John's I think, but the photos haven't been posted on the site yet. Great topic, 23 Daves.

[23 Daves]

Thanks annalisa, I was completely unaware of that site or indeed the practice.  I do have an acquaintance who takes photos of the inside of derelict buildings, however, so maybe she's got something to do with them.  I'll have to ask her.

It's very strange, just when you think you've developed a peculiar interest and/or point of reference, the Internet shows that several thousand people are also thinking along the same lines.

[Neville Chamberlain]

23Daves, have you seen this site?

Abandoned Places

Fantastic site looking at abandoned industrial premises and hotels and such like. And that Derelict London site is fantastic. I actually went looking for the Camden Falcon pub not so long ago only to find it locked up and abandoned, which was genuinely saddening when I realised that it was in there I spent the greatest weekend of my entiure life watching Cardiacs three nights in a row! Brought a tear to my eye.

Also, the building I used to live in when doinf my year-out in Germany is now abandoned. I found the place to be pretty creepy when I was living there and it didn't surprise me one bit to see it now empty.

I've been obsessed with abandoned buildings ever since I discovered an old burnt-down house along a lane near my village in Somerset. Unfortunately, I now live in Stuttgart which is far too prosperous to have any abandoned houses to speak of. Mind you, there are some houses round here that are so grand their beauty would - to me at least - be even more magnificent were they lying derelict.

[imitationleather]

I'd never heard of urbexing either, but it looks really interesting. I wanna do it now!

[annalisa]

Me too, imitationleather! I keep meaning to get up to St John's to have a proper look around but always put it off at the last minute through fear of falling through floors or generally freaking myself out. A couple of my friends have been though, and say it can get pretty eerie. Unfortunately I think the place is pretty empty now - a whole housing estate's worth of kids scrambling around and scavenging stuff means most of the artifacts have gone now. There's some stuff in the tunnels under the building though apparently, but I'm just too much of a coward to actually go in there!

On a slight tangent, there was at one point a thread on Somethingawful about an old house in America somewhere that a few people had found, which had stood untouched since its owner killed herself in the 70s (she wasn't still there, obviously, but nobody had cleared her home out). It was amazing, all the food was still in the fridge, and her toiletries on the bathroom cabinet in their retro packaging. If I can find the link I'll post it, it's worth a look.

EDIT: Oh pish, they've just closed the SA forums to unpaid members, damnit.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

I posted this photo of what I think I referred to at the time as "the wonderfully derelict Millennium Mills" on the photography thread a week or so ago:


It's absolutely brilliant. They really ought to turn it into flats or redevelop it or something, especially seeing as the whole area around it is being redeveloped (as you can see to an extent from that photo). They'll probably just demolish it though.

[imitationleather]

I've been to derelict buildings like the ones on those sites when they're being used for parties, but it's not as good because they're full of completely fucked people stumbling about and the floors are vibrating from of the music.

I can definitely see how eerie it'd get if you were there alone. Like the town next to Chernobyl that got evacuated, that's still completely deserted. Imagine going there!

[Neville Chamberlain]

kjfdsjkf

[Neville Chamberlain]

Like the town next to Chernobyl that got evacuated, that's still completely deserted. Imagine going there!

Pripyat

I've been seriously considering a trip there. My girlfriend's not keen at all, which is hardly surprising, but if I can get her to come to Kiev with me next year...

[Mr. Analytical]

The girl who rode through the town (and once you step off the road it's still dangerously radioactive) was the daughter of a high-up member of the science ministry.  So she was able to get the papers that allowed her through, I'm pretty sure that it's actually illegal to go there.

[Neville Chamberlain]

You can go there as this article seems to suggest. Of course, the moral aspect of gawping at this scene of tragedy is another issue. Still, Kiev's nice!

[lazyhour]

Ooh, I love derelict buildings and abandoned places!  There's a fantastic Japanese site by a photographer who loves them to.  My friend and I wrote about in our blog a little while ago.  I'll stick the entry in here, rather than just rewrite it all.

Photographer Shibakoen Koutarou is a fearless explorer of Japanese ruins. When Japan's economic bubble burst, a large number of buildings, leisure parks and amenities – built during the boom years – were forced into closure. Many were not demolished, but simply deserted. People walked away from fully operational amusement parks, resorts and schools, never to return. Ruins Deflation Spiral (or Haikyo Defure Supairaru) charts Shibakoen's explorations of what Japan has abandoned.

Most fascinating is the case of Hashima.


(click pic to go to photos)

The island of Hashima – also known as "Warship Island" because of the striking resemblance – lies off the coast of Nagasaki prefecture. In its day, the island was home to over 5,300 residents, employees of Mitsubishi Mining and their families. Mining stopped in 1974, and the island was abruptly abandoned. Houses, apartments, shops, restaurants, and schools were all left behind, along with the mines and factories.

. . .

Access to the island is strictly limited, so don't expect to be able to hop over and snoop around next time you're in Nagasaki. However, as Shibakoen proves, other ruins abound if you look hard enough.

There are a few other links about the island (in English) in the full blog entry.  It's here if you're interested!

[slim]

Oooh, I love uglybeautiful stuff - derelict, abandoned and/or mucky places in general. I'd seen the derelict London site before, but the other links are new to me. I'm going to have a good read later on.

It's hard to describe what attracts me to this stuff, I just seem to see beauty in the decay. I do love it though and promise to contribute more to this thread when my work head has fucked off for the weekend and I am whole again.

Great thread. :)

[Ambient Sheep]

I posted this photo of what I think I referred to at the time as "the wonderfully derelict Millennium Mills" on the photography thread a week or so ago:
(picture)

Ah!!!  Orbital's "The Box" video!  Where is it?  <dashes off to Photography thread, which being on dial-up at the moment he doesn't usually bother with>  Ah, that's where it is.  Surprised in a way...didn't look like East London to me.  I can also see that I shall have to do a lot of browsing of that thread once I go broadband, some lovely stuff on there.

Millennium Mills always reminds me of the cover of Dead Can Dance's "Spleen and Ideal" album:



I wish I could find a bigger version of that (which I can, but its horribly dark) because it's a stunning picture close up.  I love that photo...who is the girl in red?...why is she holding up an upside-down broken five-pointed star?...what is the crumbling and wonky building and where?

That's what cover art SHOULD look like...and it looks a lot better at twelve inches across than five.

[The Duck Man]

There was a building in Watford, an old printers (possibly the Sun's?) that lay derelict throughout my childhood. There was always much speculation about what they'd do with it, it being so massive and in a prime area. I, and a lot of people I imagine, woul always look up at it to see if they'd done anything with it.

It has now, finally, be done over and has a big yellow thing on it, office blocks and a pub. Looks very flash, but I can't help but reminisce.

(Even though it looked ghastly)

[RFT]

bump.

BBC news just put up a nice collection of pics from inside battersea power station.

here

[23 Daves]

There was an article in yesterday's Independent about this subject as well - no idea if it's on their website or not, though.  Jolly good, it was.

(EDIT - found it.  It's here:  http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article296599.ece)

[VegaLA]

bump.

BBC news just put up a nice collection of pics from inside battersea power station.

here

I know quite a few amateur film-makers who love making good use of abandoned buildings to shoot movies but no-one has made use of it yet. Is it that hard to get access to it ? I rememmber sometime in the mid 90's 'The Bill' filmed in there.

[Magpie]

Thought I'd give this thread a well needed bump

After reading all of this and looking on Simon Cornwell's brilliant urbex website I realised that my mum used to work in one of the asylums listed under the misc bit.  So I persuaded (read forced) her into taking me up there to have a look around.  I took some photos of the outside and though they may not be of any particular interest to anyone other than myself I wondered if maybe anyone on this thread may be interested - except this is my first post (long time lurker) and i dont know how to post photos

Do you think that if i emailed Simon Cornwell he'd be interested or is it only for explorations he's done?

[slim]

I'd really like to see them. They could go in the Photography thread too.

You can use places like Photobucket to host your photos and link to them here. I think splattermac said that Photobucket have a thumbnail generation option too, which you can use here so they don't stretch the page all to buggery. Good luck, I look forward to it.

[LadyDay]

The ICL building in Manchester stands on the site of the house where I was conceived.  I sometimes wish I didn't know this.