Our final location of the day was this old building. Back in the days there were similar ones everywhere in Finland. Downstairs there was a business space or two, upstairs there was an apartment or two.
I had learned of this place through my dancer friend, who lives nearby. They were wondering, why there were so many abandoned buildings by the same road. I could give no explanation.
According to my intensive research on the internet, the other space contained a barbershop, which went out of business in 2011, and the other one a store, which sold all kinds of stuff for children.
The earliest I could get on Google Maps was 2009. Back then the other business space looked empty, the other one housed the barbershop. Everything on its windows looked so faded by the sun, and the yard was looking so unkept, that the place looked like abandoned.
There was a red sedan on the yard, but it was a Mercedes. Whoever dumped these cars here seems to be more fond of cheap and small Mediterranean car brands.
The steps leading to the doors of the business spaces hadn’t been used this winter.
And nobody had cleaned the ice from the eaves.
That’s where the sign of the barbershop was still back in 2009. It’s a surprise, that the neon bulbs are still intact.
There was a busy restaurant on the opposite side of the road with a constant stream of people coming and going. We had to pretend like we were just photographing the facade.
Meaning lots of similar photos.
But finally we reached the back.
Three doors. If the layout of the building is the classic one, one leads to one of the business spaces, the other one to the second one. And one of the doors leads upstairs, where the apartment(s) are.
They were all locked. So there was really only one way in.
Which wasn’t exactly my favorite.
Meat boxes. According to my Googling, Lihapolar only existed for a few years in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as the result of a merger between two other meat companies.
One more attempt to see, if there was any other way in than to crawl through the basement door.
Nope, so here we are. This looks a bit like a former toilet.
A nasty, dark corridor in the basement.
And finally some light. We are now right behind one of the three doors at the back of the building. Not sure, which one. But maybe the exploration will reveal that.
This was a common building style in the United States as well. In recent years, we have seen strip malls following similar patterns, except that the apartments upstairs are now considered luxury and are priced accordingly. I would hate living in such a way. My idea of luxury is living in the middle of absolutely nowhere, much the way my wife and I live now. 😉
In Finland they are not considered luxury. Some have been converted into houses with several apartments, but mostly this is their fate. Sadly.