Anshitsu – Lost and Forgotten Places

The official website of VNV Nation describes them as follows: “Irish/English duo VNV Nation have persistently leaped from strength to strength, over the years, emerging as a powerhouse in the alternative electronic rock and industrial scenes. Their unique sound blends thematic lyrics and emotive vocals with influences from electronic music, indie, rock, dance music, classical [...]

Harlem Valley State Hospital opened on April 24th, 1924 “for the care and treatment of the insane” as part of an act to discontinue the farm and industrial prison at Wingdale. Buildings A, B and C had already been constructed and money was soon requested to buy adjoining farmland and buildings to build a root [...]

Around 1900, the houses at 2-6 Market Street were put down in order to erect the building for the Royal Police Directorate between Friedrich Street and Mauer Street. The result was a four storey two-winged building with a corner tower. An annex for the prison and the necessary horse stables were built in the courtyard. [...]

The Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) was a U.S. Navy jet engine testing facility for military aircraft from the mid-1950’s until the late 1990’s. As a result of the activities at the facility, trichloroethylene (which was used as coolant fluid), jet fuel, and other chemicals have leaked into the subsurface which resulted in some attention [...]

In the 1960s -just a couple of kilometers away from the Main Medical Depot Bunker- also a Main Hardware Depot Bunker (GerHDep) was dug into the mountainous flanks of the Wisper valley. The facility consists of rhombically built street and storage tunnels and galleries, which spread over a total length of over ten kilometers. The [...]

Watts Campbell Engine Co. was founded in 1851 and is located in Newark, New Jersey. It became a premier supplier of big steam engines and at its peak employed 300 people. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 13, 1986. The current owner, Charles (Chad) Watts, a 70++ year [...]

After the dissolution of the medical supplies depot Wittlich/Germany in July 1975 the medical depot Lorch/Rheingau was set up. It had the task to store, maintain, deliver and dispose medical supplies for the Medical Service of the German Bundeswehr. In the 1960s, the days of the Cold War, they sought to protect such facilities against [...]

The Lansdowne Theater opened on June 1, 1927, featuring the silent film “Knockout Riley” starring Richard Dix. The opening event was overseen by John J. McGuirk, president of the Stanley Company, the predecessor of Warner Brothers. Mr. McGuirk described The Lansdowne as “the best example of suburban theatre construction around Philadelphia”. Adding to the excitement [...]

Originally constructed in 1862 to hold Confederate prisoners of war, the Essex County Jail Annex functioned as a state penitentiary for many years before eventually being replaced by a new facility to alleviate overcrowding. The penitentiary was largely self-sufficient. As late as the 1970’s inmates still tended to apple and peach orchards on the grounds, [...]

The Ironworks, which cover some 6 ha, dominate the city of Völklingen in the German State of Saarland. Construction of the plant began in 1881, it went of production in 1986. It is the example in the whole of Western Europe and North America of an integrated ironworks that was built and equipped in the [...]

The Melaten Cemetery is the central cemetery of the town of Cologne. The name “Melaten” comes from the French word “malade” which has the same meaning as the English “malady”. It’s history goes back to the 12th century when the area located an asylum for people suffering from leprosy, called “campus leprosi”…. Later, in the [...]

Back in March 2006, I visited Japan together with my friend Simone, who had been staying there for a language course, in order to discover a very strange -for me at first- country. Her vast experience and knowledge of land and culture naturally helped tremendously to discover and understand its very unique features and specialties.

Ouvrage Hobling is a lesser work (petit ouvrage) of the Maginot Line. Located in the Fortified Sector of Boulay, the ouvrage consists of two infantry blocks and two observation blocks, and is located between gros ouvrage Michelsberg and petit ouvrage Bousse, facing Germany. It has been stripped of metals and abandoned. Hobling was approved for [...]

Ouvrage Michelsberg, one of the Maginot Line fortifications, formed part of the Fortified Sector of Boulay as well as the fortified region of Metz. The ouvrage is located in Moselle (département) between the towns of Dalstein and d’Ebersviller, about 23km from Thionville. It is located between gros ouvrage Mont des Welches and petit ouvrage Hobling, [...]

This is actually one of my first Urban Exploring “harvests”. In 2007, The German Museum for Architecture used the old building as temporary home during some renovation work at the actual museum. During this short intermezzo the site was partially open to the public. The Detention was built in 1886 and throughout its history it [...]

The Hudson River State Hospital is a former New York state psychiatric hospital whose main building has been designated a National Historic Landmark due to its exemplary High Victorian Gothic architecture, the first use of that style for an American institutional building. The Hudson River Psychiatric Center, nearby, is a successor facility. Frederick Clarke Withers [...]

The Schmidt & Ault Paper Company occupies a historic site. At this place George King, an enterprising citizen of York began to manufacture high grade writing paper about 1810. The machinery was moved by water power, and the establishment was named The Codorus Paper Mills. In 1812, George King erected a large building and a [...]

So here are the photos for the second site in Chatillon. This is the one which made Chatillon famous among the Urbex scene. Indeed, the round about 100 to 150 cars in various stages of decomposition offered a large resource of interesting shots.

The little village Chatillon in Southern Belgium is also one of the classical Urbex locations in Europe. When I was there in 2008 and 2009 two of the originally four car dumps were still present. The car bodies are mostly stemming from the 1950′s and 1960′s, put and left there as remainders from a close-by [...]

The Kings Theatre, formerly Loew’s Kings Theatre, is a movie palace-type theater located in Brooklyn, New York City. Opened in 1929 and closed since 1977, the theater is scheduled to reopen in 2014 following a complete renovation. It was built and operated by the Loew’s Theatres chain, and was one of the five “Loew’s Wonder [...]

This opulent residence was built as a summer home for the family Liedekerke de Beaufort in 1866 by the English architect Milner, although he died before seeing its completion. The Château de Miranda, as it was called then, was owned and used by the family until 1958, except when it was briefly occupied by the [...]

Berlin has round about 3,5 Mio citizens and is not only the capital but naturally also the biggest city of Germany, both in number of people and covered area. It is the only metropolitan city in Germany and has quite an eventful history. Parts of its history can be found everywhere throughout the vast city [...]

It was just a total coincidence to find this jewel during a trip to Shikoku, one of the main islands of Japan. We drove up that hill in order to get a nice view over the ocean, and there it was…The tower was most likely used mainly for booked receptions and parties. At some point [...]

Ouvrage Denting is a lesser work (petit ouvrage) of the Maginot Line. The ouvrage consists of three infantry blocks, and is located between petits ouvrages Bovenberg and Village Coume, near the village of Denting in Moselle département, facing Germany. The position saw little action in World War II. The site was surveyed by CORF (Commission [...]

The Bethlehem Steel Corporation (1857–2003), based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S. steel industry and management problems leading to the company’s 2001 bankruptcy. In 2007, the Bethlehem property was sold to Sands BethWorks, and plans to build [...]

This Spa Hotel in the Western part of Germany was built in 1914 and eventually abandonded in the mid of the 90′s. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of vandalism.

This little series was done during a very cool concert of the Swedish Band Covenant in 2010 in Coney Island/New York City. It was a perfect opportunity to inaugurate my 50mm f1.2 lense…

These are the results of a very interesting night photography workshop held by Lance Keimig. I have learned a lot and certainly a spark was lit in me. In einem Gastbeitrag fuer den Schwarzen Planeten habe ich folgende Zeilen hierzu verfasst: Der Friedhof von Sleepy Hollow oder Naherholungsgebiete fuer den Gruftie von Welt in der [...]

The massive former Port Authority Grain Terminal was built in 1922 in Red Hook/Brooklyn and was once the processing center for grains used for breweries and distilleries shipped down from upstate New York and the western USA via the Erie Canal. The terminal closed as shipping in Red Hook gave way to New Jersey containerization [...]

Im März 1941 wurde mit dem Bau dieses dreigeschossigen Bunkers im Park eines Krankenhauses einer Deutschen Stadt begonnen. Er wurde als Krankenhaus für 170 Betten eingerichtet. Der Bunker wurde während des Krieges entsprechend zum Teil als Lazarett und als Krankenhaus genutzt. Die ersten Patienten wurden im Juli 1943 in den Bunker verlegt. Am 22. Dezember [...]

The history of sacred facilities in Sedlec (in the neighborhood of today’s Kutna Hora in Bohemia, about 70 km south of Prague) goes back to the 10th Century. At the time of the plague in the 14th Century and during the Hussite Wars in the 15th Century more than 30,000 people were buried in the [...]

These pictures have been taken in Fort Totten, which is a former U.S Army installation near Bayside, Queens, New York. Originally it was built in 1862 and in 1954 extended as an air defense site with various military facilities, including a hospital, in which most of the photos in this series had been taken. The [...]

The Wave-Gotik Treffen (WGT) is the world’s largest festival for „dark culture“ held each Pentecost in Leipzig, Germany. About 20.000 – 25.000 visitors and more than 150 bands and artists attend the festival each year. During the 4 days (Friday – Monday) the whole city is populated by all kind of people connected to the [...]

The city of Mendig in Germany has northwest of the railroad station an area of about 0.3km² which is riddled with old cellars. This underground labyrinth was created by the quarring or mining of basalt. The basalt was used for millstones, which were exported and became the basis of the wealth of the city. They [...]