Kevin Bauman's 100 Abandoned Houses.
I found these yesterday. Even though they were taken in Detroit, they remind me of here.
It's worth clicking through the entire series. It's a cliche to say we don't build houses like that anymore, but we don't.
3.08.2009
abandoned houses
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ahh, those are lovely, and so sad.
This reminds me so vividly of the only time I've ever been to Detroit. My daughter had been accepted to a ballet intensive, we were there all excited, yay!, but growing up in Silicon Valley, she had never seen this kind of urban decay. We were silent as we drove from the Renaissance Center to the Wayne State campus. Thanks for the reminder - those of us on the coasts might forget.
Detroit is being affected by much more than just the current global financial crisis and subprime meltdown.
Anyway, the images reminded me of a movie I'd seen a couple years ago. Garden Stories. It was part of series of events and exhibitions exploring the concept of shrinking cities.
I agree - empty houses are just one manifestation of a complex tangle of problems (just like here).
But to me, they speak so eloquently about lost endeavor and potential. Every one was a home, a place, the result of energy and expenditure and thought. Now they are just husks, urban blight to be removed.
The shrinking cities concept is pretty fascinating - the possibility of reshaping the city into something smaller and radically different is where it's at, I think. Youngstown is really on the edge of that.
I love this post! I have always been intrigued by abandoned houses... Both sad and beautiful.
So sad. I would give a tooth to live in a house like this (preferably with a roof). It would cost a mint to build something one of those beauties these days, but why bother when most people prefer to have a house just like their neighbors.' And builders certainly aren't inclined to argue against the fiscal incentive inherent in that desire.
Thought of you when I saw this in the Times. Beautiful post.
I fall so hard for buildings like these-- abandoned by time and circumstance but still retaining hints of the beauty that once was. It makes me sad to imagine their fall from grace, and I always want to scoop them up and breathe new life into them. If one day I ever had the money, I would so love to try...
Wow, these photos are just gorgeous. Hauntingly beautiful.
Thanks for posting this! Those houses are beautiful and haunting, or maybe haunted. ;) I'm happy to have finally found even*cleveland.
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