Such was the case this past week.
St Luke's Hospital is old. Very old. There is very limited information on this facility, but as best I can gather it dates back to around the turn of the century. At first, mostly a hospital for women. Then an inpatient mental facility, then a homeless shelter. Now like thousands of other places in Detroit, it's abandoned and rotting. And like so many other places, it's had it's share of fires.....
The stench of fire here has never been my favorite smell. OK, I hate it. I was thinking, Great I'm going to have this stink on me all day" The crunching underfoot was very loud. I wondered if there was a basement and if I'd soon be there, via a hole in burned rotten wood flooring.
Exit to the left is some kind of nurses center. A call system is on the wall. This place is very sad but then I spot a ray of sunshine.
This place for some reason really gave me the creeps.
I think it's because there were so many rooms and it was kind of a small confined space. I prefer larger more wide open spaces and this is in a VERY bad part of town. I just didn't like all of the perfect spots for people to hear us and jump us. That being said, we kept our ears open and kept going and shooting. This noose hanging in the hallway was pretty interesting given the history of this building. And as usual in so many buildings, computer equipment is left behind.
Peering down one hallway on the second floor with some fire damage and some really cool burned out mattress coils, I was setting up my tripod since the light was really poor. Then at the end of this distant hallway, this sheet sat up. Not a ghost, a resident. The typical slurring of speech and saying lots of shit to us that I couldn't hear told me that this chap was probably using non licensed pharmaceuticals and maybe some alcohol. I abandoned the shot....
So rather than head down and out , what did we do? Of course , we headed for the third floor
In the staircase this T-shirt caught my eye. Quite ironic, in a city where the dreams of so many children have gone the route of this building. I thought: Detroit, where dreams go to die.
Up exploring the third floor, and walking the length of the long hallway,we could hear that person had come all the way down to where we had entered the staircase, and had headed downstairs. But then we could hear other people and the sounds seemed to be getting closer, not further.
So time for one more shot!
I really didn't have time to frame this how I liked. I loved this fixture hanging low, above what must have been a meeting room. I pictured "one flew over the cuckoo's nest"
"Let's get out of here" said my usually fearless exploring partner, who has done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We booked it down the stairs, and folks were really close. Tried to exit through a metal door. BANG BANG BANG. Nope. Wouldn't open all the way. Went down all the way towards where we'd entered, passing room after room, waiting to see someone, then out another door on the back side of the building and out into the sun. Before we got out we did have a face to face with another guy who hit us up for some spare change. He was messed up. We kept the change.
A fairly brief excursion. Glad to get out. Disappointed that time and rushing really precluded a full exploration and better photos.
The next two stops were complete busts. I had mapped out a few of Detroit's dozens of schools that are abandoned...and wouldn't you know it, BOTH places we visited had crews inside preparing for demolition. So now they decide to tear shit down, just when I want to get in! Thanks for nothing.
Feeling very thwarted by the events of the day, and being in the industrial area, and emboldened, we decided to try and visit the Fisher 21 body plant. This is another Albert Kahn Genius creation.
In 1904 and 1905, the two eldest brothers, Fred and Charles, came to Detroit where their uncle Albert Fisher had established Standard Wagon Works during the latter part of the 1880s. With financing from their uncle, on July 22, 1908 Fred and Charles Fisher established the Fisher Body Company.
In 1916, the company became the Fisher Body Corporation. Its capacity was now 370,000 bodies per year and its customers included Abbot, Buick, Cadillac, Chalmers, Chandler, Chevrolet, Churchfield, Elmore, EMF, Ford, Herreshoff, Hudson, Krit, Oldsmobile, Packard, Regal, and Studebaker.
The company constructed their signature factory, the Albert Kahn-designed Fisher Body 21, on Piquette Street, in Detroit, in 1919.
The plant is six stories tall, with a footprint of 200 feet by 581 feet and an interior area of 536,000 square feet.
During World War II, the factory produced P-80 Lockheed Shooting Star Planes, FG-4 (F4U-4) Corsair Shipboard Fighters, and some assemblies for B-25 Mitchell bombers. After 1956, the plant was used to build Cadillac limousine bodies; GM closed the plant in 1984. After GM left, several paint companies used the building; it closed for good in 1994. Now anybody who has been to Detroit and driven on I-75 or I-94 ( where they intersect ) has seen this giant graffiti covered rotting structure
We drove around the perimeter All of the places where access would be easy were completely fenced by a quite intact fence . So we drove around and found a piece of wall that was irregular.
And in we went.
The place is awesome!
I love the columns and wide open spaces in these Kahn-designed factories.
Next I noticed some stalactites.
then I noticed some security guards right out front, and heading in our direction! Damn!! We'd just located the staircase. For so long I'd wanted to get on that roof.
And out the hole we went. Freedom.
As General MacArthur said, I'll be back!
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