City Eyes Blog

Category: Art

  • Chicago Hospital Complex Exploration pt. 2

    We started the day with plans to explore two abandoned hospitals in the area. The hospital has been a historic point of Chicago since it was built and even had a popular TV sitcom based on it. The hallways were gigantic, but also very empty. Being a county hospital, the city had pinched every penny from the closure that they could.

    There was almost nothing left but the structure of this building. Rooms stood completely empty with only a scrap or two of metal or a radiator against the wall.:

    Making our way up to the top floor, we could see the Chicago skyline outside of the window. I wound my way through a small hallway to find an oddly placed auditorium that was probably used for the observation of surgeries at one point. The floor of the auditorium where the instructor once stood was now completely filled with what seemed to be heating equipment. A hulking wall of aluminum blocked us from going any further down the stairs.

    The hallways were as gutted as the actual rooms. I have no idea why, but dirt was covering the ground of this 7th floor hallway.

    We exited the first of our destinations and made our way to the second. This hospital, midway between the point where a building is closed and the point where demolition work starts, was much more interesting. It was full of leftover equipment, records, x-rays, film – you name it. Unfortunately, we were running low on daylight so we were forced to rush through.

    The hospital felt as if everyone had just gotten up and left. Not a single room in the building that we were able to explore was completely empty. Chairs, piles of records, even medical equipment was just left to rot.

    The furniture in the building was dated. Seems the last time that they actually refurnished the place was in the seventies, although I’m pretty sure it closed much more recently.

    The halls were dark, full of furniture and debris. Peeling paint coats floors that have paint, other halls are lined with tile that has not yet fallen off.

    Meet the most frightening CPR dummy that you’ll ever see.

    One of the most surprising and incredible things that has ever happened to me while exploring suddenly happened. We were wandering around looking for a way to make it to the basement and something insane happened. We were in a dark stairwell. Dirty floors, peeling paint everywhere, no lights, darkness – suddenly, we opened a door and found ourself in one of the most pristine abandoned buildings that we had ever been in. It felt surreal, almost dreamlike. The colors on the walls were the same as they were when the building closed, the floors almost looked waxed. It was crazy. We were in a hurry (many windows, well lit), so I couldn’t get a great photo.

    More to come of course.

    To see more of my abandoned photos, check out my main site.

  • Chicago Hospital Complex Exploration

    Chicago Hospital Complex Exploration

    Ok I’m back after a few weeks of slacking for some more uploady goodness.
    First off, I returned to the hospital complex that I went to last time. We explored a few different buildings, although I didn’t get photos in many of them because it was so dark.

    The nurse’s residency was one of the places that we hit. The bottom floor actually had a boarded up ballroom with wood floors, chandeliers, a fireplace – the works. There was even wood left in the fireplace from the last time that they had extinguished the flame before they abandoned the building. We walked up a few floors to find room after room.

    Colorful rooms, they were painted with almost childlike colors contrasting with the dull decay of the hallway.

    One of the rooms was inhabited by a particularly successful bum.

    We wandered into an animal testing facility. Jordan was a bad monkey.

    In the same area, they were storing all sorts of medical equipment:

    To see more of my abandoned photos, check out my main site: http://www.cityeyesphoto.com/index.php?x=browse&category=29

  • Indiana Exploration

    Indiana Exploration

    Exploration Catch-Up first post:
    First off, an abandoned hotel.



    Second, we hit a schoolhouse in the area. Built in 1922, it has been shut down since somewhere around 1960.

    This hallway is actually in the basement. Originally, it was made of poured concrete and could withstand the blast of an atomic bomb.

    Some of the cool paintings we found in the building:


    For some reason, a single chair and desk were all that was left in this room. The floor was drooping pretty badly, so I didn’t spend too much time tromping around up there. There was a hole in the ground that led to a classroom below:

    There were a lot of weird things painted around the building:

    One last photo before we left the school – Jordan taking a shot in the stairwell:

  • Dead Mall: Exploration of an Abandoned Shopping Center

    Note from Kyle: I’ve kept this post up for archive purposes, but I’ve deleted the photos since I revisited Dixie Square mall in higher resolution on my main blog, which can be found here: http://www.cityeyesphoto.com/3298/dead-mall-exploration-of-the-abandoned-dixie-square-mall/

    Went out to Chicago again this weekend. Took a few photos of some new places.
    First destination – An abandoned shopping mall. Once in an area of great promise, now the area has descended into high crime and depression. The mall, used for the chase scene in the Blues Brothers movie, closed in 1978 and since then had been the site of a murder, multiple rapes, and a few other very nasty things until the police station moved nearby.

    Fire damage is apparent in the building and the once sturdy concrete upper floor has caved in at multiple sites within.

    A sign hangs from the position where it once stood. Vandalism has removed much of what was once in the mall, but sometimes you’ll stumble upon signs of what used to be:

    Walls are torn down – only flaps of wallpaper and wood grid remains in some areas:

    This room was particularly interesting to me. I’m not sure if I’m right, but I think that the blue tint in my photo is due to the holes in the ceiling becoming a giant pinhole camera type device. The blue and white is actually a projection of the sky above:

    An escalator, once part of a bustling JC Penny, now stands silent. Water collecting at the bottom makes for a tricky climb as well as corroding metal steps:

    Two escalators cross in a large department store area:

    Colorful murals and wallpaper adorn the dreary halls of the old mall:

    A sign advertising “beautiful things” still holds true, in a way.

    My second destination was, as far as I could tell, an abandoned chemical research factory. I’m told that it was once an oil company, but I can’t for the life of me tell exactly what they did in there because I found all sorts of obscure chemicals not related at all to petroleum.

    A piano is in the hallway across from a lab. I have no idea why it’s there:

    Some insane machinery fills up one of the rooms in the building:

    Various equipment, bottles, and papers create shadows in this room. It smelled of sulfur, so I didn’t stay in there for long:

    Notice the “asb 9” in this photo. I’m pretty sure that means that there was asbestos present and needed to be removed. Still, the least of our worries:

    As always, you know where to find more and larger.