DEFUNCTSITE

Welcome to Fisk

admin — Wed, 25 May 2011 03:04:13 +0000

A tour of Chicago's Fisk Generation Station circa 1987, via HABS/HAER. Considering how touchy the people who run power plants are about security and access issues, this is probably the closest most of us will get to wandering the grounds.

Washburne Trade School, circa 1963

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 01:55:18 +0000

A few photos of Washburne Trade School and it's students, circa 1963.

Latent Heat of Fusion

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:24:10 +0000

From my collection of ephemera salvaged from the now demolished Washburne Trade School: images from a set of instructional slides about the physics of heat, water pressure, and refrigeration. Exciting, no?

Things Change

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:08:59 +0000

Yes, I know it has been a while since I've posted here...

Progress at MRH

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:09:31 +0000

Just posting a few semi-recent "before and after" photos of the demolition work at Michael Reese Hospital, only because nobody else seems to have done it lately...

“It is a magnet for graffiti and photographers…”

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:20:50 +0000

A quick note about the abandoned Valspar Paints factory on South Ashland, where a graffiti artist (or 'tagger', whichever you prefer,) died while evading police.

MWRD “Big House” Demo-Cam

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:07:41 +0000

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago is currently demolishing the large, circa 1930's Sludge Disposal Building (also known as “The Big House”) at their waste treatment plant in Stickney...

Hiatus

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:03:42 +0000

As you may have guessed from the lack of recent updates, I'm taking a break from adding content here. The site (I don't like the word "blog") is not quite abandoned--it's more like an old factory building that you THINK is abandoned, but then you notice that there are still a few lights on, and a white pickup truck is parked out back. Something will happen here eventually (probably), though I'm not sure what, or when. Thanks for stopping by, reading, commenting, linking to this site, etc...I really appreciate it. Have a great New Year.

RIP WTS

admin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:04:10 +0000

This is the base of what used to be the enclosed water tower at Washburne Trade School. Towers and stairwells are the most difficult parts of old brick factory buildings to demolish, so they are often left standing until the rest of the structure around them is torn down. That's what happened here, and as the Washburne water tower became more isolated from the rest of the complex it began to resemble a monument of some sort. I had naively hoped that it would be left standing, but as you can see that didn't happen. Now 31st and Kedzie can finally be classified as an 11 acre Empty Lot...

Backyard Silos

admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:40:40 +0000

Near 51st and Hoyne stands the Fleischmann-Kurth Malting Company, which was once "one of the largest suppliers of malt for the American beer industry" according to some random factoid I found online. Actually, I should say "stood", since demolition of the complex began late last year and is now nearly complete. All that's left now are the impressive grain silos, and those were half gone last time I visited.