An Icy But Well Lit Exploration

A late invitation from Jenn had me driving early in the morning to meet with her and 2 others for a day of exploration. Our first stop was in Baltimore at an ice production plant that I'd been to a few years ago. Back then we'd seen plans for this building's redevelopment, a link is here, but not much has happened to the building since then except for a fire in 2010, causing more damage to the structure.

The floor still consisted of multiple ice containers, ironically many now filled with ice thanks to natural refrigeration from our recent frigid temperatures, so we had a good idea of how it would have looked in its day.

The last time I had been here there had been no ice, so all the moulds had held just water, making passage across the floor rather like walking in a fun house at a carnival, as the boards resting on top rocked from side to side when stepped upon.

The old building hasn't faired well and it's sad that the hoped for renovations haven't been started. But one of the pieces of machinery caught my eye from a certain angle because it resembled a pig, so at home in Photoshop, I enhanced the image with some color and voila!

We poked around a bit more but my poor fingers were numb with the cold and I lost interest, eager to move on to the next place just so I could sit in a warm car for a while.
We then moved across town to check out an old building once used by Baltimore Public Works. It was very overgrown and starting to tumble down. Works vehicles from other companies were using the area for parking but when we got inside it was evident the structure hadn't been used for a while.

 A few areas were dark, warranting flashlight use, and we found our beams were lighting up other old forms of lighting. As we foraged around we discovered various shades, glass and plastic, that had once been spares for streetlights around the town.

 An old intercom system.

 There was a beautiful old spiral staircase leading up to some rotten floors and yet more light shades.

We were in a rough area of town but it offered so many cool photo opportunities. An old RV had been dumped by a mural, and I was taken with the various forms of seating outside homes in the street, a very red street. Wasn't sure if there was any significance in that...
We then got back into the car for another drive, this time to a place a lot further away, to a location I can't divulge. Our source for this destination had told us that he was being stalked on the internet to obtain locations and then a group was following behind, trashing and vandalizing his locations. And since I know folks read my blog for urbexing locations, my lips and fingers will not give this beautiful place away.

It was once a form of hospital and had obviously been an impressive house in its prime. We were flabbergasted to find intact the most gorgeous fireplaces and windows, even though the outside was slowly starting to creep its way in, sending tendrils of vines through windows. There were a few areas where the roof was starting to drop large pieces of plaster but for the most part it was intact.

A large wooden dresser held a shell collection, and pieces of a chandelier in its drawers

There are many windows such as these around the house. This was one of a group of 4 in one of the rooms, each window illuminating a season of the year.

Spectacular glass, intricately carved woodwork, painted friezes and handmade tiles decorated this building. We were amazed and deeply appreciative that none of it had been destroyed. There were no signs of any vandalism although we did come across a couple of rooms that appeared to have been lived in recently. We can only assume that this squatter also appreciated his surroundings.

An instrument to test hearing.

Someone liked elephants; I spotted a couple of drawings on the walls.

We managed to locate a little secret staircase that led to the roof. As we stepped out I marveled at how warm 40 degrees felt, the house was like a freezer inside.We stayed out there for a while loving the old steeple's rustic charm and texture, then headed back down to leave the old place quiet once more as we drove the long drive home.