Shafts and Shadows

These stairs connected some small main-level offices with one of the main sewing rooms above. Because the roof on this building was strong, it was pretty well preserved–look at those colors. Through the open fire door on the left, though, you can see that the roof has given out.

In case of fire, workers on higher floors would take the emergency slides to escape.

This is part of the oldest section of factory, one that hasn’t had a roof in a long time and all usable equipment has been extracted. The machines pictured would spin sliced beets in boiling water… it was a sealed system before someone cut holes on sides of each unit.

No wonder the factory shut down; everyone was scheduled to work 9 to 5 and the clock’s broken! (In all seriousness, this is/used to be a beautiful timepiece, especially for a utilitarian factory like this.

This room on the top floor of one of the oldest buildings has seemingly not changed since it was adapted for employee use. Some sections of the hospital were adapted for staff to live in. Paying Patient Ward–where capable patients were separated from wards of the state.

The city constructed a wall in the early 2000s to discourage visitors. Note the staircase is cut off, too.

The vibrant colors clashed with the silent hotel.

The old way to get to the elevator from the mill.

A closeup of the old fashioned wood-and-iron flour mill, a little while before they were all scrapped.