Abandonments

[Sherman Cahal]

Over the summer, I was able to venture into the closed St. Mark Catholic Church in Cincinnati, Ohio to photograph more of its intricate elements, and to follow up on two prior visits. Located in the Evanston neighborhood, the parish was dedicated to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, and during its first fifty years, there were 24 priestly vocations, which included one bishop, two religious brothers and 36 religious sisters.

The first church for St. Mark was dedicated in October 1906 but it was not long before a new facility was needed due to a rapidly expanding population. Architect Henry J. Schlacks was sought after to design a larger church that would be inspired after St. Marie in Trastevere and St. Marie in Cosmedio, Italy. Schlacks was the founder of the Architecture School at Notre Dame University, and was the architect of Xavier University’s original campus buildings and other notable Cincinnati landmarks.

In 1914, the cornerstone for the new church was laid and the new building was completed two years later at a cost of $150,000. The exterior featured a mild brown brick with a terra cotta facing which was colored to match that of Roman Travertine stone, with a Verona facade, and imported orange Roman tiles. The inside was just as labish, with Botticino marble used for the three consecrated altars, with the high alter containing images of the twelve apostles, which is surmounted by a baldachino comprised of Breccia marble. The side altars featured Lady as Queen of Angels and Mother Hen, and St. Joseph as Scion of the House of David and Patron of the Universal Church. Several statues included Sacred Heart, St. Anne, St. Mark and St. Rose, all constructed of Carrara marble. The stained glass windows were crafted by Zettler of Munich, Germany.

In 1933, a large pipe organ, built by Kilgen, was installed.

At its height, St. Mark welcomed 1,200 families every Sunday. But with the decline of the neighborhood in the 1970s came the decline of the parish. In more recent times, St. Mark was home to a small congregation of mostly African-American Catholics. Planning for a merger began in 1991 and in on July 25, 2010, the last service was held at St. Mark. It was merged with two other congregations with a combined 550 worshippers.

A proposal soon after called for St. Mark to become home to a new parish with a focus on Latin Mass. But restoration costs, tabbed at $2 million, and property acquisition, proved to be a high hurdle and the plan was shelved.

Today, St. Mark remains vacant and in an ever peculiar situation. It's not been offered for public sale, but is still owned by the parish. It's condition worsens with each passing month, with ornate plaster details becoming more worn and ruined with every developing leak in the roof.

Of course, there are many more photographs to pursue after the jump to St. Mark Catholic Church. Enjoy!

[Sherman Cahal]

St. Andrew Catholic Church was located in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was in operation from 1875 until its merger in 2010.

The parish was organized in 1874 by Irish Catholics who had acquired a lot on Prospect Place. The cornerstone for a Gothic Revival-styled building was laid on September 20 with the new building dedicated in April 1875. The structure was enlarged in 1894 but with Avondale developing into an upscale community dominated by large estates and suburban housing, a larger church was needed.

In 1917, ground was broken for a new facility designed by Samuel Hannaford & Sons, which was completed in 1920.

It featured a vaulted ceiling, extensive stained glass panels and a statue of St. Andrew above the front door above the apex. The statue was ordered in 1919 by Frank Herschede from Italy although it received disapproval from the parish priest, Father David O’Meara, due to its smaller size. It was crated and stored in the warehouse of the Herschede Hall Clock Company. But because the statue held a St. Andrew’s Cross, it was difficult to sell the statue and was uncrated, blessed and installed on the lawn of the church in 1939. It was later moved inside.

In 1925, a sizable two-story school was completed behind the church.

But Avondale’s demographics changed for the worse during the mid-20th century. In the 1940s, black professional and middle-class homeowners moved to the neighborhood by choice from an overcrowded West End, lured by large homes and lots and a vibrant business district. In the 1950s, African-American planners in the neighborhood convinced the city to force thousands of low-income families to relocate from the West End as part of urban redevelopment projects in the West End that eventually led to the construction of Interstate 75 and the Queensgate industrial park. This led to the first wave of substantial population decline in Avondale, but the riots in 1967 and 1968, prompted by civil unrest, spurred the rapid decline of the neighborhood. St. Andrew’s was not spared damage and stained glass was broken during the melee, while businesses and residences nearby were set ablaze.

Below: Note the broken stained glass that was never repaired.

St. Andrew’s school closed in 1965 due to declining enrollment and students were sent to St. George School in Corryville, which was renamed Corryville Catholic.

On July 14, 2010, a decree by Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr formed the Church of the Resurrection, which combined St. Agnes in Bond Hill, St. Martin de Porres in Lincoln Heights and St. Andrew in Avondale into the St. Agnes location. The newly combined congregation contained 550 worshipers. Four days after the formation, St. Andrew held its last service after 136 years.

I've posted more photos at http://www.abandonedonline.net/churc...tholic-church/

[Beef_Supreme]

Thanks for posting, especially about St. Mark's. I'd always seen it driving down 71 and had no idea what it was - definitely looked like an interesting building, though...

[Sherman Cahal]

A well known landmark for ruin, the Republic Rubber Company was located in Youngstown, Ohio and manufactured tires and hoses for the automotive and aerospace industries. At its peak, Republic employed 2,300 with a payroll of $4 million. The company merged with several companies over the years and nearly came to an end in 1978. Several employees bought out the remains of the business and formed Republic Hose Manufacturing, which lasted until 1989.

Full background and more photos: http://www.abandonedonline.net/?p=14333

[Sherman Cahal]

The abandoned skeleton of Joseph & Feiss looms over the motorists along Interstate 90 in Cleveland, Ohio, a derelict that has only been a little more than a decade in the making. Graffiti stained and with no windows and doors, it’s a wonder that this former industrial site hasn’t been completely demolished.

The Joseph & Feiss Company is the oldest manufacturer of tailored apparel for men in the United States and it’s history is fascinating. It began as a small tailoring outfit in Meadville, Pennsylvania before it was relocated to Cleveland, where it changed hands before adopting its present-day name in 1907. The firm grew after Joseph & Feiss opted to internalize its manufacturing operations and absorbing its outsourced partners.

The company expanded and relocated to West 53rd Street in the early 1900s. After much growth in sales, the company built what was the largest clothing factory in the nation in 1920-21. At seven acres large, it centralized Joseph & Feiss’ cutting, trimming, sewing and pressing departments into one area.

It was around this time that the firm adopted scientific management concepts that was the brainchild of Frederick Winslow Taylor. Joseph & Feiss was able to demonstrate that scientific management was appropriate to the labor-intensive production of suits. Joseph & Feiss adopted semi-automatic machinery that was driven by electric power, and divided and subdivided production of its suits so that the production process included as many as 189 separate steps.4 These repetitive tasks were often handled by female employees who completed only one step in the elongated process, such as sewing on pockets, collars and sleeves, while men cut and tailored. The scientific approach allowed the company to utilize high-volume production techniques for its standardized lineup. The process was reviewed four times a year for any readjustments.

To keep employees content, auditorium, swimming pool, handball court, library, and an extensive cafeteria was constructed on site. But changing management and unionization ultimately led to the scientific management downfall.

After World War II, Joseph & Feiss was acquired by Samuel Spitz, Phillips-Van Heusen and then Hugo Boss AG. Facing lower priced imports, rising costs and an aging industrial complex, Hugo Boss opted to move its manufacturing operations to a facility on Tiedeman Road.

In 1998, Ameri-Con Homes acquired the former Joseph & Feiss facility at 53rd Street and announced that the complex would be converted into 150 condominiums and townhomes. After being sidetracked for several years, Ameri-Con began demolition of the center of the factory to make room for new townhomes and parking. The two largest buildings on the site were retained for condominiums. But facing a slow housing market, Ameri-Con abandoned the project in 2006.

Urban Housing Limited purchased the vacant factory at a sheriff’s sale and in 2011, the State of Ohio’s Department of Development awarded $1 million in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits towards the renovation of the remaining Joseph & Feiss buildings. While no work has begun on the rehabilitation project, the plans are still in the pipeline.

Here is to hoping that the buildings will be salvaged and reused for others to enjoy and admire.

[Sherman Cahal]

Ohio State Reformatory

The Ohio State Reformatory, also referred to as the Mansfield Reformatory, is a historic prison located in Mansfield, Ohio. Constructed between 1886 and 1896, it remained in operation until a 1990 federal court order required it to be closed. The facility is best known for its role in The Shawshank Redemption.

On July 30, 2012, Abandoned hosted a photography event at the Reformatory, which allowed for early entry into the former prison.

Warden's Office



Look familiar?













Brooks was here.

















Communal Showers

Check the rest out at Ohio State Reformatory. Keep watch for future photography events this year!

[Sherman Cahal]

Champion Paper

Champion Paper, which later became Champion International Paper, International Paper and then SMART Papers, was a paper mill in Hamilton, Ohio. Once employing 5,000 and boasting the largest facilities in the nation, the factory was the bread-and-butter of the working-class city.

At its height, Champion Paper was part of “The Paper Valley,” aptly named due to the concentration of paper mills along the Great Miami River and the Miami & Erie Canal. Mills existed at Crescentville, Port Union, Rialto, Hamilton, Woodsdale, Rockdale, Excello, Middletown, Franklin, Miamisburg, West Carrollton and Dayton. There were thirty separate mills that operated generally between 1890 and 1930, dipping to the low 20′s during the 1960′s and only a handful by the 21st century.

And Champion Paper, after a merger with International Paper and economic decline, has ceased to exist and has now joined the ranks of the dead mills that litter "The Paper Valley."

Power Plant

















Coal Hopper











































Laboratories

More from Champion Paper

[Sherman Cahal]

^ I really need to get overseas soon!

==

Inside Old Crow Distillery

Revisiting an old friend several weeks ago at a whiskey bar, I was reminded of a famous Mark Twain quote.

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough."

Just like the old friend, I repaid another visit to Old Crow Distillery in central Kentucky with several architects. For the architects, it was a chance to take in ideas for a start-up distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. For myself, it was a chance to visit portions of Old Crow that I had not visited - including the main distilling house. Dominated by the sheer vertical orientation of the facility and topped with a skylight, the distilling house was an industrial sight to behold.

Atop the distilling house was the laboratory and various rooms that held specific functions that were necessary to ensure the quality of the bourbon. An autoclave was used to sterilize instruments. A back room held hundreds of vials and instruments.

Behind a heavy door*atop the distilling house*was a room with several hoppers that completed an unknown function. The hoppers were moved on a fixed rail and included a scale for general measurements.

Along the lines of Mark Twain, I believe that too much good distillery exploring is barely enough.

• Check out more from Old Crow Distillery
• If you are down in the area, stop on down for a guided tour or photographic event! We are offering a guided tour and a separate photographic event on JULY 5 and JULY 26.

[Sherman Cahal]

Saturday: Old Crow Distillery

Much thanks to everyone who came out to Old Crow Distillery along Glenns Creek in Kentucky! The weather was perfect - partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures provided the perfect exploring experience.

Location of the cookers



From the cooker, the product would move to the fermenting tanks







Spring house



Barrel house

Next event is on July 26. Photographers get in at 9 AM for 5 hours; a guided event is at 2 PM.

More on Old Crow: http://www.abandonedonline.net/locat...ow-distillery/

[Sherman Cahal]

Westland Mall

As a child of the 1980’s, I recall many memories at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville, West Virginia. With it’s beige floor tiles, fountains, wooden oak benches and retro shops, you could spend hours exploring. Shops like the San Francisco Music Box Company, Hickory Farms and Radio Shack were my mainstays. Of course, the Huntington Mall sucked the shopping experience from downtown Huntington into a suburban wasteland, surrounded not by historic buildings but by a sea of asphalt.

The Westland Mall in Columbus, Ohio was similar. Built upon the promise of open-air shopping in suburbia, the mall boasted three anchors and over 40 stores, from stores that peddled drapes to sewing equipment and eccentric clothing.The mall was one of four directionally-named shopping centers in the metropolitan area built in the same time period: Westland, Northland, Eastland and Southland. Westland was later enclosed in the early 1980’s.

But the Westland Mall evoked a similar feeling to the Huntington Mall that I remembered as a child. By 2011, Westland was on its deathbed, but it’s interior was simply vintage, having never been renovated after it’s enclosure. Brown tiles adorned the floor, dark-tinted lights were fastened on the pillars and remnants of stores long gone lined the concourse. There was not a soul inside and for the 30 minutes I walked around, all I could hear was the water dripping from the deteriorated ceiling.

Several weeks ago, I revisited Westland Mall, only to find it practically boarded up and abandoned. The only tenants that remained were Staples and Sears, both of who have no entrances to the concourse. Boarded up windows cover panes of broken glass at the entrances to the concourse. Inside, sad and pathetic signs on whiteboard tell of a mall with no ATM and restroom facilities. Outside, transformers that once fed into the course lay in pieces, stripped of any valuable metal.

Front entrance in 2011










Front entrance in 2014


Sears






Sears Auto Center


JC Penny






Lazarus and later Macy's

I have posted over 60 historical photos of Westland Mall, but since reposting them here would be a nightmare, I have put a sample of what the shopping center once was.

Over 100 photos of Westland, and a complete history, at http://abandonedonline.net/locations...westland-mall/

[photoLith]

DSC_2561-2 by photolitherland, on Flickr
An abandoned church in south Cleveland.

[Sherman Cahal]

Didn't know you were on here Chris!

[photoLith]

^
On SSP?

[Sherman Cahal]

The USS Sachem and USS Phenakite was a converted yacht that was used by the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919 and again from 1942 to 1945. It was later used as a tour boat before becoming abandoned on a small creek just yards from the Ohio River in northern Kentucky.

More history and photos on the USS Sachem and USS Phenakite: http://abandonedonline.net/locations...uss-phenakite/

[Sherman Cahal]

Warner & Swasey Observatory
Full history and photo set: http://abandonedonline.net/locations...y-observatory/

Light pollution eventually forced this observatory in Ohio to close, and years of abandonment have taken their toll.

The Warner & Swasey Observatory was constructed by Worchester Warner and Ambrose Swasey of Warner & Swasey as a gift for Case Western Reserve University. It closed in 1982 and was sold to a television outfit a year later. The building eventually fell to foreclosure and was sold to a couple who began rehabilitating the building before one of the pair was convicted of mortgage fraud.

What would Mr. Warner and Mr. Swasey think of today’s treatment of their historic structure – a building that, for decades, helped astronomers discover what Buzz Aldrin called the “magnificent desolation” and furthered the case of science over speculation?

[phil marion]

Yonge Street boarded up by Phil Marion, on Flickr

[Ex-Ithacan]

Hope no one minds if I post a video:

• Video Link

It's supposedly haunted.