Tag Archives: building

Superconducting Super Collider

Photo (Physics Central): Overview of the massive Superconducting Super Collider.

In the midst of the Cold War between Russia and the United States science was a key strategic weapon. In order to maintain scientific supremacy in the 1980’s the United States planned to build the world’s largest particle accelerator. No one could have predicted in the early 1980’s that the Soviet Union would collapse at the end of the decade, thus bringing the Cold War to an anti-climactic end. Without the looming spectre of total nuclear annihilation to spur innovation the project lost its driving momentum. In the absence of strategic scientific necessity the ever inflating budget to operate the massive scientific apparatus sealed its fate. In 1993 funding for the project ceased despite an urgent plea by then President Clinton.

The Superconducting Super Collider on the outskirts of Waxahachie, TX, just south of Dallas, encircles the whole town. The seemingly odd location choice was in fact quite deliberate.

The Department of Energy had chosen its site carefully. To mitigate the risk of hazardous material passing nearby, it selected land 5 miles from the nearest truck route and 4 miles from the nearest rail line. The collider is clear of flight paths and out of hurricane, tsunami, earthquake and flood zones.

Source: Wired

Before Congress removed funding for the project crews had already dug out up to 14 miles of underground tunnel and 17 shafts that lead to the surface. If the ring been completely dug out it the circumference would have been 54 miles. In the end this massive hole in the ground cost US taxpayers $2 billion dollars. Had the facility been completed, it would have been even larger than the Hadron Collider in Switzerland. An investment group snapped up the property in 2006 and has hired another firm to market it as a potential data center. Until that happens the colossal monument to American scientific investment fries in the sweltering Texas sun.

Resources:

BoingBoing – Orignal post on the physicists exploring the SSC.

C-Span – Congressional debate over funding for the SSC.

Damn Interesting – Article incorrectly asserts that President Clinton was not a fan of the SSC, but otherwise a good read.

Ellis County Museum – Summary of the SSC and its scientific applications.

Great Guy – An employee describes the accelerator first hand.

Physics Buzz – A group of nerdy urbexers infiltrate the SSC.

Pres. Clinton – Letter of support for the SSC from President Clinton.

Summer of Science – An explorer makes his way into the abandoned SSC.

Wired – 2009 article on the sale of the SSC with excellent photos.

Ambassador Apartments

Photo: A postcard depicting the Ambassador Apartments in its prime.

Photo: Bird’s-eye view of the Ambassador Apartments courtesy of Bing Maps. Notice the trees growing out of the brickwork.

Normally these articles begin with a bit of history about the urbex location. This one is a little different…

The seven story Ambassador  Apartments building is probably one of the most dangerous urbex locations I have ever been to. When we arrived near the end of a full day of urbex in Gary, I never anticipated that we would traverse the entire building. My feet were incredibly sore, the heat was just enough to be uncomfortable, and I was thirsty as hell. Add open elevator shafts, buckling floors, missing walls, loose masonry and rusty steel jutting out from everywhere, the Ambassador Apartments is a recipe for disaster. Fortunately I was with two other urbexers at the time who took safety quite seriously. We kept a constant watch on each other while making our way through the building. We verbally called out dangers even though they seemed obvious. The Ambassador Apartments are not for those new to urbex.

Fireplace

Photo: The owner of this chair just got up for a minute, but never came back.

The Ambassador Apartments resplendent glory can still be seen if you stare long enough into the shadows. Ornate fireplaces, chairs, doorways, wallpaper and are few and far between in this large apartment building, but they can be found. Information on the building from a variety of internet resources pretty much say the same thing. The building was erected in 1927 to house white collar US Steel managers and was open until 1985. In 1995 the city of Gary considered the building a high priority for rehabilitation. Most of the goals in the Gary Consolidated Plan, however, were never completed. A snippet from Google Books turns up a quote stating that the Ambassador Apartments once housed 125 residents and was one of Gary’s few bomb shelters (Weekly Commercial News: Volume 100 1942).

I feel like I have reached a dead end on researching this location. If you have any more information about the Ambassador Apartments please leave a comment. This is such a fascinating building.

Cathedral of the Holy Angels

Photo: A Cathedral of the Holy Angels church bulletin from 1984 rests on green carpeting.

Video: A tour through the Ambassador Apartments by slworking2.

Research:

Ambassador Apartments – My Flick Gallery

Chicagoist – Some photos of the Ambassador Apartments

Preserve Indiana – Ambassador and Mahencha Apartments

BBC UK – Video discussing the economic stimulus that includes famous Gary urbex locations.

Abandoned Post Office

Gary Post Office

Photo: The abandoned United States Post Office in Gary, Indiana.

Information on the abandoned Post Office in downtown Gary, Indiana is sparse. The building was erected in 1936 as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program aimed at ameliorating the Great Depression. Architect Howard Lovewell Cheney, who worked for the Public Buildings Branch of the US Treasury Department, designed the building. This branch of the USPS supposedly closed in the 1970’s, though sources confirming this have not been located by American Urbex.

Photo: Postcard depicting the Post Office in its splendor. (Source: Chicagoist)

Sorting Room

Photo: The sorting room floor is covered in moss and new growth. Those are not bricks on the ground. Those are individually cut wood blocks that comprised the floor.

Gary

Photo: The main stairwell to the second floor is awfully moody.

Visiting the post office in Gary was the first time that I have ever infiltrated at federal government building. Well, maybe “infiltrated” isn’t the right verb. I had the expectation in my head that getting in would be a little bit difficult. It wasn’t in the slightest. The main entrances to the building were all wide open for anyone off the street to wander in. This urbex location was just as populated with photographers as the City Methodist Church a stonesthrow down the block. You will be hard pressed to find any post office ephemera at this place though. The rooms are devoid of anything but trash brought in by recent visitors. For an abandoned New Deal building, though, the few surprises inside make the visit worthwhile.

Resources:

My Flickr Set – Gary Post Office

El Tidy Flickr Set – US Federal Post Office

Webshots Gallery – Abandoned Post Office

Murphy Building in East St. Louis

Murphy Building Stairwell

The Murphy Building stands within a stonesthrow of the Spivey Building. If you look closely in top photo above, you can see vegetation growing in the brickwork. Getting up to the higher floors now requires an explorer to exit a second story window and walk up a rickety steel fire escape, as the main stairwell has crumbled into the ground floor. I did not have the stomach climbing out onto the fire escape.

MURPHY BLDG.

As you can see from this photo the Murphy Building has a beautifully adorned entrance. Vandals have already taken some of the mason work from the higher floor. There isn’t much that remains inside from the time the building was in operation. It is easily accessible, though you will need a flashlight to navigate your way through the basement as no sunlight shines in. The beauty shop, which must have been open for business after the main Murphy Building closed, is accessible through this way.

Murphy Building Facade

Research Links:

Built St. Louis – Murphy Building Photos

Ecology of Absence – Murphy Building

Panoramino – The Majestic Theater and Murphy Building

Flickr Group – East St. Louis

Flickr Search – Murphy Building

Spivey Building in East St. Louis

Spivey Building

Whenever you mention that your driving into St. Louis, Missouri people reflexively joke, “Don’t get off the highway too early. You don’t want to end up in East St. Louis.” My natural response is “Why?” The answer people give to that question is that the city is riddled with crime, it looks dirty and there is a good chance you’ll get shot. I then ask if they have ever actually set foot in East St. Louis and predictably the answer is “no.”

If you take 55 into St. Louis, Missouri you have to pass through East St. Louis, Illinois. Because the highway has to span the mighty Mississippi River it goes up quite high. On the road the most notable structure in East St. Louis is a lone 13-story building towering over all the rest. This is the Spivey Building, which in many ways embodies the history of East St. Louis.

Spivey Building

Allen Spivey constructed the building in 1929 that bears his name. The Spivey Building was meant to be a symbol of prosperity in the growing wealthy city of East St. Louis. At the time the location was prime real estate. It was located in the very heart of downtown, stood next to a theater, and was a short distance away from all the major shopping venues. Jobs in East St. Louis were plentiful, cars were beginning to fill the streets, and East St. Louis was home to about 75,000 people with money to spend. The city would peak at just over 82,000 residents according to 1940 census data.

Der fliegende Schädel

Despite Spivey’s high expectations for East St. Louis, the tides of fortune took a turn for the worse. A combination of of racial tensions in the mid-1900’s, white flight, corrupt politicians, manipulative corporations and dwindling tax base turned East St. Louis into what it is today. The Spivey Building was caught in the middle of it all.

The perimeter around the building is fairly secure. Sources who have been inside say that there isn’t much that remains. Vandals have long made off with anything of value. Talks of renovating the building have gone all but nowhere.

When I think of the Spivey Building, I cannot help but be reminded of Langston Hughes’ poem entitled “Dream Deferred.”

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Research Links:

Ecology of Absence – The Spivey Building: The Death of a Dream?

Ecology of Absence – Spivey Building Secured, Damaged

STL Streets – Video inside the Spivey Building

Built St. Louis – Photos of the Spivey Building

Sketching St. Louis – Artistic rendition of the Spivey Building

Time – 1989 article on East St. Louis

Urban St. Louis – 2005 article about the building’s demolition

Emporis – Spivey Building

4th of July on top of Spivey

Wikipedia – East St. Louis