RUBBISHGOESHERE / DUMP

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?

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…

I keep on saying that I will continue to photograph this place until it is nothing but an empty lot. At the rate the demo crew is going, that’ll probably be in a month or so…

One of the more prominent features of Washburne Trade School was this mural in the cafeteria, presumably a project for the student sign painters who trained here…Now that summer upon us and much of the building is gone, I thought I’d present the last photos I took of this mural while the building around it was being demolished.

As demolition continues at Washburne Trade School, spaces are gutted and layers are peeled back, revealing previously hidden features of this building. During a recent visit I noticed these wallpapered surfaces that have been covered up for years by other walls…

As part of my ongoing project to document the demolition of the former Washburne Trade School building…

Like I said: the February 15 fire at Washburne Trade School, on YouTube…click HERE to see the full post and video. Thanks to phule for sending me the link–go look at his photoblog.

The demolition of the large main building at Washburne Trade School began about a week ago. There is still a lot of work to be done before there will be any noticeable changes to the building, but still…

Yes, it’s the obligatory post-abandoned-trade-school-fire blog post…

Last night a four alarm fire ripped through the old Washburne Trade School, gutting the last remaining building of this once massive complex. Other sections have been demolished over the past several years, but due to a lack of funds or initiative (or both), the massive former factory building has stayed put. Lately I’ve been watching the place for signs of activity, wondering if and when it would get torn down. Now I assume that the answer to those questions are “yes” and “soon, probably”. So of course I went there after the fire to grab a few photos…