Cooking with Satan » Urban Exploration

Playground #3

simon — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:09:15 +0000

Now, here’s a good one.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard contains some of the oldest buildings in New-York City.
The land was originally bought for 40 000 $ by U.S government in 1801.
140 years later, on the eve of World War II, the yard contained more than five miles of paved streets, four drydocks ranging in length from 326 to 700 feet, two steel shipways, and six pontoons and cylindrical floats for salvage work, barracks for marines, a power plant, a large radio station, and a railroad spur, as well as the expected foundries, machine shops, and warehouses…
In 1966, secretary of Defense Robert McNamara closes the Brooklyn Navy Yard along with over 90 other military bases and installations. At the time of its closing, the Brooklyn Navy Yard employs more than 9,000 workers and is the oldest continually active industrial plant in New York State.
In 1967, the City of New-York buys the Navy Yard for 24 000 000 $.
Today, most parts of this giant park have been renovated and are now used for various purposes such as storage, artists studios, cinema sets (the Steiner studios) and other businesses. But some parts remained empty, slowly decayed by time and rust.
I got the chance to take a walk around among these remnants of old forgotten times and bring you back the following pictures…

THE NAVY YARD IN 1944

THE NAVY YARD TODAY

After decades of manufacturing and engineering, the oldest buildings of the Navy-Yard are now gigantic collapsed industrial spaces…

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(All pictures by Cooking with Satan, do not use without authorization)

THE NAVY YARD HOSPITAL

Adjacent to the Navy Yard, the hospital was built in 1830.
By 1850, the Annex was a self-contained parcel of land, walled-in, with a gatehouse, a laboratory, and a cemetery. In 1864, the Surgeon’s Residence was constructed. During the Civil War, the hospital would supply over one third of the medicines used by Union troops, and the basement of the main hospital building would be used to confine and treat wounded Confederate prisoners. During this period, more space was needed, and needed quickly, and a wooden annex was added to the main hospital building. This allowed hundreds of additional beds in the facility; over 500 patients could be treated at once.
Since 1966, when the Navy Yard was decommissioned, and the hospital remained in abandonment. It was recently bought by the Steiner studios who purchased the complex in order to expand their studio space.
The hospital is now your perfect haunted mansion, drowned in silence and darkness and I had a blast walking through these empty corridors…

THE OFFICERS’ HOUSES

Now, here’s the heartbreaking part of the story: the Navy Yard also built between 1864 and 1901 ten officers houses called the “Admiral’s Row”.
These gorgeous houses have abandoned since 1966 and are now eaten by trees and trash until they will be either destroyed for a new supermarket or renovated for visiting purposes. The renovation costs would be up to 25 000 000 $ so of course the city want them destroyed.
The Admiral’s Row is now a federal property surrounded by a fence and barb wire and I was not equipped enough to get in there…

Playground #2

simon — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:56:09 +0000

I had the opportunity to work recently on a photo shoot at the Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn.
The Floyd Bennet Field was New-York city’s first municipal airport and became a national park service acquisition since its shut-down in 1971. Today the Floyd Bennet Field is ranged among the historical sites of the city. Some of its buildings have been converted in business concessions and a sport complex. A small portion of the former airfield is now also used by an environmental education program for gardening.
Fortunately for us, a few hangars haven’t been re-used yet, mostly for financial reasons, and offer an interesting sight of industrial decay.
I was really not expecting to find anything like that there so I’m glad I did. The only problem was that I had very little time to walk through this mess to really explore the complex (a custom building seems much more well preserved from the outside but I couldn’t get in) and, last but not least, I didn’t have my camera. These pictures were taken with my phone. Guerilla style.
Couldn’t help myself thinking how awesome it would be to set up a show in there…

Now, the bikes that you can see at the end and that we used for the shoot are the property of crazy-ass Neil A.K.A Mister Tinker. If you’re into old custom bikes you should definitely check his blog here. Yes, one of these babies was born in 1953…

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Check Playground #1 here.

Playground #1

simon — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:51:58 +0000

The Aincourt sanatorium is located in the Vexin county, approximately 2 hours from Paris. It was built in the 30’s and it’s composed of three huge buildings (built identical) lost in the middle of a giant park (called “site de la Bucaille”). This is one of the biggest sanatorium ever built (on such short notice) during the XXth century.
During WWII, the sanatorium was used as a prison by german troops. War prisoners were sent over to various concentration camps from here.
The original purpose of this sanatorium was to cure tuberculosis and provide good light and fresh air to the patients, but as the disease decreased through the years, the first building closed about 20 years ago. The second building only closed in 2001. The third building remains active today. There’s nothing much left in the first two buildings, both places have been quite devastated in a short amount of time, but there’s still this ghostly presence floating around as you explore the empty rooms and climb up the stairs to the rooftop. Enjoy the walk.

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