An abandoned (literally) underground music hall in Boston

View on Google Maps

Boston's Piano Row is a historic district known for its piano showrooms built in the late 19th century. There, piano dealers M. Steinert & Sons own the building standing at No162 Boylston Street. The six-story building was designed by architects Winslow & Wetherell  and it was erected in 1896 by company employee Alexander Steinert.

Four stories below the ground, the building features Steinert Hall, a now abandoned concert auditorium designed in the Adam-style with fluted Corinthian pilasters separating round arches. In the early 20th century, the 'Little Jewel' as Steinart Hall was called, was considered headquarters for the musical and artistic world of cultured Boston. Among those who performed there, 40 feet below ground, were Josef Lhévinne, Josef Hofmann, Harold Bauer, Fritz Kreisler, Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The last performance was given in 1942 as the hall closed due to new stricter fire code restrictions enforced after the 1942 Cocoanut Grove Nightclub fire and a prohibitive cost of updating the hall.

In 2015, it was reported that the new owners of the building were hoping to restore Steinart Hall and open it again as a concert hall. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned theaters around the world // More abandoned underground places // More abandoned places in Massachusetts // More abandoned places in the United States // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

Jessica Rinaldi/bostonglobe.com

greiglamont.blogspot.com

greiglamont.blogspot.com

greiglamont.blogspot.com

greiglamont.blogspot.com

Europe's largest abandoned underground military air base

View on Google Maps

It used to be one of the largest military complexes in Europe but it was destructed to keep it from falling into the enemy's hands. Željava Air Base was built by Yugoslavia's communist government starting in 1948 just on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Known by the code name 'Objekat 505', construction took about 20 years and cost approximately $6 billion, making it one of the largest and most expensive military construction projects in Europe. Yugoslavia's communist government chose the site, below Mount Pljesevica, for its strategic location. The role of the facility was to establish, integrate, and coordinate a nationwide early warning radar network for Yugoslavia, similar to the American NORAD. With radars on top of the mountain, the base was built in an ideal location.

The facility had 5 runways and within the immediate vicinity of the base, there were numerous short-range mobile tracking and targeting radars, surface to air missile sites, mobile surface-to-air missile interceptor systems, and various other supporting facilities. 

What made this base special though were its underground facilities. The tunnels ran a total length of 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) and the bunker had four entrances protected by 100-ton pressurized doors, three of which were customized for use by fixed-wing aircraft. The complex included an underground water source, power generators, crew quarters and other strategic military facilities. It also housed a mess hall that could feed 1,000 people simultaneously, along with enough food, fuel, and arms to last 30 days without resupply. Fuel was supplied by a 20-kilometer (12.4 mile) underground pipe network.

The airbase was last used extensively during the Yugoslav Wars. In 1991, the Yugoslav People's Army destroyed the runways during its withdrawal by filling pre-built spaces for this purpose with explosives and detonating them. The destruction was completed the following year by the forces of the Military of Serbian Krajina which detonated an additional 56 tons of explosives, to make the facilities unusable by the enemies.

The destruction of the base caused serious environmental damage in the area. It is said that there are still undetonated explosives in the vicinity of the base and accidents have occurred periodically. Today the former military base serves as a waypoint for illegal immigrants while the local government has launched an initiative to use one of the runways as an airport.

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned military facilities around the world // More abandoned airports // More abandoned underground places // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

Ballota/Wikimedia Commons

Hasan Zulic/Wikimedia Commons

Ballota/Wikimedia Commons

Ballota/Wikimedia Commons

journeytodesign.com

The abandoned public toilets of London

Back in the Victorian era London, public toilets were considered a necessity. The first of those 'public loos' were built over rivers but their output was enough to choke off the flow of the Fleet River, a tributary of the Thames.

It was engineer George Jennings who pioneered London's distinctive 'public conveniences' - tiled underground chambers marked by iron railings or arches at street level. 

Today of course most those public lavatories have shut down. Most of them remain abandoned, littered and vandalized, while few have been successfully converted into cafes, bars and shops. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned underground places around the world // More abandoned places in the United Kingdom // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter




(Click here for the full post)

Agnese Sanvito/spitalfieldslife.com

Agnese Sanvito/spitalfieldslife.com

Agnese Sanvito/spitalfieldslife.com

Agnese Sanvito/spitalfieldslife.com

Agnese Sanvito/spitalfieldslife.com

The abandoned Rochester Subway of New York

Rochester Subway operated in the city of Rochester, New York from 1927 to 1956. Its history dates back to 1918 when the Erie canal was re-routed to bypass downtown Rochester. The empty section of the canal was used as the core of the subway. The train lines were built inside the canal while the subway's roof was turned into Broad street. However, of the approximately 7 miles (11.2 km) of the subway's length, only 2 miles (3.2 km) were underground. 

In 1927 Rochester Subway operations began under contract with New York State Railways. The line was also used by interurban railways with Rochester and Eastern Rapid Railway, Rochester and Syracuse Railroad, and Rochester, Lockport and Buffalo Railroad running trains. 

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, New York State Railways fell into bankruptcy and from 1938 the subway was operated by the newly formed Rochester Transit Corporation. To cut costs, the company reduced weekday service and in 1952 Sunday service was eliminated. In 1955 Rochester's city council decided to end all subway service on June 30, 1956. Following the end of passenger service, the biggest part of the subway bed was filled in and used for the construction of interstate 490 and interstate 590. Freight trains kept running on the underground part of the subway until 1996. 

Rochester city officials have decided several times to fill the remaining abandoned part of subway, however those plans were controversial. Others have suggested to built a new subway system using the same tunnel or an underground walkaway. And some others would prefer to see the abandoned tunnel filled with water, by re-rerouting Erie canal to its original path. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned subway and railway stations around the world // More abandoned underground places // More abandoned places in New York // More abandoned places in the United States // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 

For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

RyDahl/rocwiki.org

RyDahl/rocwiki.org

canvasvandal/flickr.com

Scallop Holden/flickr.com

Joe Philipson/flickr.com

Inside Mussolini's secret bunker

View on Google Maps

In order to provide shelter to bureaucrats and party leaders during World War II, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini built several secret bunkers under the city of Rome. Now, many of those bunkers open to the public for the first time. 

This bunker was a 55 m (180 ft) long converted wine cellar, deep beneath Mussolini's residence, Villa Torlonia, which housed the dictator and his family from 1925 to 1943. Mussolini ordered its construction in 1940, fearing his house would become the target of an Allied bombardment. 

The bunker had 3 escape routes and was quipped with a double set of steel, gas-proof doors, and a sophisticated air filtering system that could provide oxygen for 15 people for 3-6 hours. Later, Mussolini decided to build another bunker, and then a third, which was still unfinished by the time he was arrested in 1943.

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned underground places around the world // More abandoned places in Italy // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter



(Click here for the full post)

Reuters/Remo Casilli

Reuters/Remo Casilli

Reuters/Remo Casilli

Reuters/Remo Casilli

Reuters/Remo Casilli

The abandoned City Hall station of New York Subway

It has been called 'one of the most beautiful subway stations in the world', but today it's one of New York subway's ghost stations. City Hall station opened in 1904 and served as the southern terminal of the "Manhattan Main Line", the subway's first line. Designed by Rafael Guastavino, it is an usually elegant station and unique among New York's first subway stations. The platform and mezzanine feature Guastavino tile, skylights, colored glass tilework and brass chandeliers.

During the following decades, New York subway saw an increase in passenger numbers which meant longer trains and longer platforms had to be used. As the City Hall station's platform was built on a tight curve, it would have been difficult to be lengthened. Moreover, City Hall was never an important station and it was close to the far busier Brooklyn Bridge station. The station closed on December 31, 1945. It served 600 passengers on that day. 

Today, the tracks going through the station are part of the turning loop which is being used by 6 trains. Passengers who remain on the trains as they go around the loop, can see the station's platform even though trains no longer stop there. Since the mid '90s there have been many occasions when this very unique station opens to the public for tours. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned subway and railway stations around the world // More abandoned underground places // More abandoned places in New York // More abandoned places in the United States // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter



(Click here for the full post)

James Maher photography

James Maher photography

James Maher photography

James Maher photography

James Maher photography

Inside the Honecker nuclear bunker in Berlin

Codenamed 17/5001, this secret bunker was one of the communist world's most advanced bunkers, built to protect the leaders of the former East Germany from a nuclear attack but it was never actually used. 

The three-storey bunker was built in a forest 25km (16 miles) north-east of Berlin, near Wandlitz, where the the East German government was accommodated in a special colony. The bunker reaches a depth of 70m (230ft) below ground.  85,000 tonnes of concrete were used while a four metre thick 'blast cap' over the bunker was designed to protect from explosions above. Complex filters shielded the bunker's occupants from radioactive or biological agents.

Its submarine-like tunnels divided by heavy metal doors lead on to 170 rooms. It was fitted with a fountain, power generators, air conditioning and "springed" rooms able to cushion residents from detonations. Over 

Its construction began in secret in 1978 and finished in 1983, It was intended to house the East Germany leader Erich Honecker who ruled the German Democratic Republic (GDR) for almost two decades and 400 staff. It is rumoured that Honecker himself visited the bunker only once and wasn't happy with its environment.  

Although urban explorers had found a way to enter inside earlier, the bunker opened for the first time to the public and for only 3 months in 2008, with its walls now covered in mould and the decontamination chambers long-defunct.

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned underground places around the world // More abandoned places in Germany // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

bunker5001.com

Lindi44/Wikimedia Commons

bunker5001.com

bunker5001.com

bunker5001.com

10 abandoned London Underground stations

London Underground is the oldest and one of the largest transit systems in the world. During its 150 year history, some of the stations built had to close, mainly due to low passenger numbers. In this post, we take a look at 10 such "ghost stations".

SEE ALSO: More abandoned railway stations around the world // More abandoned underground places // More abandoned places in the United Kingdom // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

1.  Aldwych tube station

Aldwych station opened in 1907 (as Strand Station) and closed in 1994 due to low passenger numbers. Since then, it has been used as the setting for scenes for various movies and TV programs including V for Vendetta and Atonement.

See also: Visiting the abandoned Aldwych Tube Station

Mark/flickr.com

silentuk.com

silentuk.com

2. City Road Tube Station

City Road station was open from 1901 till 1922 when it shut down due to low usage. The station's building was demolished during the '60s but the lift shaft remains still in place. 

Nevilley/Wikimedia Commons

Nick Catford/subbrit.org.uk

The abandoned LA subway

The Pacific Electric 'Red Car' and the Los Angeles Railway 'Yellow Car' lines were LA's original railway and the ancestor of today's Metro Rail, operating from the end of the 19th century till the 1960's.

The Subway terminal building in downtown Los Angeles was built in 1925 as a terminus for the Hollywood Subway branch of the Red Car. The building ceased operation in 1955 when the Subway closed due to low ridership. The trucks were removed and the tunnels were sealed up. Years later, the terminal building was turned into luxury apartments.

Last year, blogger Alissa Walker took a tour of an abandoned part of the subway, starting from the terminal building, showing us what remains from LA's original subway.

Source

 
SEE ALSO: More abandoned railways around the world // More abandoned underground places // More abandoned places in California // More abandoned places in the United States // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter



(Click here for the full post)

commons.wikimedia.org

flickr.com/Floyd B. Bariscale

awalkerinla.com

awalkerinla.com

awalkerinla.com