Author: Concrete

This author has written 232 articles

Peeling Paint Asylums Aren’t Cliché

Don't worry, we had permission. This is the Walters Building at Rochester psych center, which is now owned by and partially used by the Al Siegel center for some sort of storage. They agreed to give about ten of us a tour, as long as we ran through it and saw the whole place in 45 minutes. Predictably, that meant we missed at least 3/4 of it. Oh well... it's the closest I'll ever get to seeing an asylum anyway. Apparently it was a dental asylum? Roofs are overrated. The stench of decay Steam tunnel to the Terrance building. Remember…

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Sandstorm

Back at Flintkote with the UR UrbEx. I'm still amazed we made this one happen, with Andrew on it and all! More giant machinery here The destructed ruins of what was once a relatively grand train station on the way to Niagara Falls. It was already closed for decades by the time it burned in 1974, and now only the brick and stonework somewhat remain. More fire damage... we probably could have brought this steel mill down with our hands. Some deranged protest... Lockport was left out of the Interstate highways, and someone wasn't happy? I guess? So many rusting…

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Secret Passages Bank

I'll admit it: this isn't technically urbex, we had permission to be here. This beautiful abandoned bank will be transformed over the course of the next 8 days into a venue for ArtAwake 3, a one-night art and music exhibition in a forgotten part of the city. Until then, though, it's one hell of an abandoned building to explore! How about a giant vault door? Or a ceiling covered in frescoes? This would never happen in the Recession Unique view of the Times Square Building One beautifully complex cable

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Wrong Side of the Fence

I guess if I can't get into an asylum, the next best thing is to look at one from the outside? This was a weird trip from the start, I'm not quite sure what Ian had in mind but I think it was this. He knows I can't climb fences, and presumably he knew this place had a fence, so... I assume I got to be part of the scouting trip then he'd go back without me to see it. It was impressive just the same, and completely worth the 2-hour drive out to it. Or not. But I know…

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Dear Mr Supercomputer

A return to Sykes Datatronics, a relic of that alternate reality where the Genesee valley was the cradle of the computer age. They did give us the floppy disk, the automated answering machine (press 4 for more information), and some of the first database software. And a big abandoned factory near the soccer stadium. Now that's a relic: original Macintosh, still in its box One of the weirdest things about this place is its floors. Despite being a solid concrete structure, the wood floors warped into crazy ridges up to two feet taller than the building. Squish. Say dirty. (Programmers...)…

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…and Steel

After leaving Flintkote, we went downtown to one of a few abandoned steel plants in Lockport. Parking wasn't so easy to find, with the one garage abandoned, the streets were parked up. This particular steel mill had sections of Quonset hut and prefab building, clearly newer than the rest of the complex. Interestingly, their business was sheet metal, so maybe they used their own product to create their factory. If you seal a building with 12 foot fences, close the gate so people can't do what we just did! Now that's a dirty window! The rest of the photos here.

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