An Urban Exploration Website

First Ward

First Ward

At one time in Buffalo's history, the grain elevators dominated the skyline of the waterfront and served as a symbol of Buffalo's...

22 subalbums

Buffalo Central Terminal

Buffalo Central Terminal

Buffalo Central Terminal, designed by Fellheimer and Wagner for the New York Central Railroad, opened in 1929 to much celebration. Harder...

14 subalbums

Buffalo Psychiatric Center

Buffalo Psychiatric Center

In 1864 Dr. James White, a leading physician in Buffalo, proposed to the state legislature that an asylum be established in Western New...

6 subalbums

Radar Control Center

Radar Control Center

The US Air Force Radar Control Center was responsible for radar defense against air attacks. Aircraft control and warning were the primary...

4 subalbums

Church of the Transfiguration

Church of the Transfiguration

As the immigrant population of Buffalo grew, the churches of the city's East, primarily Polish side of the city swelled. In Aug. 1893, the...

4 subalbums

Railway Express Agency

Railway Express Agency

The Railway Express Agency was the Fedex of its day. REA's arrangement with the railroads was that they provided terminal space and cars...

4 subalbums

Buffalo Malting

Buffalo Malting

Buffalo Malting, formerly Kreiner Malting, contains 2 - 90 feet elevators, serving an adjacent malting complex. The A elevator, built in...

2 subalbums

Flintkote

Flintkote

Flintkote was originally developed as a paper mill in the late 1800s. It was operated by the Flintkote Company, a manufacturer of felt...

2 subalbums

Lockport Power

Lockport Power

"Lockport Power" was a three-story brick building erected around 1920 as a power and steam generating station for the paper mills and...

29 images

Lockport Train Depot

Lockport Train Depot

The Romanesque Style Lockport Train Depot was built in 1888. There was great attention to detail, right down to the bricks used. The...

11 images

Jackson Sanitarium

Jackson Sanitarium

Jackson Sanitarium was originally built in 1854 by Nathaniel Bingham to take advantage of the renowned healing waters of the village. His...

5 subalbums

Eastern State

Eastern State

Opened in 1829 as part of a controversial movement to change the behavior of inmates through "confinement in solitude with labor," Eastern...

2 subalbums

Holy Land USA

Holy Land USA

Holy Land USA is a rather interesting collection of...stuff... Built starting in 1956 by an attorney named John Greco, Holy Land was a...

51 images

Asbury Park

Asbury Park

Asbury Park was "begun" in the late 1800s by a New York industrialist and real estate developer, James A. Bradley. In the resort town's...

3 subalbums

Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest

Once upon a time, there was a wonderful storybook park in Ellicott City, Maryland called The Enchanted Forest. Opened in 1955, it thrilled...

28 images

Battery Factory

Battery Factory

The Power City Warehouse was formerly a battery manufacturing facility. Sometime around 1910, U.S. Light and Hest Co., and later Autolite...

4 subalbums

Meyer Malting

Meyer Malting

Meyer Malting Complex is the only 20th century Buffalo facility near the Erie Canal. Established in 1909, the complex is an example of H.R....

22 images

Sharon Springs

Sharon Springs

Sharon Springs is a sulfur bath resort town in Central NY. Development as a mineral water spa began in 1825 with the establishment of David...

2 subalbums

Overlook Mountain House

Overlook Mountain House

The first hotel built on the mountain was designed and built by 1833 as interest in tourism in the area increased. The structure was built...

52 images

Frontier Town

Frontier Town

During the golden age of small amusement parks, thousands came to the carefully crafted theme park, Frontier Town. Opened July 4th 1952,...

2 subalbums

Tahawus

Tahawus

The Adirondack Iron & Steel Company was built after David Henderson and John McIntyre found “the most extraordinary bed of iron ore, for...

2 subalbums

No Where Adirondack

No Where Adirondack

I know nothing about this place. Stumbled upon it while my mom and I drove home from Tahawus. It was near Otter Creek, on one of the...

22 images

SC High

SC High

In 1916 the school board purchased the lot for what is now the SC High School. The construction of a Junior-Senior High School began in...

2 subalbums

Heidelberg Project

Heidelberg Project

The Heidelberg Project began as an outdoor art environment in the heart of Detroit, but it has grown into much more. The Heidelberg...

47 images

Carbo-sil

Carbo-sil

The Carbo-Sil site, once called National Carbon, a division of Union Carbide, produced the graphite that was used by Enrico Fermi in the...

3 subalbums

Byberry

Byberry

The Philadelphia Hospital for Mental Diseases officially began operations in 1912 as a place for those afflicted with diseases of the mind...

25 images

The Pines

The Pines

The Pines resort was built in 1933 with many buildings being added throughout the years. The resort was comprised of 420 guest rooms and...

54 images

St Agnes Sanitarium

St Agnes Sanitarium

The St Agnes Tuberculosis Hospital was opened on September 13, 1912 to handle the problem of infectious diseases that filled major cities...

46 images

Rhyolite

Rhyolite

Rhyolite, Nevada is a ghost town in east of Death Valley near Beatty, Nevada, the Nevada Test Site and Yucca Mountain. The town was named...

29 images

Spaulding Fibre

Spaulding Fibre

Spaulding Fibre manufactured sheets of fibre material, a pulp composite created with heat and pressure. The material was used for a variety...

3 subalbums

Dunlop

Dunlop

There isn't much to say here. Former Dunlop Tire office building. The most boring place on earth.

19 images

Hens and Kelly

Hens and Kelly

Hens and Kelly was a Buffalo-based department store known for its use of "green stamps" as a way of saving money and ensuring a customer's...

30 images

German Roman Catholic Orphanage

German Roman Catholic Orphanage

The original location of the Orphan Asylum was established to care for orphans and victims of the 1851 cholera epidemic. However, this...

3 subalbums

Michigan Central Station

Michigan Central Station

Designed by the renowned architects Warren & Wetmore and engineers Reed and Stem, who also designed the Grand Central Station in New York...

2 subalbums

Bethlehem Steel

Bethlehem Steel

In 1922, Lackawanna Steel Co. was acquired by the Bethlehem Steel Company, ending the company's 62-year independence. On May 11, 1922,...

5 subalbums

Packard

Packard

In 1904, Albert Kahn applied a new building technique that he had learned in Europe--reinforced concrete--to his designs for the 10th...

36 images

St Mark's Long Term Care

St Mark's Long Term Care

St Mark's Long Term Care Facility is a long forgotten skilled care nursing home. At one point it employed 200 workers. And that's about it.

22 images

Sattler Theatre

Sattler Theatre

This 928-seat, $35,000 "fireproof" theatre was built in 1914, on the site of the old wood-frame Casino Theatre, for $35,000. The architect...

2 subalbums

Falls Factory

Falls Factory

I know absolutely nothing about this place. Can't figure out what they did there or how long it's been closed for. It was probably part of...

30 images

St Anthony's Manor

St Anthony's Manor

This Vatican-built nursing home was built in 1902 in north western Pennsylvania. From the beginning the nursing home was plagued with...

3 subalbums

Houdaille

Houdaille

A sizable factory that was part of government funded WWII industries. They produced springs and dampeners for military equipment during...

34 images

Memorial Auditorium

Memorial Auditorium

The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (The Aud) opened on October 14, 1940 and was renovated in 1970 and 1990. It was closed in 1996 following...

38 images

Carrie Furnaces

Carrie Furnaces

Towering 92 feet over the Monongahela River, constructed of 2.5" thick steel plate and lined with refractory brick, Carrie Furnaces 6 and 7...

61 images

Castle of Mesen

Castle of Mesen

Built and destroyed many times, what remains from this building dates mainly from the beginning of the 17th century. Designed by famous...

83 images

Fisher Body 21

Fisher Body 21

The Fisher Body Plant 21 is located in the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District in Detroit Michigan. It was designed in 1919 by...

45 images

Salvation Army

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army Harbor Light Center, also known as the Park Avenue Hotel was designed by Louis Kamper for Lew Tuller and is on the...

16 images

St Agnes Church and School

St Agnes Church and School

St. Agnes had been a Catholic parish established in Detroit in 1913. The church featured both a high school and grade school, eventually...

2 subalbums

Aztec Tomb

Aztec Tomb

The Ballroom was designed in 1929 by Charles N. Agree as a flamboyant venue in which to socialize, dance and hear music. The ballroom was a...

37 images

Fort Pitt

Fort Pitt

Founded in 1906 by C.S. Koch, Fort Pitt Steel Castings Co. was built on 13 acres in what was then Versailles Township. Koch's death in 1937...

32 images

First Baptist

First Baptist

In 1819, a non-denominational meeting-house was erected in the city of McKeesport on a parcel of ground donated by Mr. John McKee. On June...

17 images

Penn-McKee Hotel

Penn-McKee Hotel

The Penn-McKee hotel was opened in 1926 and quickly became the place for weddings, club meetings, and a variety of special events. It has a...

12 images

Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum

Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, constructed between 1858 and 1881, is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America, and...

45 images

West Virginia State Penitentiary

West Virginia State Penitentiary

The West Virginia State Penitentiary is a retired, gothic style prison located in Moundsville, West Virginia. It operated from 1876 to 1995...

30 images

Ambassador Apartments

Ambassador Apartments

Built in 1928 the Ambassador Apartments featured the best amenities and thus catered to the high society of Gary Indiana. Designed by...

15 images

City Methodist

City Methodist

Built in 1925, the classic Gothic edifice was the result of an ambitious priest backed by U.S. Steel dollars. The steel company donated the...

53 images

Gary Post Office

Gary Post Office

The Post Office building was erected in 1936 as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program. Architect Howard Lovewell Cheney, who...

13 images

Gary Screw and Bolt

Gary Screw and Bolt

Pittsburgh Bolt and Screw Works started construction of a new plant in Gary Indiana in 1910, with doors opening in 1912. Like many other...

61 images

Palace Theater

Palace Theater

The Palace Theater was designed by John Eberson and built by "Max and Sons" in 1924. When the theater opened it featured live stage shows,...

15 images

2300 Jackson Street

2300 Jackson Street

2300 Jackson Street is the childhood home of Michael Jackson, his 2 parents, 3 sisters, and 5 brothers. Yes that is 11 people living in...

19 images

Curtiss Wright

Curtiss Wright

Curtiss-Wright came into existence on July 5, 1929, the result of a merger of 12 companies associated with Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor...

3 subalbums

Chernobyl

Chernobyl

At 1:23 am on April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a catastrophic explosion and fire during a...

6 subalbums

St Matthew's

St Matthew's

St Matthew's was founded in 1908 by Rev. George Sellinger, and the church was completed in 1928 at a cost of $225,000. The design for St....

22 images

Mansfield Reformatory

Mansfield Reformatory

The cornerstone laid on November 4, 1886 evolved into this magnificent Chateauesque structure. Cleveland architect Levi T. Scofield...

83 images

Republic Rubber

Republic Rubber

From "History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Ohio" as found at http://www.archive.org/stream/historyyoungsto00butlgoog...

37 images

Salem Evangelical

Salem Evangelical

The Salem Evangelical Reformed Church was designed by architect Jacob Oberkircher and built in 1907. Oberkircher's church replaced a wooden...

15 images

Stuebenville Steel

Stuebenville Steel

This Wheeling-Pitt Steel Mill was originally constructed by LaBelle Iron Works in 1899 on the site of a 3 year old nail factory, who...

56 images

Canada Linseed

Canada Linseed

The factory was built in 1915 by Montreal-based Canada Linseed Oil Mills, Ltd. and processed linseed oil (also known as flaxseed oil)....

17 images

Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church was built in 1913 thanks to a generous purchase by the Larkin Company of the original church property,...

3 subalbums

Trinity German Baptist Church

Trinity German Baptist Church

The First German Baptist Church was built in 1869. It was the 4th Baptist church in Buffalo, and the 3rd German Baptist church in the...

18 images

Holley High

Holley High

This Neo-Classical Revival building was built in 1931. Designed by Rochester architect and school specialist, Carl Ade, the former High...

46 images

Pocono Resorts

Pocono Resorts

The Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania are dotted with old resort hotels, which were Honeymoon destinations, as well as fairly quick vacation...

2 subalbums

Budd Manufacturing

Budd Manufacturing

The Budd Manufacturing plant is a conglomeration of 20 buildings totaling 2.4 million square feet on 75 acres. Built in 1917 by Giffels &...

63 images

Elementary School

Elementary School

A generic public elementary school built in 1938, it closed to new students in 1979, and was used as offices and warehouse storage, mostly...

23 images

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes

Built in 1898, at a cost of about $100,000, Our Lady of Lourdes was a French church in a German neighborhood. Originally a parish founded...

17 images

Fallsside Hotel

Fallsside Hotel

This hotel was part of various chains over the years, ending it's days as an independent hotel. Two of the buildings on the site were built...

1 subalbums - 22 images

Tried Stone Baptist

Tried Stone Baptist

Located in a neighborhood founded by Jewish Detroiters and immigrants beginning in 1917, Tried Stone Baptist Church used to be Beth Teflio...

46 images

Abundant Life Christian Center

Abundant Life Christian Center

The Abundant Life Christian Center, formerly Calvary Presbyterian, was built in 1917, at a cost of $70,000. As the parish grew, an addition...

19 images

St David's School

St David's School

From the state of Michigan Historic Preservation Register: "The Saint David School and Convent are Lombard Romanesque-style, red-brick...

15 images

St Edith's

St Edith's

This church was initially built in 1896 as a German church. The current structure was built to accommodate a growing congregation in 1916....

33 images