Comments

@Edward Jackson
If you read some of the background on this place, it's clear that a lot of the water damage is because the state kept the water on to this place long after the heat was out. So the pipes froze, cracked and then millions of gallons of water went running out all over the place.

I just love that it says "POZ 4 ME" and you took a picture!

@phiftybuick
Floor tiles are made of polyvinyl chloride not asbestos.

I'm trying to wrap my brain around what it would take to make this building inhabitable. Let's see.... First hire some professionals to remove the asbestos ($Cha-Ching). Then gut the interior to the bricks ($Cha-Ching). Then remove & replace the plumbing & all fixtures ($Cha-Ching). Then remove & replace the electrical wiring ($Cha-Ching). Install a new HVAC system ($Cha-Ching). Replace all the windows ($Cha-Ching). Replace the roof ($Cha-Ching). Replace the interior floors, walls, doors & ceilings ($Cha-Ching). Install all new appliances ($Cha-Ching). All right. Let's go to Home Depot & Lowes.

Very surreal. I would be mesmerized by the dust cloud and walk right into the gaping hole.

@LST and Larry D
Not just governments to this. Business to, because once something has been amortized it's worthless. Selling it means you now have taxable income which means additional headaches. Also you need to store this shit somewhere for sale. It really makes more sense to abandon it in many cases.

Oh my God. The photos seen up to this point have been utter devastation & destruction. Then we are treated to this. Out of the rubble rises this magnificent staircase & columns. Even in ruin the beauty shines through. Who could have used these? Perhaps a young nurse or physician fresh out of medical school rushing upstairs to an emergency. Perhaps an elderly man or woman slowly climbing the stairs to visit a dying spouse. Or maybe a young couple descending these stairs with a new baby in their arms. These scenes played out day after day. Year after year.

They may be asymmetric to better capture the sun. The shorter side would be where the sun is coming from and also shallower so it would be able to reach more/longer the taller less sunny side. Just a thought.

At the time many of these places were operating there was no interweb so confidentiality really wasn't as important.
Assuming you found the file of "Fred Bloggs" 20 years ago unless you knew him or he was somehow famous you probably wouldn't track him down or have any way to even publicize this info.
So in the end the information didn't matter it was like a story on a floor. Nowadays you can search for people on the web, or post a picture or scan of the medical record and then it's easy for someone to put 2 and 2 together. That's why confidentiality is now much more vital than before.

Found lots of these places by word of mouth, internet, contemporary news, preservation organizations, and reading historical documents. Yup there have been countless places where it just wasn't worth pulling out the camera.

There were paths cleared through the rooms to get around easily. Tetanus is out of date and no medical insurance.

I'm gonna say the stairs used to be yelllow years ago and there was a very large, immobile piece of equiptment butted up against the stairs and the boss one day decided he wanted to redecorate and had the workers paint everything blue and so they just painted around that piece of whatever, hence the 90 degree angle to the yellow stripe...just a theory!

Geez. That fireplace is almost buried in debris. Looks a lot like fire damage. Was it tough to walk through all this stuff? I hope your tetanus vaccine is up to date.

Ooooo, time has not been kind to this place.