I do not know if there has been a recent boom in ruin enthusiasm. It has been a fascinating hobby for any number of people. Obvious hotspots include Detroit, where I lived for two years. Abandoned shells of huge department stores and multistory car parks in a recently thriving city centre, with roads like a tank training ground. Check out the poignant and occasionally riotously funny book ” The Last days of Detroit”.
Part of the appeal must be the brutal contrast with the sky high hopes for such areas. There is a 1965 documentary on the gleaming super modern Detroit and its hopes for even better times to come…. er, er, two years before the 1967 riots. And there was Motown’s shiney new mayor Jerry Cavanagh, another Irish American politician on the climb, eager to fill the Presidential shoes of the recently slain JFK. 1967 killed his political career.
One of the newer ruins in Great Britain is St Peter’s Seminary on the west coast of Scotland, eagerly acclaimed as one of the most important new buildings in Scotland, fully ready to receive hordes of eager trainee priests. Sadly, recruits to the priesthood fell through the floor after it was completed. It was abandoned to the elements after less than 15 years. The owners never succeeded in making it watertight, which is really bad news on the west coast. Ruin buffs love photographing its concrete carcass.
There is a massive concrete bunker on the east side of Reading University’s campus. Unlike the 1940s WW2 “temporary” wooden buildings nearby, this 1950s Regional Seat of Government was never needed. It deserves more visitors, but I don’t know if it is still safe to go inside and check out the WW3 accommodations.
Andrew Thompson
3 years ago
I’d like the see the house of Lords in ruins myself but of course that’s posting a political comment on a non political article I suppose..Interesting article and I must admit I too have noticed recently a rather pronounced (obsession?) with derelict and once thriving buildings. Maybe its a Freudian longing for the past – our memories of ‘better times’?
I would like the House of Lords to still only be Bishops and Hereditary aristocracy instead of payback for dirty dealings; and Virtue signaling. Then it would still have the interest of Britain at heart.
But as you say, it is a non politicalish article.
I have traveled much across the solitary, or decayed, places alone and on foot, and have had a great many run-ins with these abandoned buildings. The feeling they almost always give is haunting sort of despair. I guess we feel almost a symbiosis with buildings, they being our shell we do all our living inside, taking on some living qualities, and it is disturbing to see their rotting carcass, like seeing the carcass of some once living thing.
The Bishops should ejected from the HoL without delay. Did you not read the recent report on the CoE, and it’s lacklustre response to the rampant “bitty banditry” scandal that goes on within it?
As for its Furhrer Welby, and for that matter Carey, his predecessor, both should be placed on trial.
daniel Earley
3 years ago
Would it be possible to list these buildings with a view to potential purchasers looking to convert them a la Grand Designs? Some of those I have seen converted have been amazing. If there is such a thing already then I’d be happy to know about it.
Ian Perkins
3 years ago
The Ghostly Ruins of Chernobyl May Soon Be Enshrined With World Heritage Status – recent article in Science Alert
ralph bell
3 years ago
The combination of Covid-19 lockdown and tier restrictions coupled with the inevitable progress of technology in changing culture and work practice will add to the rapid abandoning of public, cultural and work environments. There will be much nostalgia when it’s too late…
I do not know if there has been a recent boom in ruin enthusiasm. It has been a fascinating hobby for any number of people. Obvious hotspots include Detroit, where I lived for two years. Abandoned shells of huge department stores and multistory car parks in a recently thriving city centre, with roads like a tank training ground. Check out the poignant and occasionally riotously funny book ” The Last days of Detroit”.
Part of the appeal must be the brutal contrast with the sky high hopes for such areas. There is a 1965 documentary on the gleaming super modern Detroit and its hopes for even better times to come…. er, er, two years before the 1967 riots. And there was Motown’s shiney new mayor Jerry Cavanagh, another Irish American politician on the climb, eager to fill the Presidential shoes of the recently slain JFK. 1967 killed his political career.
One of the newer ruins in Great Britain is St Peter’s Seminary on the west coast of Scotland, eagerly acclaimed as one of the most important new buildings in Scotland, fully ready to receive hordes of eager trainee priests. Sadly, recruits to the priesthood fell through the floor after it was completed. It was abandoned to the elements after less than 15 years. The owners never succeeded in making it watertight, which is really bad news on the west coast. Ruin buffs love photographing its concrete carcass.
There is a massive concrete bunker on the east side of Reading University’s campus. Unlike the 1940s WW2 “temporary” wooden buildings nearby, this 1950s Regional Seat of Government was never needed. It deserves more visitors, but I don’t know if it is still safe to go inside and check out the WW3 accommodations.
I’d like the see the house of Lords in ruins myself but of course that’s posting a political comment on a non political article I suppose..Interesting article and I must admit I too have noticed recently a rather pronounced (obsession?) with derelict and once thriving buildings. Maybe its a Freudian longing for the past – our memories of ‘better times’?
Or a deep seated fear of the future?
I would like the House of Lords to still only be Bishops and Hereditary aristocracy instead of payback for dirty dealings; and Virtue signaling. Then it would still have the interest of Britain at heart.
But as you say, it is a non politicalish article.
I have traveled much across the solitary, or decayed, places alone and on foot, and have had a great many run-ins with these abandoned buildings. The feeling they almost always give is haunting sort of despair. I guess we feel almost a symbiosis with buildings, they being our shell we do all our living inside, taking on some living qualities, and it is disturbing to see their rotting carcass, like seeing the carcass of some once living thing.
The Bishops should ejected from the HoL without delay.
Did you not read the recent report on the CoE, and it’s lacklustre response to the rampant “bitty banditry” scandal that goes on within it?
As for its Furhrer Welby, and for that matter Carey, his predecessor, both should be placed on trial.
Would it be possible to list these buildings with a view to potential purchasers looking to convert them a la Grand Designs? Some of those I have seen converted have been amazing. If there is such a thing already then I’d be happy to know about it.
The Ghostly Ruins of Chernobyl May Soon Be Enshrined With World Heritage Status – recent article in Science Alert
The combination of Covid-19 lockdown and tier restrictions coupled with the inevitable progress of technology in changing culture and work practice will add to the rapid abandoning of public, cultural and work environments. There will be much nostalgia when it’s too late…