Abandoned places

[nhguy]

Vala, house#3 is the Walloomsac Inn in Bennington VT. I would know it anywhere. been driving past it since I was a kid in the 80's on the way to ski and it has always been a wreck. It is the oldest inn in Vermont, although no longer functioning as one since the 1990's. Believe it or not it is still lived in as a private residence by a member of the family who has owned it since the 1890's. I believe the original section which you don't see dates to the 1760's.

Those other houses are amazing as well. Really a sin to see such beautiful houses falling apart. They aren't making them like this anymore, folks! I understand how difficult it can be to restore a house and how costly because I own one myself, and mine is tiny by comparison, so i do imagine it would cost a fortune to fix those other beauties. But gosh, I wish someone would. I always get a kick out of people who have tons of money and yet live in some new McMansion. If I was a wealthy man, I'd buy some crazy high victorian like you've pictured and fix it to period perfection and live like a king in it.

Great thread.

I didn't recognize #3 until you said that. I have customers all over that area and have been driving through there for 30 years. I remember going by and seeing a single lit bulb hanging from a cord a few times. Another time there was an old(er) lady out on the porch, never saw a person there before of since.

[JRC]

In Youngstown, there are/were lots of fantastic abandoned older homes. Most are from the first quarter of the 20th century.

I've shared these--and others--before. Here are two that I would have been interested in buying. Unfortunately, a developer wanted the land, and got them first; they are still just vacant lots. But, either of these projects would have probably ruined me financially, anyway.

1st house:














2nd house:

[Vala]

Nice pics but sad story. What is the matter with people? It should be illegal to destroy a home built with real materials to replace with a vinyl box!!

[Casey]

Sometimes we get a happier ending;
I worked on this house for 5 years, basically as a volunteer.

And we restored the porch:


It was never abandoned; it was just getting ready to collapse; that's what can happen when a impoverished non-profit with no endowment owns 350 acres of property with many huge and historic buildings and no money to keep them up.
Casey

[phil]

I have been watching three old houses in a row near me. They lifted them and put them on blocks, set them off to one side and proceeded to build an apartment building right behind them. Now they are located on top of the apartment building. I guess they couldn't get the permit to demo them so this was a workaround. I thought it seemed like an acceptable trade off. they will all get a solid foundation.

[Sara]

Now they are located on top of the apartment building.

On top of? What does that look like?

[phil]

I think it is going to look nice. the houses are completely visible. the commercial space or apartments or whatever it is is just new, but this is an option to tearing them down and a way for the city to keep it's heritage without loosing taxes. the more density, the more taxes. they want more density. it's a trade off. I think it makes a bold statement that the old houses are worth saving.

[Gothichome]

Here is a house in the general area of Gothichome. Being yellow brick, it is probably closer to London Ont. Yellow brick homes were realy popular in that area.

Not my picture, got it from this site, they are a group of folks with camera that go around taking pics of these things. A bit of a clandestine group.

[kelt65]

Vala, I think most times it comes down to money. Old money that built these grand homes has long since run out after the home gets willed down a couple of times. At some point they get sold out of the family for lack of funds or interest. Land lords pick them up cheap, slum lords buy them even cheaper. At some point the roof gives out and the weather gets in. It's a short journey from inhabitable to total ruin at that point.

Ahem. Speaking of that, here's one in my family (no longer). It's about to fall over but somehow still hanging in there. That side of the family - great grandmothers - was very wealthy and owned a very large mill shop and lumber operation in New Orleans, it provided most of the lumber, doors, sashes, windows, and other wood architectural items for the whole city from around 1860-1910. This is the only house left of all the ones they owned ... as with most urban New Orleans houses, the facade is narrow and the house is very deep. There isn't much left of it.

2013-Dumaine by Tim Kelley, on Flickr

Here's another tragedy, the old Tool and Die Building, a beautiful Art Deco structure, from 1930 with a very colorful terra cotta facade, just wasting away
General Laundry Building, St. Peter 2512 by Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, on Flickr

A gorgeous old school in Gothic style. It is being redeveloped as "affordable housing for artists" which to me is a bad sign - it actually means "giveaway to hedge fund babies who are connected and get lots of grants". There goes the neighborhood.
bell_school by Tim Kelley, on Flickr

A really wonderful Arts and Crafts mansion, at least someone boarded up all the stained glass (it still has a LOT of it)
l04c47c44-m4o by Tim Kelley, on Flickr

Another tragic demi-mansion, an Italianate from around 1860
12528723-mmmain by Tim Kelley, on Flickr[/url]12528723-mmmain by Tim Kelley, on Flickr

[Gothichome]

All nice homes if they can find some one to love them. I see the proper on your great grandmothers house. Looks like some at least aware of it structurally. Or at the he least are worried about negligence law suits.