Posts Tagged ‘ abandoned ’
Built in 1926, the Bijou Theatre (which would later be known as the Charles) originally served as a film house, though by the end of its days was used by a church. It now sits, stripped, waiting for demolition to be completed to make way for a new church and high rise apartments.
View of the front of admin, 2008
One of the few remaining Kirkbride buildings in Massachusetts, these days only the center administration building with clocktower remains. I made a point to go shoot it as demolition was beginning on the remaining wing, four or so years ago, and spent sunset recently shooting the exterior of the clocktower again. Being entirely boarded, other than the top floor, it was difficult to get shots and I wasn’t terribly good at long exposures at that point, but here’s a look at a now mostly-demolished hospital. In the place of the wings new facilities for the hospital have been built, and it was surreal returning, unable to recognize the campus.
Originally built to be a prison, this sprawling campus was repurposed after community complaints into a state hospital. Operating from 1924 until the mid 90’s, It is currently being demolished.
I recently took a several week exploring expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, and enjoyed a lot of night shooting, particularly with the mass of clustered stars only visible far south. I’ll be updating more regularly now that I’m back.
Built in 1973, this lighthouse has been inactive since 1992
A selection of various auditoriums, chapels and other general congregation spaces I’ve shot over the years. Most are contained within larger institutions; I’m not including free-standing theatres.
A discarded wheelchair, one of the dozens moved into the sub-basement level tunnels sits under a broken piece of roof. I shot this as a thunderstorm rolled through, which was a wonderful experience. Someone clearly moved this wheelchair into the opportune lit area, rare in the maze of dark tunnels, but set up or not, I found the play of light wonderful.
Long Island Isolation – Boston, Massachusetts.
I spent part of my weekend out in Boston, shooting Long Island Isolation, an old quarantine hospital. The island is crisscrossed with a fascinating maze of semi-elevated tunnels. I’m still working on editing photos, but here’s several light-painted shots from the otherwise pitch black old pharmacy and laboratory section of the campus.
Most asylums and state institutions (and sanatoriums) were fitted with beauty parlors for the patients, helping create a healing environment and giving the patients some freedom in their appearance, despite clothing very often being supplied by the hospital itself. Finding hairdryer and barber chairs in hospitals is fairly common, and I’ve always smiled at finding these varied relics. It’s a breath of fresh air to be reminded of the humanism in a lot of these locations, so often bogged down by the more sensational stories of abuse. Most asylums were self sufficient, with carpentry and sewing rooms, teaching basic skills alongside reducing the cost on maintaining these publically funded institutions, so it would make sense that they would also provide salons
Part three of my photos from the Loews Kings Theatre. For an in depth history on the place, take a look at my friend’s blog post here, my previous posts include the lobby and mezzanine as well as a general overview.
I have enough photos from Taunton, a now-demolished Kirkbride hospital in Massachusetts that I could likely post a photo a day for months and still have more to go, but for now I’ll put a few up. I’ve rarely been so inspired by the colors, patterns and light in a place. Staying overnight to be able to get up before dawn and shoot is always an amazing experience. I really miss this location, though I’m sure there will be more Taunton-centric posts to come. Built in 1854, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was demolished in 2010.
wardnine 