I assume "brought in dead" was with the meaning that if the person died at the facility, they'd have a decent idea of why they died, whereas if a body was merely brought in from trauma, etc., they wouldn't have tested it for infectious disease yet, and it was basically a "holding area" (read: just in case the body's infectious).
I don't think it's so sad - think of the enjoyment the builder's got out of it! Think of the great balls and parties this place has seen over the years! Think of the children running around the giant place and finding the little nooks and crannies that they do to hide and hide things in!
The future brings change, but the past owns remembrance.
desmet - this building caught up in red tape, it seems, so I wouldn't expect it to be razed too quickly.
"The State lease of the *redacted* property has expired and the Division of Capital Asset Management is currently writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the property. The RFP will include a requirement to the developer of the construction of the site to provide for a new facility which will replace the old..."
So, it seems that the government is seeing to it that our grand kids may have their own building to explore on the site!
I wonder if (and how many) of the workers would be considered underage, or were children? I think usually the younger workers got the worst jobs - at least in the U.S. that's how it used to be before labor laws changed that...
A quick search on Yahoo (for "AFD valve") leads me to think that it's just a diversion valve - probably for pressure reduction in the system (or possibly for testing the product at various stages of production).
The fact that there are a few of these and the way they look ("cut off" by the floor), makes me think of an engine - specifically the valves and valve stems (as if they were suspended from the ceiling).
I can't even imagine what living in a house like this would be like. It's too bad that there aren't any photos or paintings of it when it was used as a home, with the morning sun pouring through those windows...*sigh*