Well, It Is The National Library

Welcome to yet another interesting location. This one here is the National library storage unit completed in 1956 and closed in 2019, when it was decided, that the National library storage would be located elsewhere.

An architectural marvel, really, it was decided, that the place should just close down. It was emptied because of that.

And so I am at the gates of an another abandoned building.

Well, let’s just photograph everything that there is to photograph.

I really would like to get inside there, but unfortunately it is impossible, as I don’t break things.

And despite its remote location it was an architecural marvel from start to finish.

Behind the library building there was a row house for research purposes.

A better look at the house of the researchers.

Entering the tunnel between the apartments.

A stairway inside the main library.

And the back of the building. No entry here. So let’s just get back another day.

So The Idiots Decided To Demolish This One, Too

Here we have a school building from 1931. Yes, from 1931. And it is on the demolition list. According to authorities it has lost its value and can go.

Well, let me tell you something. It shouldn’t go. It should never have gone. It was seriously an important part of the history of the town it was in. And yet the demolition permit was approved.

Idiots, idiots in charge. As it is gone by now.

It Seems To Have Been Gone Before The Fire Broke Out

And here we have a former Teboil service station. If my clues are not completely incorrect, it was built with the motel, but abandoned already in the 1970’s.

Well, at least it had been abandoned for quite some time.

The place was actually a complete ruin with advertisements from the motel. According to the motel’s accident report, it also housed the power plant of the motel.

I hope there was nothing in there.

The store front.

This may even be the former reception of the motel. 50 marks for a room for two, breakfast included.

The back room. And that’s it. There was only so much to explore. This service station was done for.

A Deadly Fire Ended Things Here

Welcome to yet another location. This here is an overgrown parking lot, which probably means, that there is a story to tell.

Back in 1995 this place was located by one of the main highways in Finland. There was a motel here, built in 1966 and enlarged already in 1971 and again in 1976, when a large, new wing with new rooms, a sauna area and a conference area were built.

On the eve of Christmas Eve the motel was almost full, when a fire broke out in the old, wooden part of the motel. It quickly destroyed it, killing one man, who was a builder renovating the place. According to reports there was still a lot to see here, so of course I had to go and take a look.

This is the new, 1976 part of the motel. It is the only one, which survived the fire.

And I have to hand it to the motel company. This section was indeed pretty modern for 1976 standards. Of course it would now be very outdated even without the fire.

It seems, that even some furniture has escaped the fire. The motel can’t have been open after it, as its reception and restaurant were destroyed.

Entering the new part, then. There’s furniture, there’s damage, and in general there’s abandonment.

So let’s go deeper.

The first room. Looks very primitive, but probably this was ok in the 1970’s.

Another sofa, and a very dead tree.

An original toilet from the 1970’s.

There was even an elevator.

The downstairs looked dark and not too inviting. Let’s check the upstairs.

The downstairs corridor doesn’t look too inviting, either.

And this here is a motel room.

And this is probably the entrance to the sauna area.

More upstairs doors.

According to the accident report, the builder, who died in the fire, was found right in front of this door. Apparently he had noticed the fire, tried to warn the occupants and succumbed because of the fire gases.

And here we have the room.

Although the story was very interesting, the place wasn’t very interesting.

Moving on to the burned section of the motel.

There was a staff apartment downstairs.

And more vintage furniture.

The basement apartment.

It doesn’t seem to have ended well with the toilet.

And that looks just like my traffic mat from the 1990’s.

The downstairs was the only thing remaining of the original 1960’s structure.

Now we’re getting to where the restaurant and the reception once were.

There’s a forest growing there now.

And this is the main entrance.

So a very sad sight now remaining at where a motel once was. Quite the place.

I Don’t Think I Am Alone In Here

An old, wooden house. But this is not what I came here for.

This is what I came here for. An old municipal home built in 1940 and enlarged in the 1960’s. It was closed in 2014 and still served as a refugee center between 2015 and 2016 before being abandoned for good.

In 2022 a criminal investigation was started, as several files containing personal information were found in the hospital. The data security breach affected around 150 people.

Another abandoned yellow builiding. But let’s concentrate on the nursing home now.

This is the 1960’s part. It is much larger than the original municipal home.

Although abandoned for years the building was in a relatively good shape.

I take back what I said. The covered windows usually tell no good.

Going around…

Even the basement doors were sealed with plywood.

And so I am back at the starting point.

There was an open door. And directly next to it was the unit of the building’s burglar alarm system with lights on. I chose not to go in.

I took one more photo and left. While I was driving away from the hospital, I almost ran over a middle aged woman sleeping in the ditch next to the road.

But then I got second thoughts. Why would I have to be worried about an alarm, when the building has already been broken into. I returned.

And here we are.

As I don’t like basements, I headed straight upstairs.

This looks much more inviting.

That’s an odd place to place a chair.

A sight I didn’t expect: all lights on. This made me feel a bit uneasy. If the lights were on there might also have been working motion detectors connected to the alarm system.

In addition to that the woman had vanished from the ditch. There was a possibility, that she was somewhere in the hospital, and I really didn’t want to encounter her. I didn’t feel safe, so I aborted the mission and left.

A Second Date In A Spa Hotel Is Just Fine Part II

One corner of the hotel lobby and restaurant was the place we climbed into through the broken window.

The restaurant. Just look at the ceiling. It is amazing.

The reception and bar.

The buffet.

A closer look at the bar. We weren’t served.

The doors up front look like the main entrance. There is a cloakroom next to it and the corridors leading to the hotel rooms are next to the stairs.

The stairway really was impressive.

I wonder, what area this is.

The cloakroom and stairway seen from closer.

There was even a conference area.

The standard no responsibility clause in the cloakroom.

And another one.

Entering the hotel room corridor.

And the first room.

Looks comfortable.

Suddenly moving upstairs.

Another room. Although hotels are interesting locations in general, they quickly get boring, because the rooms are all the same.

The upstairs room corridor.

The rooms were fitted with large balconies. Quite luxurious.

From now on the rooms would be all the same.

A desk, a bed and a chair. If there were no balconies, these would be really basic rooms.

This was the final room we visited. Because at that point a car drove to the area and parked at a cottage like it was their home. So we quickly left.

It later turned out, that it actually was. The buyer candidate of the hotel had occupied one of the cottages and guarded the hotel himself. Another urban explorer told me, that the candidate had assaulted them, when they were exploring the hotel.

A Second Date In A Spa Hotel Is Just Fine Part I

So, welcome to another stranger story. As I was driving around the country, I noticed, that one of my former Tinder matches was nearby. I contacted her, we agreed to meet. And I chose to drive for a cup of coffee to the birthplace of her mother’s husband. We hadn’t seen since our only date, so basically this was our second date, despite not being one.

We had the coffee, we chatted for a while. Her family were great people And when I said I wanted to try to enter a spa hotel nearby, the whole family including my former date, her mother, the spouse of the mother and his daughter all chose to accompany me.

And here we are, on the doors of it. A spa hotel opened in 1968 and closed in 2020, when the pandemic started. Since then the owner abandoned the place, moved the lands to one company and the buildings to another and disappeared. There was a local buyer willing to buy the hotel and continue its legacy, but finding it impossible to do so, as the lands had been transferred to another company. Because of that, it was impossible to open the hotel again. An earlier gallery can be found here.

We still decided to see, if there was anything to see.

Moving on the main building, then.

It was definitely an architectural marvel, but very much neglected.

We first started our tour through the back of the area. Only indoor shoes allowed, it says.

The separate spa at the back of the complex.

The hotel seen from the lakeside.

And the cottages rented by the hotel.

Let’s go and see, if there was an entry inside the spa hotel.

The balconies of the rooms.

A look inside one of the rooms.

The lakeside of the hotel.

Another balcony.

And another hotel room seen through a broken window.

The lobby seen through a broken window.

And the broken window, which would eventually, carefully, take us inside despite my friend’s mother’s spouse heavily objecting. The adults went back to the cars to stand guard, we youngsters stepped inside.

A Familiar Dead End Came Around

So, welcome to yet another familiar location. This here is a mental asylum featured earlier in here and in here. I am longing once again to get in, but as I never break things, it is up to others to decide, if I will get there.

I am willing to go for yet another attempt, so let’s approach the main building.

They have closed some windows since my last visit.

The balconies are still the same, though.

There has been a lot of falling plaster.

But the entrances seem well closed.

Approaching the other wing of the H-shaped main building.

And the courtyard here.

The other wing, which was previously a separate building.

This is a part of the 1980’s annex built in the end of one of the three hospital buildings.

You can see the difference here. The one to the left is much more modern than the one seen at the back.

There have been intruders since my previous visit. But it seems, that I am getting nowhere.

The old main building seen from the other side.

And the third building seen from far off.

The center building from the 1980’s seen from the back. It really blends in with the older buildings.

Well, there really is nothing much to say. I’m just walking around the place.

The junction between the original building and the newer wing.

And the one building still separate from the main building.

The end of it.

And the other side of it.

This looks like a more definite no go than during the previous visits.

There’s been a way in through the chair. But now everything’s been shut.

Back to the main entrance.

And the other building. No points of entry, I’m afraid.

The Cause Died Early Here

It was almost time to find a good place for the night’s sleep. That was when I spotted this location.

It was clearly an association house, but what association? The workers? The youth? Something else, what?

The place seemed to be in a very bad condition alltogether.

The back side was a complete jungle.

And there had actually been a severe collapse.

The stairs upstairs were completely severed. I later guessed, that that had been the projector room. Yes, movies were shown here.

When I took the first photographs, I realized, that my flash didn’t work. It had been damaged in the rain around the sawmill and the co-operative store.

No matter how I tried, it didn’t work.

I had to resort to my phone with its memory full for the first time in ages.

There were very few places I could move around in, as the collapse was so total.

This seems like the hall of the building. This was probably where the patrons entered through.

I can’t really say what this mess has been.

Another view of the great hall.

Just look at the ceiling. This building comes down any year now.

Another look at the hall. I wonder, how Vokburger’s burgers have been.

And a final view towards where the ceiling has already collapsed.

I left, wondering what this place had been. I asked a friend and former colleague, who was born here in the 1970’s. She said, that it was the former workers’ association building built in 1950.

I did some research, and this workers’ association really seemed like a different one from all the others. The people in this municipality actually put the disputes of the workers’ movement aside. The different factions of the movement commonly managed the house until at least the late 1980’s, when the last movies were shown here.

Apparently the place was abandoned in the late 1980’s or the 1990’s. In 2011 a former active rescued the archives and the movie projectors of the already collapsing building to save for further generations.

So the building collapses, but the legend lives on.

The Heart Of Another Village Stopped Beating

Welcome to yet another small station village. This building here is the former co-operative store of the village.

The building has been built in several phases. The end closest to the camera has originally been a wooden building from the early 20th century. It was enlarged for the first time in the late 1920’s.

There’s been a bar, but this entire section has probably been empty since at least 2010.

The functionalistic part was built between the late 1920’s and 1950’s. Probably earlier than later.

And the final addition looks to be from the 1970’s. It still features the outlines of the name of the old co-operative, which merged into its bigger counterpart in 1984.

There was a grocery store here until February 2022. That was when it was closed because of the bad condition of the building. As there were no suitable premises for it, the last grocery store of the village was gone.

There had also been other businesses and even a bank in the building. The former barbershop left between 2011 and 2022.

The bank had already left earlier.

There were further small business premises at the back.

And probably the caretaker’s apartment too.

When this wing was built, the storage wing of the functionalistic section was demolished. It didn’t live long.

But the back of it is to the left.

The go-around has been completed. No luck this time.

I went to have dinner to the local grill. I enquired about the history of this building and told her about my adventures. She asked, if I had visited anything interesting in her home town, and I mentioned this school. Well, it was her elementary school.

I had a huge meal and said goodbye. When I was leaving, she shouted:

“Just call me before you come over here the following time. I’ll smash the windows of that old store for you!”