Ruin Porn

[SimonSawSunlight]

There is something alluring about ruins. I am not sure what it is.

A decade or so back I had the opportunity to visit Budapest. Hungary had not long come out of 60 years of communism and the signs were still clearly evident. While the city had beautiful architecture, much of it was in a ramshackle state - in many instances still showing signs of WW2 and the '56 revolution with bullet holes in walls of buildings and sometimes shell holes, roughly bricked up. Almost universally these buldings were not strictly speaking ruins in the sense that they had not been abandoned but were still in use as apartments and so forth. I have never before or since seen such fertile ground for urban photography. Here are a couple .....I must upload more so you can see them. (Poor scans though I am afraid.)

But, talk about "ruin porn"...........this place was full of it!

hey, hey, there's loads of bullet holes and such in buildings around here, that doesn't make them ruins just yet!

 

[Guaranteed]

Oh man I love ruins!

Any time I come across them I get all excited(I'm not kidding), I want to know what it was, how it came to be, and why hasn't anyone done anything with it. Of course the ruins I'm talking about here in the states are nothing but old factories and such. There's one about a half an hour from me that was a rope factory back in the boon of the shipping days. Sadly the security company there has caught on and have become more vigilant since the last time I was there. The really cool bit is there's a underground rail system in place connecting the buildings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Cordage_Company

Here's a Google Earth screen cap with some descriptions of the buildings(photo is clickable).

1. Over 800ft. long reported to be producing the longest shipping cordage in the world according to the museum.
2. Led to believe it was the office building.
3. An old Walmart also being bulldozed along with the rest of the numbered buildings.
4. 6. 7. Built once the rail lines went in making shipping and receiving easier to Bostons larger port.
5. Housed the companies power plant and was the original shipping and receiving point from overseas suppliers.

I was actually hoping to get out to another spot locally soon which used to be an old munitions depot during WW2 south of Boston built inland fearing possible strikes from Germany. This summer I'm also hoping to hit Peddocks Island(Shutter Island) home of Fort Andrews and Georges Island home of Fort Warren.

 

[Mackinaw]

Actually we're going to Detroit this summer. I'm planning on visiting the city center. Anyone have any tips where I can see some faded glories?

The old train station on Michigan Avenue (a few miles west of downtown) is a must-see place (I once saw a busload of Korean tourists stop and tour the station grounds). The old Packard factory on East Grand Boulevard is another stop. Immediately east of the GM World Headquarters (the Ren Cen) on Atwater Street, you'll find block after block of old, long-shuttered tool-and-die buildings. Likewise on Fort Street west of Joe Louis arena.

But not all of Detroit is abandoned buildings and factories. The Downtown section and Mid-town, are actually bustling right now.

Jim B.

 

[sahe69]

This thread was ruined right in the beginning

 

[bigeye]

A more apt title would have been, "Forgetting History."

The collapse of Detroit is a result of the race riots of 1967, and the social issues and events leading up to it and since (largely going back to WWII).

All this American industrial/economic "symbolism" is a load of pooh. US domestic production, during today's recession, is higher than it ever was in the "heyday"; they're just not built there.

- Charlie

 

[Greyscale]

While they might lack the scale and majesty of the great cities like Detroit or Budapest, small city ruins can have a grandeur of their own, as they give a faded glimpse of the way things were when such places were a destination, and not just a place that is no longer even on the way to some place else.

Maybe the plant closed, or the mill, or the mine. Maybe the highway was built somewhere else and the trains don't even stop here any more, but for whatever reason, things just never worked out the way they looked like they were going to, so many years ago, and your boom town has gone bust. There is a little Detroit in too many towns like mine.


Warden Plaza Hotel, Fort Dodge Iowa by Greyscale3, on Flickr


Rollei Prego 90, Kodak HD400 by Greyscale3, on Flickr


Canon MC, Kodak BW400CN by Greyscale3, on Flickr


Canon MC, Kodak BW400CN by Greyscale3, on Flickr


Old power plant by Greyscale3, on Flickr