Moments in Brutalist Architecture
This building, oh… this crazy old building.
It’s been (so very slowly) deconstructed, and so isn’t viewable at all any more. But for years after it was abandoned, the entire compound just slowly fell apart out in the woods.
For years it was visited by a few thrillseekers, transients, a number of really young children (I know, right?) and a few older folk that remember the compound’s original stories: as the Callahan Center, a branch of Dammasch State Hospital (1883-2012).
If I remember correctly, Dammasch hospital was built to be be available as an emergency nuclear decontamination facility/hospital if there ever was a localized nuclear attack. There were these tunnels that stretched from Dammasch hospital’s basement to the Living Enrichment Center. Supposedly, these tunnels even led to an underground “food cache”.
I’ve seen the entrance to this tunnel system, but it had been filled in/collapsed. Hey I’m a photographer, not a miner.
I think the original plan for the LEC’s remains was to just let nature do most of the deconstruction, as it sat adrift in the woods for almost a decade… but let’s face it, that Brutalist design doesn’t really come down on it’s own.
On quiet days it really had some beautiful, if not totally abandoned and somewhat creepy, moments. RIP, LEC.
Brass beach
Years and years of abandoned casings eventually become their own landscape.
Daffodils bloom at the Fairview Training Center
Established In 1907 as the Oregon State Institution for the Feeble-Minded, this spooky complex later was renamed to the Fairview Training Center in the 1960’s. It was eventually shut down in 2000.
Dirt Surfing
This old abandoned house looks like it’s surfing on the soft dirt swell beneath it.
Water Wells
This appears to be the truck that either got the most care over the years… or else it just suffered a lot less tragedy than the others.
It looks like it’s pretty decent shape, maybe it even still runs? Someone around here must be collecting these trucks, you think.
But who (and where) the hell are they? Enough trucks already; you decide to head over to the lively side of town: the Post Office.
And The Landlord Taketh Away
Interior image of a long lost roof, likely once a stable part of a farmer or rancher’s home. This is out in Eastern Oregon near the Ochoco National Forest. There were obviously a few tenants around still making use of the structure, but they weren’t up for talk about the matter; most of them just flew off when I approached. The rest scurried underground.