When It’s Closed, Anything Can Happen Part II

So, welcome to the downstairs corridor of the agriculture school.

The first room was a fucking mess.

And for some reason the blackboard contained information about the first Finnish war. What the hell?

These are probably made by the inhabitants of the refugee center times.

Pipes. A lot of them.

And something, which looks like a gym.

This goes again down to the times of the refugee center.

There seems to be a possibility to move a floor up. Judging by the following pictures I didn’t take it.

As we still seem to be on the ground floor.

And in another classroom.

Moving on to, well, somewhere.

But it really doesn’t look like this is ending nowhere.

Some small rooms here.

Mostly looking like storages.

Well, it has been an important room considering the functionality of this building.

Moving further on. Probably towards the main lobby.

And this looks like a shared toilet with the all so familiar hexagonal floor tiles.

This one doesn’t look inviting.

Another room with electric outlets surprisingly near the top.

An abandoned cabinet.

And a dorm room. This is probably where the students lived in.

The second dorm room with a few baskets.

Fried fire alarms for dinner?

Another dorm room.

An emergency exit.

Another room. And a mop.

This room even featured the beds.

The ground floor of the dormitory wing has been explored. Time to head up.

When It’s Closed, Anything Can Happen Part I

And here we are at another new location. This here is a former agricultural school, which was built in the 1950’s and closed in the early 2000’s.

While I was approaching, I was approached by a woman, who worked at a flea market just behind my back. She told me, that the school had been closed a few decades ago, but was used after that for accommodating asylum seekers and after that berry pickers from Thailand. She even told me where to get in.

So why not go in?

The old main building was made up of two parts: the apartment wing seen in the previous picture and the school seen in here.

A better look at the school building.

The back end of the building.

And suddenly I am inside. This is probably the apartment of the former caretaker.

Which has been used after that as an apartment of berry pickers. It was customary in Finland to get berry pickers from Ukraine and Thailand back then.

And obviously this place was used just for that back in the days as you can see in the following pictures.

As you can see, there are beds.

And a shower, yes, most likely a shower.

The local fire department has made a check-up in 2015. And that is most likely what killed this place off.

Couches and chairs.

A towel and some work jackets. Looks like they could be back anytime, but they won’t.

And even rubber boots. Let’s just enter the forest.

So much for the apartment. Let’s find something else, shall we?

Walking behind the building trying to find a way in.

For some reason my radar seems to have slipped and there are two very similar photos from the location. Well, let’s just pass this.

So it was used to inhabit asylum seekers.

And here we are at the back. This is where the kind lady from the flea market guided me in.

So let’s just get back to that in the following post.

They Closed The Doors After My Friend

Welcome to a new location for a change. This here is a former border control troop garrison. It was built in 1951 and closed in 2001. After that it was sold to a private investor, who planned tourism there.

The plans never materialized. The place has been closed for years. A friend of mine explored there just months earlier and gave a tip about the place for me.

By the time I arrived, however, all open doors had been closed.

There was an old camper wagon on the yard reminding of better days.

The main building, however, was unfortunately sealed off.

There was even a beer commercial in the window. “Karhu” is a famous Finnish beer brand. The sign says, that a bear has been sighted nearby.

And very unfortunately there was no entry. I really would have liked to catch this location.

A Special Assignment

The night was approaching. I still had one place I wanted to visit. It was the home of my friend’s great grandmother. My friend had given me a location and stated, that there should be something there. She and her mother really wanted me to visit this place.

Well, I went there. It was one hell of a hike from the main road to the location.

The road was completely overgrown.

But in the end there was a house.

All the doors in the shed were open.

Reaching the house was quite a pain in the ass.

The door here was from the 1960’s or the 1970’s. That one was probably brand new when the place was abandoned.

The hall. The building had been abandoned for a very long time, and it had mostly collapsed from the inside.

There were doors to all directions. Let’s see, what I can reach.

A view towards one of the rooms. Everything has collapsed.

It wasn’t much better in the following room.

That was about as much as there was to see because of the condition of the building. But I did find the place, I did go in and I did file a report.

This Is What Is Remaining

And I am once again at a familiar location. This here is the former sawmill featured in 2020 as a mystery factory and in 2022 as a sawmill. Just a few months after my previous pictures there was a massive fire, which destroyed most of the complex. This is what is left.

So… this is what is left.

The front of the complex is completely gone. Demolished after the fire.

It used to be over there.

And this is the section that is remaining. It’s not in a very good condition, though.

The power station remains.

Moving on to the other side.

And inside I am again in one part of the building. But this doesn’t count as a new entry, as I already entered another section of the complex in 2022.

This one is the boiler room.

So much for that this time. It seems, that it is one space each year. So I’m coming back.

During this visit to this town I again messaged my local friend, whom I have mentioned earlier. She was unavailable this time. But we’ll get back to her.

The School Is Still Out Of Bounds

And so I welcome you to yet another familiar location. This here is the secondary school featured earlier in 2020.

Nothing seemed to have changed throughout the years.

The building was as empty as always. And as closed as always.

Although suffering some damage, the place still seemed locked.

I knew the name of the owner and could have contacted them. But I decided to do things my way.

Which meant, that I would do another walk around and try the locked doors.

Mostly uselessly, though.

In its way it was a beautiful late 1950’s school building.

It was from an era, when school architecture was rapidly changing from taller buildings to lower ones but with the twist of a separate gym wing.

But this one here is the classroom wing.

And once again there was no way in. So this one remained on the list of things to visit in the coming years.

It’s A Landmark Whether You Like It Or Not

So, a rather large building not featured here earlier.

This here is the former storage and office building of the local co-operative store. It was built in 1952 and abandoned around 2019. Although it is pretty much unique, it has a valid demolition permit.

The paintings on the wall are also very well made.

The building had later been in office and business use. It had suffered a lot.

Approaching the main entrance and still being hopeful.

And here we have the main entrance. It was pretty well shut.

The back yard of the building. I’m pretty sure that there was no bridge, when the building was completed.

There was even a garage. It was in a far worse condition than the main building.

The full back side of the building.

And the side entrance. There were several broken windows here, but nothing, where I would have fit through.

A view through one of the windows.

And the stairway at the opposite end from the main stairway.

No entries, again. I will come back.

There It Sits And Nobody Does Anything About It

Welcome to yet another familiar location. This here is the former co-operative store previously featured in 2022. The change from the previous year is, that now most of its windows are boarded shut.

The municipality owns it and already tried to demolish it once. As it is marked as historically important, they didn’t get permission for that. They demolished the newer wing, but this one is left standing.

They did fix the part of the wall where the old and new sections of the building were connected, though.

The back side has seen some additional doors opened throughout the years.

The side of the building. There have probably been several store departments here throughout the years.

A simple no entry this time. Unfortunately.

The Years Made It Unfashionable

Back in the 1960’s regulations were lifted and prosperity in Finland was growing. That’s why a lot of people and families started getting cars. A whole new hotel concept was launched around the country, where large resorts were built to remote lakeside locations.

But as wealth grew and flights got cheaper, the interest of the Finns was directed elsewhere. They started flying abroad, and these resorts once popular were soon occupied by mainly Russian and Central European tourists.

This hotel and holiday village were built in 1968. Until 2007 it served around the year, but was reduced to a summer only destination after that. The hotel closed in 2012. In 2015 it still served as accommodation for asylum seekers, but was closed for good after that and put up for sale.

Let’s see, what I can find here.

One corner of the main building seen here.

The yard was quite overgrown. This seems like there has been a tennis or a volley ball court.

Going around the main building.

The place seemed to be in a good shape despite being closed for almost a decade.

The main building seen from the lakeside. It was very low and very wide – not very simple to photograph.

That looks like a former mini golf course.

Another look at the main building.

There were cabins and row houses closer to the lake.

Yet another view of the main building. It was built on a hillside, which was quite common in the 1960’s.

The gym and the sauna were in a separate building.

Another view of the main building with a rare tag.

An investor bought the hotel in 2024 and are now looking for an operator. They’ve stated, that the main building is in a good condition, but the row houses by the lake will be demolished. Future development depends on the operator and its needs.

I hope this location has a better future than the previous similar hotel of the same chain I photographed.

I Have No Idea What It Is But It Is Beautiful

I meet a lot of people in the construction business because of my occupation. It is a well known secret in the branch, that I photograph abandoned buildings. Some people even tip me about places around Finland.

I was visiting a bridge construction site, when I was told about a huge mansion in the center of a village. I was a bit sceptical, because I had visited this village every single summer of my childhood and couldn’t recall a mansion. Even my local friend stated, that she knew nothing of it.

Yet there it was.

Yet I don’t think that this is a mansion. It looks more like an association house of some sort, but old maps don’t reveal anything like that in this location.

Renovations hadn’t done the house any good.

There were several entrances, but all were shut.

Behind the house was a massive porch.

Just look at it slowly growing a jungle.

No entries here.

It turns out, that the building was the former home of the municipal doctor. Built in 1921 it served as a store before being abandoned.