Photos

Roly (1960) 2005-06-19 2:40

Yeah, I wonder how comes that the companies that abandon such buildings are not obliged to tear them down. They really damage the aspect of the cities they are in. The image does lack an element of interest and the upper edge of the wall is too bright. What do you mean by "replaced overcast sky"? The light is very nice, goes well with such ruin.

cgrindahl (6109) 2005-07-12 3:35

I love the gray sky contrasting with the warm light on the brick wall. This is not what one would call a pretty picture, but it surely demonstrates something about conditions in many cities as a result of disinvestment in manufacturing in this country. We've increasingly become a service economy, with manufacturing jobs lost to foreign countries with lower wages and often less onerous occupational safety and environmental laws. This is globalization at both its best and worst.

I'll hazard a guess about why this building stands in the condition you depict with your camera. I worked as an inspector for King County in Seattle during the recession that hit Boeing very hard. Many former employees simply walked away from their homes because they could no longer afford to make payments. The property was in the midst of foreclosure and the banks were not interested in coming in to board up what had become attractive nuisances. In my experience, owners of dilapidated buildings have no incentive to invest in demolition unless the building becomes a nuisance and they're forced by goverment agencies to remove them. They'll wait until the economy turns around and leave it to the new tenant/owner to incur the cost of clearing the land. In the meantime, residents are given these daily reminders of what was a once flourishing manufacturing sector.

You might be interested in a novel called Keepers of the Truth by Michael Collins that chronicles events not unlike what is suggested by your photo in a fictional midwestern city. I enjoyed the book so much I wrote a review on Amazon.