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Posey Tube - Alameda Side Exhaust Portal
Beautiful, board-formed concrete in the exhaust system of the 1928 Posey Tube of Alameda / Oakland, California. It was the first tunnel for road traffic built using the immersed tube technique. The 4,436-foot-long tunnel was the first precast concrete tube, and was cast at Hunter's Point by California Bridge & Tunnel Company. Each approach to the tunnel is buffeted by Art Deco ventilation buildings designed by architect Henry H. Meyers, which house the massive fans.
Unlike earlier tunnels, which were ventilated in one direction with fresh air coming in one end and vehicle exhaust out the other, the Posey Tube was one of the earliest to use two fan systems, one for exhaust, which was channeled above the vehicles through an elaborate system of louvers and board formed concrete desgned in intracate curves; the other fan system provided fresh air through the floor of the tunnel.
One piece of interesting trivia about the Posey Tube: A pair of canaries were used during construction as living air monitors; although one canary died during construction, it was an accident caused by being penned up with a pet cat and not a toxic atmosphere.
In 2016, the towers were completely rehabilitated and a new security system was added, making the tunnels no longer accessible to illicit explorers looking to photograph the hidden passageways and nooks of the system. We took our last photos here in late 2014. There are public tours of some sections now available through Oakland Heritage Alliance, which I strongly recommend!
Fisk Tire - Chicopee, MA
The Fisk Tire Company was founded in 1898 and headquartered in Chicopee Falls Massachusetts. The largest and earliest manufacturer of automobile tires by the 1920s, there were Fisk Retail Stores in 40 states; and the Chicopee plant turned out 5,000 tires a day. The Great Depression hit Fisk hard, and its 121 retail tire stores had dwindled to three by 1934. When Fisk transformed into Uniroyal, the Chicopee plant remained its flagship U.S. factory until its closure in 1981.
Smith Tower Facade of Seattle
Seattle's first skyscraper opened on July 4, 1914. The 42 story Smith Tower was the tallest building outside of New York City and Seattle's tallest for nearly fifty years. It was built by Lyman Smith of Smith-Corona and Smith & Wesson fame. Sheated entirely in terra cotta, the building was designed by the syracuse firm of Gaggin & Gaggin. In a race to construct Seattle's tallest building, Smith also hoped to anchor the "Second Avenue Canyon" area as the center of downtown. He died before the tower was completed. #smithtower #seattlewa #historicpreservation #facade #terracotta
Mid-century Parkade of Spokane, Washington
When the Ebasco Plan - a privately funded urban renewal proposal commissioned by Spokane Unlimited â was completed in 1961, one of its recommendations was more parking in downtown Spokane.
And for good reason: according to architectural historian Amanda C. R. Clark - by 1965, American automobile makers were generating more than nine million cars a year. These increases gave rise to newly built highways and, in turn, accelerated the post World War Two flight from American downtowns to the far-flung, expanding suburbs on the edges. Civic leaders across the country needed to bring the middle class back.
Constructed in 1967 for $3.5 million, the 10-story Parkade Plaza Parking Garage was designed by Spokane architect Warren C. Heylman to accommodate 970 automobiles. Notable for its connection to the city's skywalk system, which increased its utility as a significant urban design feature - the New Formalist building was also recognized for its expressive use of concrete, earning Heylman an award from the American Concrete Institute.
Philip W. Alexander, managing director of the adjacent Bon Marche at the time, claimed that the Parkade wasn't just a parking garage but a symbol of new life in the heart of Spokane. "We wanted and got a dramatic structure," he said. "It is aesthetic and functional and is already spurring plans for upgrading other properties around it."
The Gold Room at the Hotel Jefferson
This room has remained frozen in time since the 1950s. Though hidden and dilapidated, the spacious Roaring Twenties dance floor appears roughly the same as it did some 90 years ago when it was declared "brilliantly decorated with gold the predominating color" in an advertisement in the Belleville News-Democrat in 1928. The room could accommodate as many as 1200 people, according to hotel brochures.
Scott Haefner and I spent countless hours in this room perfecting our lighting setup. This involved three different lighting sources, hand-painted from various angles throughout the ballroom. Eventually by about 3 in the morning, we finished when the last of my camera batteries were dead.
The Jefferson Hotel greeted its first guests one day before the 1904 World's Fair, on April 29, 1904. Two decades later, the Art Deco ballroom was added, helping to attract luminaries including President Harry S Truman and Judy Garland. But time was hard on the thirteen-story hotel, and by 1977, it had become a home for the elderly called the Jefferson Arms. It closed in 2006. #abandoned #stlouis #stl #missouri #hotel #roaringtwenties
Abandoned Chemical Plant Silo - Missouri
LaRoche Industries Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Company"), was an international diversified producer and distributor of inorganic and organic chemicals and once operated six production facilities throughout the United States.
The Company was formed in a 1986 management buyout of the nitrogen, mixed fertilizers and retail business operations of United States Steel Corporation ("USX"), followed by a 1988 acquisition of certain chemical production operations of Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation ("Kaiser").
LaRoche didn't last long. By the 1990s it was entering bankruptcy and by 2000, this property in Festus, MO - a producer of blasting grade ammonium nitrate, nitrogen, and nitric acid - among other dangerous and volatile compounds, was sold to the nearby cement plant.
Nearby residents suffered for decades from the pollution and danger of the plant. As one resident noted: "I went to middle school very near here, when the plant was still active. In fact, we had to do drills where everyone would go to the cafeteria and seal the doors and windows with plastic and duct tape in case of a chemical leak at the plant. I hadn't thought about this place in years."
Sahara Coal Company Tipple
The Muddy Coal Mine Tipple was built in 1923 for the Sahara Coal Company, #12 Muddy Mine, in operation from 1904-1938. The mine has inspired at least one song, written by Rockey Alvey. In 1964 Alvey attended second grade in a one-room schoolhouse in Muddy Illinois. Looming over the school was the abandoned coal mine tipple from the O'Gara #12 mine. The mine was closed in 1937 due to the great flood of the Ohio River. The impression the old concrete structure made on Alvey led to the lyric, "the tipple still stands like an ancient ruin, a monument to those who went inside, witness to the souls that have descended but never came up from the Muddy Coal Mine."
Gold Room at Hotel Jefferson
The Gold Room at the Hotel Jefferson. This room has remained frozen in time since the 1950s. Though hidden and dilapidated, the spacious Roaring Twenties dance floor appears roughly the same as it did some 90 years ago when it was declared "brilliantly decorated with gold the predominating color" in an advertisement in the Belleville News-Democrat in 1928. The room could accommodate as many as 1200 people, according to hotel brochures.
Scott Haefner and I spent countless hours in this room perfecting our lighting setup. This involved three different lighting sources, hand-painted from various angles throughout the ballroom. Eventually by about 3 in the morning, we finished when the last of my camera batteries was dead.
The Jefferson Hotel greeted its first guests one day before the 1904 World's Fair, on April 29, 1904. Two decades later, the Art Deco ballroom was added, helping to attract luminaries including President Harry S Truman and Judy Garland. But time was hard on the thirteen-story hotel, and by 1977, it had become a home for the elderly called the Jefferson Arms. It closed in 2006.
#abandoned #stlouis #stl #missouri #hotel #roaringtwenties #abandonedmo #historicpreservation
Central State Prison, Sugar Land, Texas
Workshops (slash forced labor area) of the Imperial State Prison Farm and Central State Prison Farm. It was a men's prison in Sugar Land, Texas. The unit first opened in April 1909, but its history goes much further back - as early as 1878 - when the land was the site of a large sugar plantation that contracted with the state to lease convict laborers to harvest and process sugar cane.
The prison's largest and most impressive unit was completed in late 1932. In August 2011, Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced that the prison was closing. In March of 2018, demolition was underway on the site. By June, demolition was halted when 95 unmarked African American prisoner graves were discovered. Today, all that remains is the 1930s central incarceration unit and four guard towers for "possible re-use in the future." This building (covered in vines here) is no longer extant.
Sakai Bros. Rose Co. of Richmond CA
An artifact in situ. The Sakai nursery started in 1906 with an initial 2.5 acres in Richmond and a single greenhouse salvaged from Berkeley. Sakai shut down in 1942 during the World War II relocation of Japanese-Americans in concentration camps. It was arguably the last of the intact pre-WW II Japanese nurseries in California. The Sakai nursery - at one time - included over 40 structures, including greenhouses, warehouses, residences, sheds, and more. In a deal that included preservation of just a few structures (less than half a dozen), some 80 affordable housing units were constructed. The historic buildings became an afterthought, and the home of the Sakai family, indluding the few existing remnants of their ingenuity and perseverance remain rotting and victim to vandalism and the ravages of time. There is no question: Housing matters, but so do stories... Apparently housing trumped the difficult and important story of Japanese Americans being unjustly imprisoned (incarcerated?). History and housing are complementary. Sickening that someone wasn't creative enough to think of the bright idea that affordable housing can tell the stories of shame and contrition. Otherwise, it seems whoever let the Sakai buildings decay is apparently erasing genocide in place of their own benefit, which is something our decision-makers should answer to (provided that their well-funded special interests don't ask them first) #abandonedca #demolished #thisplacemattered #richmondca #affordablehousing
SS President Lincoln
In these photos of ghost ships, from the not-too-distant past (well over a decade ago), I am reminded of my friends, Stephen Freskos, Amy Heiden, and Scott Haefner. Long before COVID, some of us had become disconnected and gone our separate ways. Some stayed in touch (like Scott and I) but others drifted away. I miss them. We were all after the same thing - ephemeral moments in history that nobody else cared about. I care about these people - now and forever. I would like to reconnect.
RE: This ship. The importance of the Lincoln, which is now disappeared from the Earth, is that it was a pioneer in the development of containerized cargo shipping. In the early 1960s, when the Lincoln was built, the problem of rapid globalization was barely being addressed. Shipping companies responded with containerized cargo, a revolutionary move from the traditional method of palletized cargo. American President Lines, a quasi-government, San Francisco-based shipping company built the President Lincoln to accommodate containers, but it also wanted to supplement its income by including a small, exclusive complement of 12 passengers per cruise. These ships were elegantly beautiful, with fixtures and murals inside that provided scenic surroundings for the wealthy passengers that once walked their decks. #abandoned #mothballflett #suisunbay #historic #nightphotography
Winchester of New Haven Connecticut
Winchester Repeating Arms originated in New Haven, Connecticut. The company grew rapidly and employed over 600 workers in 1887 and about 1,000 workers (primarily Irish) by 1900. Guns - at one time - were not primarily meant to kill or maim humans. They were a source of sustenance and protection.
When I photographed this complex associated with violent weapons, the 'woke' tech employees occupying the 'incubator' spaces formed in the bones of the former firearms manufacturer were suspicious of me. Little did they know that I was a "progressive" skeptic. They thought I was there to squat or maybe steal their intellectual property. Or maybe I would reveal the irony in the fact that they were profiting in a space that at one time profited from weapons that killed? Not quite sure. In any case, I was not welcome - even though I was simply photographing the decline of an American firearm manufacturer (not the decline of the tech "oracles'" hallowed position in American intellectual history).
Let's take a moment of silence for the tech oracles. We should not forget to worship the oracles, for they know best... Our technology sector is not so different from Winchester. Killing and maiming can come in many forms in an era where information is power and data is the lead bullet of death. #winchester #manufacturer #abandoned #abandonedct #newhaven
Covina Bowl, California
An image captured with lightpainting assistance from Scott Haefner in 2019 of the Covina Bowl under the full moon. The quintessentially Googie facade of Covina Bowl was built in 1956 and was one of the first to have a cocktail lounge, part of a collection of nearly 50 bowling alleys designed by mid-century architectural firm, Powers Daly and DeRosa.
As the Los Angeles Conservancy notes, it is "more Polynesian than Egyptian, with its rock cladding and soaring roofline. Inside the building, a cocktail lounge once featured Egyptian statuary, and wonderful mid-century light fixtures and terrazzo floors."
In 2017, Covina Bowl closed forever, and it fell into dereliction not long afterwards. A coalition of local advocates helped ensure portions were preserved as part of a housing development by Trumark Homes - a win-win solution that included both housing and historic preservation.
Raquet Ball Racquets at the Abandoned YMCA of Hartford CT
An abandoned set of racquetball racquets at the Hartford, Connecticut YMCA tower. In 2005, the building and its historic gym and swimming pool, were slated to be be torn down and replaced by what the Hartford Courant describes as "the largest downtown residential development in years," containing 200 upscale condominiums and 100 apartments. The same developer was cited in December of 2017 under Hartford's Blight Ordinance.
Early in its history, when Hartford was a factory city, the "Y" provided temporary housing to young men who came to town in search of manufacturing jobs. The Y's original headquarters--an imposing Victorian-style building built in 1893 --was razed in 1974 for the current (now abandoned) 12-storey residential tower (the last YMCA residential tower built in the U.S.). The 1974 razing of the original headquarters is often referred to as the genesis of the preservation movement in Hartford.
NASA Radiotelescope at Night
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute Radiotelescope. One of two massive radiotelescopes at PARI. PARI began its life as NASA's Rosman Satellite Tracking Station in 1962. It was integral to Project Gemini and Project Apollo. In 1981 the National Security Agency (NSA) took over to use the site as a signals intelligence gathering facility and was closed by 1995. The government planned on disposing and demolishing the site when a nonprofit group raised money to acquire and manage the site as a scientific education and research facility.
