St. Paul’s School
Note- this is a photo gallery post with only minimal historical info provided (unlike my longer posts) For more context, visit the NYT. St. Paul's School was built in 1879…
RIP Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital
On July 12th 2015, the best abandoned building at Middletown Psychiatric Center burned down. (Top photo c/o Middletown Fire Dept.) Previously known as the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital (and State…
the New York World’s Fair
To read about the history of the New York World's Fair (and its lampposts) please go to the New Yorker to read my comic about it. The second to last panel has…
Bottle Beach at Dead Horse Bay
2018 update: My comic about Bottle Beach eventually became part of my book Tenements, Towers & Trash, and you can hear me talk about in on the New Yorker Radio Hour.…
Brooklyn Navy Yard: Naval Hospital & Admiral’s Row
The Brooklyn Naval Hospital is on the grounds of the perpetually changing Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is half abandoned, half commercial/office/film studio space. The hospital opened in the 1930s and…
SIM Hospital
Disclaimer: The hospital discussed in this post will be referred to under the pseudonym “SIM hospital.” I do this only rarely, when a location is on active grounds and/or fairly…
Harlem Valley State Hospital
It seems like a good time to run some Harlem Valley photos because the asylum is currently undergoing renovation by Olivet.* Soon, it will be a college campus subjected to…
Nepera Chemical Plant
Update: Nepera was demolished in 2015 The history of Nepera Chemical plant in Harriman, NY reads like a painfully predictable movie script about a Big Bad Chemical Company near a…
Greycourt Women’s Prison- La Guardia Men’s Homeless Shelter
These buildings started out as Greycourt Farm Colony- a woman’s prison- in 1918. It covered 258 acres of farmland that were tended to by female prisoners. (If you’re wondering what a…
Homowack Lodge
2016 update: Homowack Lodge is now a historic landmark. The unfortunately named Homowack Lodge was one of the many Borscht Belt resorts that were popular from the 1920s to the…
Bennett School for Girls
March 2022 update: Bennet School is currently in the process of complete demolition. When I first drove by the Bennett School for Girls, I did a cartoon double-take. If asked…
photos of the White Mansion in the Catskills, New York, by Julia Wertz
White Lake Mansion House
The White Lake Mansion House is very easy to find, it’s right on CR 117 in Bethel, NY. It is supposedly the oldest still standing hotel in the Catskills. It…